Walleye Pollock

Walleye pollock, also known as Alaskan pollock, has a relatively fast growth rate, high reproductive potential, and speckled coloring that helps it hide from predators, but it aggregates to spawn. These factors, as well as environmental conditions and food availability, contribute to a variable survival rate for young pollock. 

Walleye pollock is found off the US northwest coast from California to Alaska as well as the waters of Russia, China, and Japan. By volume, it is the largest fishery in the United States. Walleye pollock’s variable survival rate results in fluctuations in abundance. According to the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bering Sea population of walleye pollock is estimated to be above 2010 target levels while the population in the Gulf of Alaska is below target levels. The Environmental Defense Fund reports that Russian stocks have been in decline recently due to overfishing.

This fishery primarily uses midwater trawling gear that isn’t supposed to impact the seafloor. However, the Monterey Bay Aquarium reports that the nets in the Bering Sea do contact the seafloor about 44% of the time, causing damage. Research shows that this trawl’s impact on seafloor organisms was relatively low because most of the species affected there are fairly resilient. There were concerns that the walleye pollock fishery was impacting the endangered Steller sea lion population by reducing an important food source. To address this, trawling is now prohibited in large areas near sea lion rookeries.

The walleye pollock fishery does not have bycatch of threatened, endangered, or protected species. Bycatch of prohibited species such as Chinook salmon, was a problem and reached a record high in 2007, but management measures have since been put in place to better protect the salmon.

This fishery is generally well managed, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Environmental Defense Fund says the U.S. fishery has one of the strongest catch share management systems in the world. Policies are in place to respond to stock fluctuations and managers take multiple factors into account to make sure the populations are fished sustainably, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Walleye pollock fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, and the Aleutian Islands have been certified against the Marine Stewardship Council’s environmental standards. Russian fisheries in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk are currently undergoing assessment against MSC standards.

Walleye pollock are also found in international waters where no country has sole jurisdiction. The Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea is responsible for the conservation, management, and optimum utilization of pollock resources in the high seas area of the Bering Sea. The pollock resource in the Convention Area declined to very low levels by the early 1990s. Member states (China, Japan, Korea, Poland, Russia, and the United States) have maintained a moratorium on commercial pollock fishing in the Convention Area since 1993 in an effort to allow the stock to rebuild. Despite the moratorium, pollock abundance in international areas remains at low levels. The United States continues to promote and support these international conservation measures.