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Walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) is a key species in the Alaska groundfish complex and a target species for one of the world's largest fisheries. Walleye pollock produce the largest catch of any single species inhabiting the 200-mile U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Today, Alaska pollock is the primary "fish-stick fish." It is also the fish used in many fast-food fish sandwiches, and the mild-tasting fish is regularly used in imitation crab.

Pollock is a semipelagic schooling fish widely distributed in the North Pacific Ocean with largest concentrations found in the eastern Bering Sea. Pollock are considered a relatively fast growing and short-lived species and currently represents a major biological component of the Bering Sea ecosystem. In the U.S. portion of the Bering Sea including the Aleutian Islands region, three stocks of pollock are identified for management purposes.

Pollock in the Gulf of Alaska are managed as a single stock independently of pollock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. The separation of pollock in Alaskan waters into eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska stocks is supported by analysis of larval drift patterns from spawning locations, genetic studies of allozyme frequencies, mtDNA variability, and microsatellite allele variability.

During 2011, pollock made up 62% of the total groundfish catch off Alaska.  The pollock catch for 2011 was 1,282,780 metric tons (t), up approximately 44% from 2010.

The 2011 catch of flatfish, which includes yellowfin sole, rock sole and arrowtooth flounder, was 327,310 t or 15.8% of the total 2011 Alaska groundfish catch, up about 12% from 2010.

Pacific cod accounted for 304,950 t or 14.7% of the total 2011 Alaska groundfish catch.  The Pacific cod catch was up about 22% from a year earlier.

Other important species (% of total 2011 catch and % change from 2010) are:  Atka mackerel 53,430 t (2.6%, down 25%),
sablefish 12,870 t (0.6%, up 8%), and rockfish 51,120 t (2.5%, up 5%).