Island Setting
Bering Sea Fisheries

The domestic Bering Sea groundfish fishery is an important segment of the U.S. fishing industry. With a total catch of two million metric tons and an ex-vessel value of $469 million in 2004 (Hiatt 2005), it accounted for 45% of the weight and 13% of the ex-vessel value of the total United States domestic landings reported in 2004 (Pritchard 2005). The groundfish fishery includes pollock, Pacific cod, sablefish, Atka mackerel, flatfish, and rockfish as target species. Halibut is managed as a separate fishery by the International Halibut Commission.

Bottom-trawl survey data from 1982 to 2004 indicates total catch per unit effort of all fish and invertebrate taxa in the eastern Bering Sea has undergone substantial variation, peaking in 1994 (Boldt 2005, Appendix C). Data for eastern Bering Sea crab abundances show a general decline from 1991 to 2004, and 2004 abundances were low relative to historic peaks (Boldt 2005, Figure 2). Of the six managed crab fisheries, three are open, three are closed, and four are at overfished levels. Rebuilding plans are in place for all overfished crab stocks. No Bering Sea/Aleutian Island groundfish stock is considered overfished or subject to overfishing, nor is halibut considered subject to overfishing.¹

Easting Bering Sea crab abundances (Boldt 2005, Appendix C).