FishWatch

Harvesting Lingcod

Lingcod support important commercial and recreational fisheries from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California. In Alaska, lingcod have been harvested for centuries by the indigenous coastal populations of Southeast, Southcentral, and Western Alaska. Long ago, they fished for lingcod with hooks made of wood or bone, often ornately carved with spirit figures to attract the fish. The Makah Tribe and other coastal tribes have historically targeted another smaller member of the Hexagrammidae family, the kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus) for subsistence and also used the smaller greenlings as live bait for the much larger lingcod. Today, lingcod are still fished for subsistence but are also harvested commercially in fisheries in Southeast Alaska. Alaskan fishermen use longlines, dinglebar gear, electronic jig robot gear, and handline jigs to harvest lingcod.

Off the West Coast, the fishery for lingcod has a long history. Lingcod was found in remains from archaeological sites dating back to 6200 BC on the central California coast from San Mateo to San Luis Obispo. More recently, the commercial fishery off California dates back more than a century, and the fishery off Washington and Oregon dates back nearly as far. Today, lingcod is harvested along with other groundfish species in the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery. They’re also harvested incidentally in bottom longline and salmon troll fisheries.

Management

Who’s in charge? West Coast: NOAA Fisheries and the Pacific Fishery Management Council; Alaska: Department of Fish and Game

Current management: West Coast: Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan.

• Limit on the minimum size of fish that can be harvested.
• Limit on how much lingcod can be harvested in a fishing trip.
• Certain seasons and areas are closed to fishing.
• Gear restrictions to reduce bycatch and impacts on habitat.
• Since January 2011, the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery has been managed under a trawl rationalization catch share program. Managers establish annual catch limits based on the health of each fish stock and then allocate a share of this catch limit to individual fishermen or groups of fishermen. Fishermen can decide how and when to catch their share – preferably when weather, markets, and business conditions are most favorable, allowing the fishery the flexibility to be more environmentally responsible, safer, more efficient, and more valuable. The goal is to allow fishermen to catch more of the healthy target stocks (such as lingcod) without increasing their harvest of overfished stocks.

Alaska: Department of Fish and Game Commercial Fisheries Regulations The State of Alaska manages the lingcod fishery in both state and federal waters of Alaska. To protect this species from overharvest, lingcod fisheries in Alaska are conservatively managed to ensure enough fish are left to reproduce and replenish the population. Management measures:

• Close the fishery during spawning and nesting seasons to protect spawning female lingcod and nest-guarding male lingcod.
• Limit the minimum size of fish that can be caught to protect immature fish from being harvested and allow fish to spawn at least once before being subject to harvest.
• Restrict catch through catch and bycatch quotas.

Annual Harvest

Off the West Coast, landings have declined significantly over the past two decades, with commercial harvest of 174 metric tons (over 380,000 pounds) in 2010.

In Alaska, lingcod was mainly caught as bycatch in Southeast Alaska fisheries targeting other species. However, since 1987, the lingcod harvest has become increasingly important both in the directed fishery and as bycatch. The 2010 commercial harvest was 232 metric tons (over 500,000 pounds).

Economy

Lingcod is an important commercial species in Washington, Oregon, California, and Alaska. Lingcod is also a highly valued sport fish – they’re extremely aggressive and put up an impressive fight. Once landed, they provide a tasty meal.

RECREATIONAL

Off the West Coast, lingcod must be a certain size to be caught. There is also a limit on the number of lingcod fishermen can catch and keep per day. Due to high yelloweye rockfish bycatch in West Coast hook-and-line recreational fisheries, recreational harvest needs to be carefully managed. Further research is needed to determine whether there is a hook-and-line method that could catch lingcod without bycatch of yelloweye rockfish. Charterboat fishermen based out of Westport, Washington, experimented with targeting lingcod using large flatfish (over 8 inches) as bait and recorded significantly fewer encounters with yelloweye rockfish. Efforts like this should be further explored to ensure recreational fishermen can continue to catch lingcod, especially because of the important role recreational fisheries play in coastal communities.

In Alaska, the sport fishery is closed during lingcod spawning and nesting seasons. There are also minimum size limits and daily bag and possession limits. Unlike rockfish, lingcod do not have a swim bladder and have high post-release survival, which makes them an excellent species for practicing catch-and-release fishing.