Pros, cons of a sector within a sector

Fish is still at the forefront in Unalaska. It has been the top port in the United States in terms of the sheer volume of seafood passing across its docks for 23 years in a row. Its location, smack dab in the middle of productive fishing grounds in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska, combines nicely with its strategically located position as a major cargo port along the Great Circle Route.

In 2019, 763 million pounds of seafood shipped out of Unalaska. Admittedly, 93% of that was Alaska pollock, destined to be fried fish sandwiches, fish sticks, and surimi-based artificial crab legs. But nevertheless, Unalaska remains a seafood nexus, as it has always been.

While small boat fleets have thrived in other Alaska ports, like Dillingham, Kodiak and Petersburg, Unalaska fishermen have found themselves in an environment increasingly focused on high-volume fisheries conducted by large, non-local vessels.

The Unalaska Native Fisherman’s Association has been working for decades to change that. Almost 30 years ago founding member Bobby Storrs, for which their new small boat harbor is named, was able to convince the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to carve out about 1 percent of the region’s pacific cod quota for the exclusive use of jig fishermen in Unalaska. The idea was to kick back some of the local resource to fishermen who actually lived in Unalaska.

That amount has since grown to 1.4%, but unfortunately jigging has not proven to be a practical way to catch cod in the waters surrounding Unalaska. Pot and longline gear have proven much more effective, and for many years now most of the set-aside quota has been “rolled over,” along with the other bits of unharvested cod from other fisheries in the region, into a pool of quota made available to pot vessels 60 feet and under.

A dozen or so of the wide “Super Sixty” class began to regularly harvest the rollover quota, and for some it became a significant part of their yearly incomes. But these boats were showing up from all over, and for the most part the set-aside quota was not being fished by the small boat Unalaska fishermen it was meant to benefit.

So over the past four years the Unalaska Native Fisherman’s Association has pushed for the Council to re-re-allocate the 1.4% of cod quota meant for Unalaska jig fishermen to a redefined sector that would allow the fish to be harvested with either hook and line or pot gear. In an attempt to deny access to the Super Sixty vessels the quota would only be available to boats 55 feet or under.

At its October meeting the Council did just that.

To quote the Council motion: “This action redefines the BSAI Pacific cod jig sector during the A-season (Jan. 1 – April 30) to include H&L or pot CVs less than or equal to 55’ LOA. All harvest from the redefined jig sector would be deducted from the jig sector’s 1.4 percent allocation.”

So, apparently, pot or hook-and-line vessels 55 feet and under are officially jiggers for purposes of this motion.

The motion gives the new sector a significant head start on the season, but it also gives the Super Sixty fleet a shot at whatever quota is left over later in the year: “It is also the Council’s intent to maintain the jig sector reallocation regulation at 50 CFR 679.20(a)(7)(iv)(C), which requires a projected unused portion of a seasonal allowance from the jig sector to be reallocated to the 60’ hook & line or pot sector on or near Sept. 1 st of each year.”

Fisherman Eric Velsko had questions about the action. “I was unclear how you could come in and basically create a new sector within a sector, because you could look at all of them and start chopping them up however you wanted if you are unhappy with the allocation.”

Frank Kelty is a former Unalaska mayor who works as a fisheries consultant for the city now. He was hopeful the Council’s action will finally fulfill their original intent: “I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for the small boat sector, 55 and under, in Unalaska, to have an entry level fishery that they will be able to participate in, with a small amount of local cod for local boats.” He went on to note that if jiggers and under-55-foot vessels are unable to catch the set aside quota it would still roll over to all vessels 60 feet and under, including the Super Sixties, at around Sept. 1.

“So I think that will take a little of the sting out of it for them.”

Kodiak’s Julie Kavanaugh, whose family fishes the rollover cod, says the action looks good at face value, but that conditions now are different from 2019 when the action was originally conceived.

“There wasn’t codfish available for those boats to harvest all year,” Kavanaugh said. “But recently, in the past two years, that dynamic has changed.” She noted that the rollover season has remained open late in the year in recent years, giving increased access to everyone.

Rulemaking is a long process, and it could be as long as three years before the new regulations take effect.

Terry Haines was a commercial fisherman in Kodiak for more than 30 years. He now produces the Alaska Fisheries Report for KMXT and is a member of the Kodiak City Council. He can be reached at thaines@city.kodiak.ak.us