Pollock - Directed Pelagic Trawl Fishery
Prince William Sound Management Area

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A yellow highlight has been added to emphasize years in which the harvest cap for that species was reached or exceeded resulting in closure of the walleye pollock fishery.

Background

The Prince William Sound (PWS) walleye pollock pelagic trawl fishery began in 1995 when Kodiak-based trawlers combined efforts with a Cordova processor to establish the fishery, and in 2000, the Prince William Sound Pollock Pelagic Trawl Management Plan was adopted into regulation (5 AAC 28.263). The guideline harvest level (GHL) is deducted from the combined federal Western, Central, and West Yakutat GOA Regulatory Areas (W/C/WYAK) Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC). Since 2010, the GHL has ranged between 3.6 and 13.1 million pounds. Most of these years, the GHL has been achieved.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has worked with the fleet to rotate vessels through PWS and limit the number of vessels fishing at a given time, with the goal of minimizing bycatch harvest and targeting the walleye pollock GHL closely. By regulation, bycatch pounds may not exceed 5% of the directed walleye pollock pounds harvested. Annually using emergency order authority, ADF&G apportions the regulatory bycatch allowance (5%) as a percentage of the walleye pollock GHL to five species groups. Current annual bycatch caps are assigned to rockfish (0.50%), salmon (0.04%), shark (0.96%), squid (3.00%), and other fish (0.50%).

Additional information can be found in 5 AAC 28.263. Prince William Sound Walleye Pollock Pelagic Trawl Fishery Management Plan, or on our Prince William Sound Advisory Announcements page.

What is in this report

This report includes all commercial harvest reported on fishtickets from the Prince William Sound walleye pollock pelagic trawl fishery. The harvest from this fishery is aggregated to specific groups used in the management of the fishery. This report does not include testfish harvest.

Fields

• Year: Year of the fishery and harvest.
• Vessel count: Count of unique vessels participating in the fishery.
• Harvest Cap: Walleye pollock annual guideline harvest level (GHL) in pounds, derived from NMFS harvest specification.
  • Rockfish: Total harvest in pounds allowed for all rockfish species set as a percentage of the walleye pollock GHL.
  • Chinook Salmon: Total harvest in pounds allowed for all salmon set as a percentage of the walleye pollock GHL.
  • Squid: Total harvest in pounds allowed for squid set as a percentage of the walleye pollock GHL.
• Harvest Pounds:
  • Walleye pollock: Pounds of pollock harvested as reported on finalized fish tickets.
  • Rockfish: Pounds of rockfish harvested as reported on finalized fishtickets. Rockfish harvest is generally comprised of two species, shortraker rockfish (86%) and rougheye rockfish (13%).
  • Chinook Salmon: Pounds of Chinook salmon harvested as reported on finalized fish tickets. Salmon harvest is generally comprised of one species, Chinook salmon (99.7%).
  • Squid: Pounds of squid harvested as reported on finalized fishtickets.
• Number of fish:
  • Rockfish: Estimated number of rockfish calculated from the weighted average of shortraker and rougheye rockfish sampled from 2010-2023; n=1,317.
    • Calculated average weight of this grouping was 16.324 lb (88% shortraker rockfish & 12% rougheye rockfish).
  • Chinook salmon: Actual count of chinook salmon as reported on finalized fish tickets.