Some tasty, pricey black cod heading to Kodiak food banks

Needy Alaskans are enjoying a rare taste of sablefish, one of the world's priciest fish, thanks to a science project that's kept research fish from going over the rails.

Sablefish, commonly called black cod, are a high-end fish, and some of the largest stocks live in Alaska waters. The deep-water fish is found at 5,000 feet or more and can live to nearly 100 years. The Gulf of Alaska fishery has a catch quota of 20 million pounds this year (dipping to 18.2 million in 2017). That's usually worth more than $90 million to Alaska fishermen at the docks.

But the population — measured by the number of spawning females — has decreased about 3 percent a year since 2004, and researchers want to find out why.

In December a team from the NOAA Auke Bay Lab in Juneau tagged 40 female sablefish with satellite tags that will release on a set date.

"Sablefish movements have been tracked for decades, but this tagging will give us a better idea of where and when these females are releasing their eggs," said Katy Echave, chief scientist for the sablefish project. "Accurate estimates of the amount of mature fish will give us better estimates of the number of spawners. And we also will have a better understanding of what environmental conditions are causing this period of low recruitment, which is likely due to low survival in their egg and larval stages."

Sablefish samples are being scrutinized in Auke Bay, but researchers don't expect results for a few years. Meanwhile, needy Alaskans are enjoying the sablefish. By federal law, all research fish must be tossed overboard — but a quick collaboration between regulators, fishermen and scientists sent a boatload of fish to feed the hungry instead.

"I cannot rave enough about the F/V Gold Rush (crew), who we contracted to do the sablefish survey," Echave said. "They came to me and said instead of tossing this fish overboard, is there any way we can donate it? And the crew went about coordinating all the logistics for getting the fish processed by Trident, who donated their facility and staff time, and then getting it distributed it to the Kodiak food bank."

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In all, 4,000 pounds of research fish went to hunger relief programs on Alaska's biggest island. That's just 0.02 percent of the total catch, but it makes a dent.

"It was a very neat example of healthy relationships in Alaska with members of the industry and researchers, all trying to do the good thing," Echave said.

The sablefish effort dovetailed with Kodiak's "bycatch-to-food-banks" program, which reclaims fish that, by law, would be dumped at sea. Last year, trawlers from Kodiak, Sand Point and King Cove donated nearly 42,000 pounds of salmon, halibut and black cod taken as bycatch to local hunger relief.

The program began five years ago when Gulf fishermen and processors collaborated with Sea Share, the only organization federally authorized to retain and distribute fish taken as bycatch for hunger relief. A similar program has operated in the Bering Sea since 1993.

"We make it very clear that we are not asking for bycatch. These are some of the best fishermen who work hard to avoid it. But when they do catch it, they want to see something good done with it. They want to utilize everything that's in the net, so they donate it to us," said Jim Harmon, Sea Share director.

The nonprofit has become one of the nation's largest protein donors, reclaiming 4.2 million pounds of fish that would otherwise have been thrown overboard. Its network includes 138 fishing vessels, 34 at-sea processors and 15 shoreside plants.

Sea Share has donated more than 630,000 pounds of fish to Alaska hunger relief programs in Anchorage, Kenai, Nome and Kotzebue over the last three years. That equates to more than 2 million servings of high-protein seafood, Harmon said.

"We are now working on a distribution project in Western Alaska," Harmon said. "The plan is to install freezers in four or five hub villages, and to accept larger quantities shipped via surface freight. That will reduce costs and improve distribution of seafood, which is one of the biggest hurdles."

Billions of pounds of pollock

Fishermen have been hauling in thousands of pounds of cod from the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea since January. And Alaska's biggest fishery — pollock — got underway on Jan. 20. More than 3.5 billion pounds of pollock will be taken in Alaska waters this year. Other highlights:

• A lingcod fishery of nearly 1 million pounds has begun in Southeast Alaska, along with a fishery for seven different kinds of deep-water rockfish.

• Divers are still seeking sea cucumbers, urchins and geoduck clams.

• Southeast trollers are still fishing for winter king salmon — each worth more than a barrel of oil.

• The region's golden king crab and Tanner crab fisheries will open Feb. 17.

• Major crab fisheries are still underway in the Bering Sea. Crabbers have landed about 11 million of a 36.5 million pound snow crab quota.

• When unstable ice conditions improve, the year's first red king crab fishery will kick off in Norton Sound, with a catch topping a half-million pounds sought.

Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based commercial fishing columnist. Contact her at msfish@alaskan.com.

Laine Welch | Fish Factor

Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based journalist who writes a weekly column, Fish Factor, that appears in newspapers and websites around Alaska and nationally. Contact her at msfish@alaskan.com.

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