NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) is the federal agency that manages fishing in Alaska's federal waters under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. It sets catch limits and bycatch rules for pollock, cod, halibut and crab, working with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to manage fisheries off Alaska.
fisheries.noaa.gov ↗222 W 7th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99513, USA
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Bering Sea pollock fleet's non-king salmon bycatch held at about 152,000 this year
Bering Sea pollock boats caught about 152,000 chum and other non-king salmon this year, almost exactly as many as last year, according to NOAA Fisheries' year-end count.
Pollock, a whitefish used in fish sticks and imitation crab, is caught with trawl nets, big nets pulled through the water. Salmon get caught too. That's bycatch, and the boats aren't allowed to sell them.
How many salmon end up in those nets has been debated for years. Western Alaska chum returns "have declined substantially in recent years and reduced or eliminated in-river harvest opportunities," the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which recommends fishing rules for federal waters off Alaska, said this year.
On the Yukon River, this year's summer chum run was projected at more than double its forecast, opening subsistence fishing windows across much of the river. But a weak projected fall run closed chum fishing across nearly all of the river starting in July.
The fleet's count, through Nov. 6, was 151,697 non-Chinook salmon, compared with 151,457 in 2025. It has swung widely: 242,375 in 2022, 112,303 in 2023 and 35,130 in 2024, the lowest of the five years.
The count doesn't say how many of those fish were from Western Alaska. Most aren't, according to the council, which has said about 80% of the chum caught as bycatch come from elsewhere, mostly Russian and Asian hatcheries.
In February, the council voted 8-3 for the first cap on Western Alaska chum: 45,000 fish a year, split among the fleet's four sectors. A sector that hits its share would have to close half of a fishing corridor north of Unimak Pass for the rest of the June 10 to Aug. 31 period.
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About NOAA Fisheries
fisheries.noaa.gov ↗222 W 7th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99513, USA
NOAA Fisheries, also called the National Marine Fisheries Service or NMFS, is the federal agency that manages fishing in Alaska's federal waters under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. It is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has its Alaska office in Anchorage.
It sets catch limits, season rules and bycatch rules for fisheries such as pollock, cod, sablefish, halibut and crab in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska, working with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Its scientists study fish and crab stocks and the marine ecosystems that support them.
The agency also administers the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, issuing permits for construction such as pile driving near whales, sea lions, seals and belugas at docks and ports. It certifies seafood for export and consults with tribes on fishery limits.
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