Pollock fleet builds empirical database of trawl seafloor contact as Congress weighs gear restrictions

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council heard on June 7 that Brad Harris, a professor of fishery science at Alaska Pacific University, has documented nearly 300 trawls under the Gear Innovation Initiative, building an evidence base for how pollock trawl gear actually behaves near the seafloor. The data are scheduled to reach the council's Scientific and Statistical Committee for review in February 2027.

The initiative collects gear catalogs, haul logs, fishing practice profiles, and numerical simulations to replace what Harris described at the June 7 meeting as "expert-derived opinion with a heavy dose of precaution" currently embedded in the Fishing Effects Model. A Trident Seafoods researcher, Dr. Noel Yoakam, presented a parallel effort: a modified foot rope design tested under an exempted fishing permit. Using a back-of-the-envelope calculation that assumed full contact across the foot rope, Yoakam estimated a roughly 96 percent reduction in contact footprint compared to a standard design, while cautioning that "these are not hard numbers that we have estimated with empirical research, but this is just an approximation." Preliminary captain feedback and an initial look at catch data showed no differences in catch efficiency, though statistical analysis is ongoing.

Harris described a planned bridging analysis that will show incrementally how updated inputs, including new gear parameter tables, a revised catch-and-areas database, and updated habitat data, affect Fishing Effects Model outputs, allowing the SSC to trace changes from prior iterations. He emphasized that no updated gear parameters will be used in the fishing effects analysis until reviewed and approved by the SSC.

D1 presentations and next steps

The D1 agenda item at the June 7 meeting consisted of multiple presentations, including the APU Gear Innovation Initiative update, the Trident exempted fishing permit update, and a Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation crab research update. The council heard the presentations and public comment but did not initiate a formal analysis or take a management decision on D1 at this meeting. Staff noted the council could choose to take no further action, request a discussion paper, or initiate an analysis at a future meeting.