. . . Alaska Groundfish Fisheries 



84 



Figure 19-2.— Landings and 

 abundance trends for Pacific 

 halibut in the North Pacific 

 Ocean for U.S. commercial and 

 recreational fisheries and the 

 Canadian fishery, 1980-90. 



Table 19-1— Recent average, 

 current potential, and long-term 

 potential yields in metric tons 

 (t), and status of utilization for 

 Pacific halibut. The LTPY, CPY, 

 and RAY for the unit equals the 

 sum of the species' LTPY's, CPY's, 

 and RAYs. 



'Does not include 16,000 t for sport catch, bycatch, and waste 



7 198&90 average 



California, Oregon, and Washington 



Bering Sea-Aleutian 

 Islands Groundfish 



The average eastern Bering Sea-Aleutian 

 Islands groundfish catch during 1988-90 

 was about 1.8 million t (Table 19-2; Fig. 

 19-3), valued at about $352 million in 

 1990. The dominant groups harvested 

 were walleye pollock, 75%; flatfishes, 15%; 

 Pacific cod, 7%; Atka mackerel, 1.4%; 

 rockfishes, 0.4%; and sablefish, 0.3%. Rev- 

 enue from trawl landings increased from 

 $129 million in 1988 to $318 million in 

 1990. The pollock fishery increased in 

 value from $86 million in 1988 to $255 

 million in 1990. Longline vessel revenue 

 also increased, largely due to increased 

 Pacific cod catches, from $11 million in 

 1989 to $34 million in 1990. 



Groundfish populations have been main- 

 tained at high levels under the MFCMA. 

 Their long-term potential yield (LTPY) is 

 about 2.71 million t. The current potential 

 yield (CPY) of 2.93 million t for 1991 is 

 above LTPY. This potential has not been 

 fully utilized because catch quotas cannot 

 exceed the optimum yield (OY). The OY is 

 conservatively set below CPY, at 2.0 million 

 t out of consideration for both socioeco- 

 nomic factors and biological yield poten- 

 tial. 



Walleye Pollock: Pollock produce the 

 largest single-species catch for the United 

 States. The three main stocks, in decreas- 

 ing order of abundance, are: Eastern Be- 



