Sunday, December 7, 2025

Another pollockpalooza next year

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting in Anchorage, today voted 11-0 in support of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands catch quotas for 2026.

As usual, the quota — or total allowable catch — for Bering Sea pollock is gargantuan at 1,375,000 metric tons.

That's only slightly below this year's TAC of 1,389,000 tons.

Setting groundfish quotas was tricky this year as the federal government shutdown, which lasted from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, disrupted the normal scientific stock assessment process.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

They struggled to catch the quota this year. Smart move to keep the cap high.

Anonymous said...

Well, we don’t want to be hamstrung, we’d rather scratch fish on nothing than be shut down early on good fishing

Anonymous said...

We DIDN'T catch the quota. Big reckoning coming.

Anonymous said...

Explain 'reckoning' further in what context.

Deckboss said...

The council issued a press release on setting the groundfish quotas:

https://www.npfmc.org/council-sets-groundfish-harvest-specs-for-2026-2027/

Anonymous said...

Great more opportunities to wipe out the halibut

Anonymous said...

The shoreside (catcher) boats were not going out because they weren't catching enough to cover the fuel they were burning. Having to run too far to scratch for fish.

Anonymous said...

You clown. The pollock fleet catches 1/5 the halibut bycatch as the directed fishery discards DEAD. Why don't you fix your terrible IPHC management before you start playing the blame game.

Anonymous said...

They were only running so far because of the ridiculous herring bycatch rule from the 1980s.

Anonymous said...

Since 2005 the halibut quota has decreased by 70 percent for alaska longliners. You draggers better keep lobbying to your crooked politicians. I'll never buy another fillet o fish sandwich again!

Anonymous said...

You have no one to blame but your own IPHC for overharvesting the biomass through the 2000s, then letting Canada over harvest for the last decade. Oh, and the pollock fleet catches less than 110k pounds of halibut a year. Your fleet kills more than a million pounds of discards. Enjoy your filet of fish.

Anonymous said...

Your numbers are inaccurate, the natives of the yukon river have been unable to subsistence fish for chums the past 7 years. They too are advocating for banning politician owned dragging. Draggers will be exposed for ruining the oceans ecosystems.

Anonymous said...

Nope. They're real and you just don't know what you're talking about. https://meetings.npfmc.org/CommentReview/DownloadFile?p=91bc55c5-6c86-46e1-b391-afe2e6b8afd3.pdf&fileName=PPT%20B2%20BSAI%20Inseason%20Report.pdf

Subsistence fishing for chum continues. Chinook fishing has been closed but there's still more than 1500 chinook taken as bycatch in other subsistence fisheries. Meanwhile draggers caught 35 in the last reported year. If you have to lie, maybe your argument is trash.