Bering Sea factory trawlers scoop up to tens of thousands of pollock each day and the pressure is growing to ensure that salmon are not caught since the chum population and chinook have declined in recent years, leading to closures of subsistence harvesting.
The trawlers aren’t solely to blame. Warming oceans caused by human-caused climate changes are most likely an element — but they have provoked the ire of salmon lovers all the way from Western Alaska to Washington D.C.
For an article published that appeared in Anchorage Daily News, together in conjunction with Pulitzer Center, fisheries reporter Hal Bernton visited a Bering Sea factory trawler to observe the way its crew gathered and processed pollock. He also learned how the captain keeps the salmon bycatch at a low.
While Bernton has written from the decks of smaller vessels, he claims that the factory trawlers resemble floating cities.
Listen:
The transcript below has been lightly edited to improve clarity.
Hal Bernton: This is a vessel of 341 feet which I rode out on the Northern Hawk and an crew of 129. They are mainly beneath the decks in a fish farm that, when fishing is decent, is operational 24/7. Additionally, there are fillet machines that can fillet 180 fish in a minute and the work of the human is to simply feed the machine throughout the day. It’s a mind-numbing work. The hands are constantly moving to make sure that the fish are properly positioned.
Casey Grove: These are the people I think they would be able to say “Hey I’m just a regular employee I’m just here.” However, there are many people who aren’t in that group who have strongly held opinions about fishing. It all comes down to salmon versus pollock in the end, isn’t it? It’s also crab however, there are a lot of people discussing salmon bycatch. Could you please remind me of the conflict is?
Hal Bernton: Yes. They take away a lot of fish every year. over a million tons. There are more than 2. billion pounds. It’s been happening for years initially by foreign fleets that fished from the Alaska coast, and later by U.S. fleets. In particular in recent times when the western Alaska run of chum salmon has been dwindling, they have caught during summer such as when I was fishing, there were Chum salmon. There’s been a lot of anxiety, given that commercial and subsistence harvests in the western part of Alaska have been halted across several areas over the last few years concerning the bycatch.
It’s difficult, as a large portion of the chum caught will actually return to Asia. However, around between 18 and 20% the fish, based on year, could be returned to the western part of Alaska. Therefore, there’s no limit to the amount of fish can be caught. There’s an enormous demand from tribal groups as well as other groups to establish limits on the number of chum that can be taken. This is putting pressure on the people. As I was on the road, keeping away from chums was a top goal for the fleet.
Casey Grove: That’s a bit tough to you, doesn’t it? Since, as I believe you wrote in your piece that both the pollock and salmon are at the same depth, and in the same regions. What can you say about this? I mean, how hard is it to stay clear of salmon while trying to capture pollock?
Hal Bernton: There are cameras, at the very least in the factory nets of trawlers. If you take a look at these cameras, before you can see the fish, you may see the salmon actually slipping in the net. But by that point it’s almost too late. If the skipper notices that there are numerous salmon in the area, along together with pollock they make their way to a different area. It’s never a sure that when they move, there could be less, or perhaps the amount of salmon. It’s been a challenging situation.
Casey Grove: Perhaps another factor that may complicate this even more and, I believe, some might say that this is good news for the fishing fleet of pollock available, is the fact that some of the vessels are, in a manner part, controlled by Kuskokwim River communities. Could you elaborate on this? How did it come to be?
Hal Bernton: This was an extremely interesting thing that I would like to research and learn about. It is that, in recent years, the pollock fishing fleet, even though they might travel to Seattle each year at the time of harvest for boat work, and for everything else and essentially, are located in Seattle increasingly the boats’ shares belong to six Alaska nonprofits which invest in shares of the harvests from pollock through federal actions. The boat I was on that I was on the Northern Hawk, is 100 percent part of the CDQ company Coastal Villages Region Fund that covers around 20 communities in the western part of Alaska. The same communities have been severely impacted due to the collapse of Chum runs in recent times. There’s been lots of pressure and tensions with tribes who believe that there should be greater restrictions. They have filed actions, including a lawsuit in federal courts in an attempt to pressure federal regulators to rethink the pollock levels and limit the harvest.
Casey Grove: Yes. And, in the effort to reduce the number of Chum salmon to the shore as bycatch, what kind of technological breakthroughs did you observe?
Hal Bernton: The way they describe it is that they refer to it as an excluder for salmon. It’s a hole inside the net, with a bright. Salmon are very adept swimmers, and it’s a good idea to think that even if they fall into the net, they’ll be able to traverse this hole, being attracted by the light, and return to the open seas. It’s true that this can keep some salmon alive however it’s not 100 percent. This is why there’s an attempt to research to develop an active excluder where cameras would pick in salmon entering these nets kind ramp would be lowered and actually herd the fish towards the hole. This device might aid in the event that you were looking at the net for a glimpse and also the cameras to observe, the moment that those salmon came into. It could be ready within the next couple of years. There are also efforts to speed up genetic testing of salmon to be able to know at a minimum, within one or two months later. Hey, which of these are originate from Russia and then returning to Russia? That’s not a big worry? Are they headed back to the western part of Alaska and, well there’s a huge problem, so we’re advised to stay clear of this region? Because at the moment, genetic testing is happening however, it’s not until in the future.
Casey Grove: It’s interesting, yeah. It’s true that there are lots of layers to this story, many different views. We’ve not even discussed the possibility for an ocean-wide heat wave, and some of the global climate change problem which is definitely present in this. In addition the discussion of pollock trawling and salmon bycatch What do you think about the future of this issue?
Hal Bernton: The federal council is battling to limit the fleet. And I’m sure the fleet is aware of that in one way or the other and they’re declaring, “Give us this sort of flexibility, so we can sort of take it on ourselves.” There are cooperatives that share information, hotspots are created quite quickly, so that the fleet knows that they shouldn’t visit because there’s plenty of people there. It’s like they’re declaring, “Hey, let us follow this route.” The tribes are declaring, “We don’t trust you. We believe there should be a hard cap and more severe limitations on what you can do. We, our community, our people made sacrifices in the past, and it’s now an appropriate time to allow the vessels to be able to feel the pain.”
Of course, the CDQ groups and tribes, a few of them represent the same regions and have very different roles in the present, and there’s more tension between the CDQs and tribes during these meetings that are held by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council established by Congress to suggest and establish harvest rules which are then finalized by NOAA Fisheries. It’s an extremely complicated procedure. There are a lot of people who are extremely unhappy with the process of council. There are representatives from industry who sit on the council and there’s a representative currently, a council member of Coastal Villages who was just installed, and there’s been an increase in tension and discontent at certain of these council meetings.
