A lack of workers for local canneries in January for the cod and pollock seasons has been the norm in Kodiak for years, said Job Services consultant Maureen Butler. Local cannery officials agree.

Butler said some canneries have brought workers in and arranged lodging for them beforehand, but five canneries still have job orders at Job Services seeking processing workers and one maintenance position.

“They are continuing to bring (workers) in from Anchorage and out of state,” she said. “Some have come up looking for a job fishing but have not found it so they have taken a job at a cannery.

“Our regular workers are all back from their holiday break and they are all back to work now,” she added.

Alaska Fresh Seafoods co-owner Dave Woodruff said they are always looking for help this time of year.

“This is something we’ve all been living with for the past 10 or 12 years,” Woodruff said.

Ted Kishimoto, general manager of True World Foods, said they are hiring more workers, but so far the cod season has been slower than last year.

National Marine Fisheries Service biologist Tom Pearson said through Jan. 14, 3,601 metric tons out of a quota of 15,339 has been caught so far.

As of Jan. 15 last year, 5,360 tons were harvested.

“I expect that deliveries will dramatically increase as the trawl season opens today. The season will probably close near the end of the month or the first week in February depending on how well trawl gear does,” Pearson said.

Cod A season closed Jan. 26 last year. Pearson estimates that with the cod quota higher this year than last, the season will continue until the end of the month.

“Compared to last year it does seem a little bit slower,” Pearson said, adding that last year fixed gear caught 380 tons a day, and this year they are bringing in about 280 tons a day.

Cod and pollock opens to trawl gear today. Cod has been open to fishermen using fixed gear, which includes jig, pot and longline gear since Jan. 1.

“When the trawlers get started, they can harvest the remainder of the cod quota fairly quickly,” Pearson said.

The quota for pollock is slightly more than 12,000 tons in Area 620, the South side of Kodiak. The fish typically show up in late February. In Area 630, which is around Kodiak, the quota is 4,100 tons.

“That’s where they guys like to target pollock first, close to port so they don’t have the fuel expenses. There are usually a few patches of pollock around 630 at this time of year,” Pearson said.

He estimates the pollock in Area 630 will close in about three days after fishermen start targeting pollock.

In the West Yakutat district (Area 640), the quota is 1,809 tons for the entire year.

“Sometimes they don’t find the fish. Two years ago they found the fish, but last year they just didn’t find any fish,” Pearson said.

He noted that canneries have quantity limits.

“When the fishing is real good, the boats can deliver more fish in a day than the plants can process,” he said. “They may handle that by having the boats fish in rotation.”

Mitch Kilborn from Western Alaska Fisheries said they could always use more workers. They have already hired some workers from outside Kodiak and secured apartments for them.

“It’s going to be tight (depending on) how good the fishing is,” Kilborn said.

He agrees that the cod season has been slow.

“The catch rates are worse this year than they were the year before,” he said. “I’m hearing everybody tell me it’s slower than it was last year and there is not the effort that there was last year.”

He expects the season to pick up today when it opens for trawl gear.