Development and Present Status of Bottomfish Resources in the Bering Sea

Fisheries for bottomfish in the Bering Sea are largely a post-second world war development, with landings having increased from 13,000 metric tons in 1954 to an estimated 2 million metric tons in 1971. Most of the harvest is off Alaska in the southeastern sector of the Bering Sea, where conditions are most favorable for development of resources and fisheries. In 1970 and 1971, Japan accounted for approximately 84% and the USSR 15% of the combined harvest by all nations. South Korea, United States, and Canada took the remaining 1% of the harvest. Initial target of the fisheries of Japan and USSR was yellowfin sole. Yields of yellowfin sole were not sustained and Japan shifted attention to Alaska pollock. Production of Alaska pollock in 1970 from the North Pacific (about half is from the Bering Sea) was tied with Atlantic cod for second place in worldwide landings of a single species.Analysis of condition of resources is handicapped by unavailability of adequate statistics for earlier years of the fishery. Even for those participants who provided detailed statistics, information is usually lacking on quantities offish discarded, and changes in fishing gear and fishing tactics that need to be corrected for in assessing the condition of stocks. There is no institutional mechanism for Bering Sea or the North Pacific that makes it mandatory for all nations to provide common and comprehensive statistics on their fisheries and to undertake joint management.Consideration of available data suggests that the pulse nature of the Bering Sea fisheries resulted in the depletion of several important resources. Yellowfin sole were overfished during the early period of the fishery. Although the picture is far from clear for other species, the Pacific Ocean perch, blackcod, and shrimp resources also appear to have been overfished at least on certain important grounds within the Bering Sea. The chronology of Japan’s fishery for herring suggests the initial exploitation of the stock in the western Bering Sea off Asia may have been intense enough to deplete that resource. Although there is yet no indication of depletion of Alaska pollock, the great increase in harvest of that species, coupled with reliance on a few year classes to support the fishery, should serve as a warning against further uncontrolled increases in fishing.