Alaskan Pollack Stocks Down 20%/Yr Since 2003, But "Not An Overfished Stock", Says AK Fisheries

[hatrack]

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Pollock stocks have declined 20 percent per year since 2003, dipping to their lowest level since the late 1970s, according to an assessment from the US National Marine Fisheries Service. In 2008, there were 3 million tonnes of pollock near the bottom of the sea, down 30 percent from last year. Closer to the surface, there were 942,000 tonnes, down 47 percent from a year ago, and the lowest reading on record, the report said.

Scientists say much of the decline is because pollock offspring are not maturing to adults. "The prognosis for 2010 is for improved stock levels because 2006 was a more successful year for the hatching and survival of young pollock," Jim Ianelli, a stock assessment scientist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said in a statement.

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"The stock is highly vulnerable at that time of year and this is the kind of fishing strategy that decimated cod spawning aggregations in the North Atlantic (in the 1990s)," said Ken Stump, policy analyst for the Marine Fish Conservation Network. "They seem to be approaching a very dangerous level where the stock could actually collapse and the fishery could crash," Stump said. Talk of a collapse has been heavily disputed by some in the seafood trade. The National Fisheries Institute said Greenpeace's dire warnings had no basis in fact.

"The fishery is much closer to the lower end of the threshold where it moves from being healthy to being depleted but it is still in the range that we would consider healthy," said Doug DeMaster, director of the Alaska Fishery Science Center. "This is not an overfished stock and we're trying really hard to make sure it does not become one," he said.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/51207/story.htm

[phantom power]

1. When they do these assessments, do they account for illegal fishing?

Last year, the coast guard was asking sport fishers to report any unmarked commercial fishing vessels off the east coast. When I see these reports where stocks fail to rebound after fishing restrictions, it makes me wonder if the fishing is actually restricted or not.