FishWatch

Harvesting Pacific Whiting

There are several different sectors of the U.S. whiting fishery:

• Non-tribal harvesters, including:
  • Catcher boats delivering to shore-based processing facilities.
  • Catcher vessels delivering to at-sea mothership processors (where catch from several boats is brought back for processing and storage until return to land).
  • Processor vessels that both catch and process the catch at sea.
• Tribal harvesters (Makah and Quileute tribes).

Fishermen mainly harvest Pacific whiting using mid-water trawls. Vessels tow a cone-shaped net, spread open with trawl doors, through the water column (as opposed to bottom trawling where vessels tow a net along the ocean floor). The large front end of the net herds schools of whiting toward the narrow back of the net (codend) where they are captured.

Mid-water trawling for whiting has minimal impact on habitat and relatively low incidental catch of other species (typically less than 2 percent of the total catch). Fishermen follow a number of measures to reduce potential bycatch in the fishery. The mesh on the codend of their nets must be at least 3 inches to prevent bycatch of small fish. Regulations restrict where fishermen may harvest Pacific whiting to reduce the bycatch of Chinook salmon. Each sector’s catch is also restricted by limits on bycatch of Chinook salmon and depleted rockfish species. There is 100 percent observer monitoring on at-sea processors and catcher vessels; these observers monitor catch. Full accounting of catch leads to reduced bycatch.

Management

Who’s in charge? The Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries are responsible for the U.S. fishery for the coastal stock. State and local management agencies manage the Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia stocks. There has been no directed commercial fishery for these two stocks since 1991.

Current management: Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan

Managers mainly use annual harvest quotas to regulate the coastwide catch of whiting. The United States and Canada have signed an agreement that allocates a set percentage of the harvest quota to American and Canadian fishermen. Currently the United States is allocated about 74 percent and Canada the remaining 26 percent. U.S. managers divide their quota among different sectors of the domestic fishery: shoreside catcher vessels, catcher/processor vessels, mothership catcher vessels, and tribal harvesters.

Fishing companies owning trawlers in the mothership and catcher/processor sectors of the fishery established the Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative in 1997. They allocate their catch quota among cooperative members to allow them to use the quota more efficiently, compared to vessels competing for a share of the catch. The result is a less wasteful, more environmentally friendly fishery that produces a higher quality product.

The shore-based trawl fishery, which includes vessels targeting Pacific whiting, is now managed under the groundfish trawl rationalization program. Under this new catch share program, managers allocate a share of the catch limit to individual fishermen or groups of fishermen. These fishermen then 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. This program also includes full catch accounting, with 100 percent observer coverage, which leads to reduced bycatch and better data for stock assessments.

Annual Harvest

Commercial fishermen harvest whiting from the coastal population from April to November along northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. For nearly 50 years, coastwide landings of Pacific whiting have averaged 221,000 metric tons. Recent landings have been above the long-term average, around 274,000 metric tons. In 2010, landings were about 217,000 metric tons.

Economy

Pacific whiting landings were valued at over $27.3 million in 2010.

Recreational

Recreational fishermen do not target Pacific whiting but sometimes catch them incidentally while fishing for other groundfish and salmon.