Pollock 2013

[Lucretia]

Bothspecies can grow to 130 centimetres (4 feet 3 inches).[5] P. virens can weigh up to 32 kilograms (71 pounds)[6] and P. pollachius can weigh up to 18 kilograms (40 pounds).[5] P. virens has a strongly defined, silvery lateral line running down the sides. Above the lateral line, the colour is a greenish black. The belly is white, while P. pollachius has a distinctly crooked lateral line, grayish to golden belly, and a dark brown back. P. pollachius also has a strong underbite. It can be found in water up to 180 metres (600 feet; 100 fathoms) deep over rocks and anywhere in the water column. Pollock is a whitefish.

Atlantic pollock is largely considered to be a whitefish. Traditionally a popular source of food in some countries, such as Norway, in the United Kingdom it has previously been largely consumed as a cheaper and versatile alternative to cod and haddock. However, in recent years,[when?] pollock has become more popular due to overfishing of cod and haddock. It can now be found in most supermarkets as fresh fillets or prepared freezer items. For example, it is used minced in fish fingers or as an ingredient in imitation crab meat and is commonly used to make fish and chips.

Because of its slightly grey colour, pollock[which?] is often prepared, as in Norway, as fried fish balls, or if juvenile-sized, breaded with oatmeal and fried, as in Shetland. Year-old fish are traditionally split, salted, and dried over a peat hearth in Orkney, where their texture becomes wooden.[clarification needed] Coalfish can also be salted and smoked and achieve a salmon-like orange color (although it is not closely related to the salmon), as is the case in Germany, where the fish is commonly sold as Seelachs or sea salmon.[citation needed]

In 2009, UK supermarket Sainsbury's briefly renamed Atlantic pollock "colin" in a bid to boost ecofriendly sales of the fish as an alternative to cod.[8] Sainsbury's, which said the new name was derived from the French for cooked pollock (colin), launched the product under the banner "Colin and chips can save British cod."

One member of the genus Gadus is also commonly referred to as pollock: the Alaska pollock or walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus), including the form known as the Norway pollock. They are also members of the family Gadidae but not members of the genus Pollachius.

The Aleutian Islands, Eastern Bering Sea, and Western/Central/West Yakutat Gulf of Alaska stocks are not overfished. The Bogoslof and Southeast Gulf of Alaska population levels are unknown, but management measures are in place.

The American Fisheries Act (1998) established eligibility to participate in the BSAI pollock fishery and permanent allocations of pollock quota among sectors. Community Development Quota groups are allocated 10 percent of Eastern Bering Sea pollock total allowable catch. The remaining TAC is divided up as follows:

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (PDF, 455 pages) established that the non-CDQ pollock fishery in the Aleutian Islands is fully allocated to the Aleut Corporation, for the purpose of the economic development in Adak, with a percentage allocated to vessels 60 feet or less in length overall. Since 1992, the Gulf of Alaska pollock has been allocated to reduce potential impacts on steller sea lions. In 2005, Amendment 82 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area established a framework for the management of the Aleutian Islands subarea pollock fishery.

Research and management of Alaska pollock stocks are considered world-class and an example of how science-based management can ensure sustainability. Scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center collect and analyze the data that managers need to set sustainable catch limits.

We gather information about the number, location, and age of pollock in Alaskan waters during annual surveys using acoustic technology, midwater trawls, and bottom trawls. These data are combined with information collected by fishery observers. Managers use the data from these surveys, along with information about the fishery and species, to determine how much pollock can be harvested every year and to make other management decisions.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game also surveys nearshore bottom areas using trawls in the Gulf of Alaska (primarily to monitor crab stocks). Data from these surveys also contribute to estimating pollock abundance.

Pollock in the Gulf of Alaska, eastern Bering Sea, and Aleutian Islands are managed as separate stocks based on the results of genetic studies, biological characteristics, and analyses of larval drift patterns from spawning locations

We study factors affecting young pollock survival to recruitment (when they reach a size available to the fishery at around 3 years old). These survival rates can vary dramatically from one year to the next and this affects pollock populations, posing challenges for the fishery and fishery managers. Scientists have linked these ups and downs to variability in environmental conditions during the early life of pollock.

Understanding how young pollock respond to environmental changes helps scientists understand and communicate future uncertainty in population size and hence size of eventual fishing quotas to managers, the public, and fishery stakeholders

Environmental factors affect walleye pollock populations in the Eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. Prey availability and the number of fish, seabird, and marine mammal predators and their spatial overlap with pollock also have a large impact. Comprehensive scientific observer coverage aboard commercial fishing vessels closely monitors catch and bycatch to help gauge possible impacts of humans and the fishery on the ecosystem. Our scientists work closely with industry and managers to mitigate potential adverse impacts through a variety of conservation and management measures, and by developing appropriate gear modifications.

Each year, a comprehensive ecosystem status report on climate and fishing is compiled in Ecosystem Assessments and Report Cards. These reports are an important step towards achieving the ecosystem-based management goals of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council: to maintain predator-prey relationships, diversity, and habitat, and to monitor effects of climate change.

We create Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) reports to summarize the best available scientific information concerning the past, present, and possible future condition of stocks, marine ecosystems, and fisheries that are managed under federal regulation, including the walleye pollock fishery. These reports provide information to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for determining annual harvest levels from each stock; documenting significant trends or changes in the resource, marine ecosystems, and fishery over time; and assessing the relative success of existing state and Federal fishery management programs.

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