Certified as sustainable on 14 February 2005.

Summary

Species: Pollock (Theragra chalcogramma)    
Location: Eastern Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands
Fishing methods: Pelagic trawl.
Vessels: Catcher/processor vessels that catch and process pollock at sea, and trawl catcher vessels that deliver pollock onshore for processing or to mothership processing vessels.
Number of fisheries: 1

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More about pollock

Walleye or Alaska pollock are schooling, midwater to bottom-dwelling fish. Pollock live anywhere between shallow, nearshore waters to 1000 metres, but most are found between 100 to 300 metres depth. The general pattern seen in pollock is a move inshore during summer months and offshore into deeper waters during winter months. Pollock can live to over 15 years and reach a length of 100 cm. Pollock begin to recruit to the fishery at age 4. Males and females begin to reproduce between 3 and 4 years of age and are externally indistinguishable.

More about the fishing methods

The BS/AI pollock fishery is a mid-water trawl fishery. The fleet is comprised of trawl catcher vessels that deliver pollock onshore for processing or to mothership processing vessels.  A portion of the annual harvest is allocated to catcher/processor vessels that both harvest and process.

Fishery tonnage

1,000,000 metric tonnes

Commercial market

The primary markets for Alaska pollock products are Japan, the US and Europe. Japan is the principal market for surimi (minced fish) and roe pollock products. The US and Europe are the main markets for fillet-type products. Fillets are used for fish and chips and fish fingers; surimi is used for imitation crab and similar products.