Billion-Dollar Fish: The Untold Story of Alaska Pollock

301 Pages·2013·1.94 MB·English

by  Kevin M. Bailey

Billion-Dollar Fish

BILLION-DOLLAR FISH
the untold story of alaska pollock
Kevin M. Bailey
the university of chicago press chicago and london
Kevin M. Bailey is the founding director of Man & Sea Institute and affi liate professor
at the University of Washington. He formerly was a senior scientist at the Alaska Fish-
eries Science Center. He has published over 100 papers, mostly about Alaska pollock.
(cid:22) e University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
(cid:22) e University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2013 by (cid:22) e University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2013.
Printed in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-02234-5 (cloth)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-02248-2 (e-book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bailey, Kevin McLean, author.
Billion-dollar fi sh : the untold story of Alaska pollock / Kevin M. Bailey.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-226-02234-5 (cloth : alkaline paper) — isbn 978-0-226-02248-2 (e-book)
1. Pollock fi sheries—History—20th century. 2. Walleye pollock—Eff ect of fi shing
on. I. Title.
sh351.w32b35 2013
639.3ˇ772—dc23
2012044795
(cid:22) is paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso
z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Contents
Preface • vii
Prologue: Fishing Lessons • 1
1 introduction • 11
White Gold Fever
2 a historical background • 25
From an Inexhaustible Ocean to the (cid:2) ree-Mile Limit
3 fishing the high seas • 46
Japan and the Soviet Union Develop the Alaska Pollock Fishery
4 americanization! • 59
(cid:2) e Rush for White Gold and the Developing Fishery
5 an empty donut hole • 73
(cid:2) e Great Collapse of a North Pacifi c Pollock Stock
6 viking invasion • 89
Norway’s Link to the Pollock Industry
7 a new fish on the block • 109
Advancing Knowledge of Pollock Biology
8 a new ocean • 129
Changing Concepts of Ocean Production and Management of Fisheries
9 factories of doom • 139
(cid:2) e Pollock Fishing Industry Clashes with the Environment
10 All in the FAmily • 152
Olympic Fishing and Domestic Strife in the Industry
11 Bridge over trouBled WAter • 174
Tranquility after the American Fisheries Act
12 AlAskA Pollock’s chAllenging Future • 199
Appendix A: Terminology • 217
Appendix B: Other Abbreviations • 219
Notes • 221
Bibliography • 247
Index • 265
Illustrations follow pages 58 and 138.
Preface
Speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fi sh in the sea inform you.
Job 12:7–2
(cid:22) e Alaska pollock fi shery developed with explosive force, rising from
obscurity about forty years ago to become the world’s largest food
fi shery within a decade. (cid:22) e fi shermen’s invasion of the arctic seas
to catch the fi sh with snow-white meat resembled a gold rush. At the
time, knowledge of the resource lagged far behind the process of ex-
ploitation, depletion, and discovery of new stocks. Scientists could not
keep up with an industry on steroids. By the late 1980s, ships to fi sh for
pollock were being built at a furious pace. Empires were created and
fortunes were made and lost. In some regions, stocks were overfi shed
and depleted.
Many people witnessed the pollock story from the beginning, but
few contributed to making the history. I was a biologist trying to un-
derstand changes in the population, not a fi sherman, politician, or
manager, all of whom infl uence the course of events. Looking back,
I realize that as an observer on the sidelines, I had stumbled into the
shadow of the world’s largest food fi shery and along the way witnessed
one of the largest fi shery collapses in history, that of the “Donut Hole”
stock of pollock. Since my own career spans much of the development
of the fi shery, I became motivated to discover what happened during
the time I was busily engaged in science.
My intent in telling the story of Alaska pollock is to describe not
only what happened, but also why things happened. I learned that
both opportunity and personalities drive the story of the fi shery, give
it life, and make it interesting. Without exception, I appreciate and
viii / preface
respect the many people I talked with during the research for this
book. I learned something from each. Many of the people involved in
the early years of the US fi shery are still alive, and I was fortunate to
interview some of them.
When riches are involved, people ba= le over them. In the case of
pollock, there were fi ghts over many issues related to the resource. As
the path of this book developed, the confl icts among groups became
tangible. I tried to get opinions from each side of the issues and to
present them as fairly as I could. At times I felt like a hapless observer
who had walked into the middle of a duel between two off ended par-
ties. It’s hard to fi gure out who is right. Everyone is the hero of his own
side of the story.
I tell the story of the pollock fi shery in a narrative style, braiding
interviews and stories with descriptions of science, policy, and events.
(cid:22) e story starts with a prologue, which is a description of the circu-
itous route I took in my career in fi sheries biology that acquainted me
with pollock. (cid:22) e Introduction (Chapter 1) summarizes the main sub-
jects and themes that follow. Chapter 2 sets the stage of the global and
historical scene of fi shing, the broader landscape in which the pollock
story played out.
(cid:22) e fi shery was largely developed by Japan, as described in Chap-
ter 3. (cid:22) e direct role of the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in
the developing fi shery was surprising. A growing awareness of the
richness of the fi sheries in the Bering Sea and the declaration of a
200-mile fi sheries zone in 1976 leads into the text on Americanization
(Chapter 4).
(cid:22) e Americanization process squeezed the enormous fi shing capac-
ity of Japan, Korea, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
into the international high seas. Chapter 5 documents its demise in
the “Donut Hole” due to overfi shing. Chapter 6 tells about the massive
investment of Norwegian banks in the fi shery and the critical role of
Norwegian immigrants. (cid:22) en there is a short break in the narrative
to catch up on what we’ve learned about pollock that we didn’t know
previously (Chapter 7) and the changing global landscape of fi sheries
(Chapter 8).
Americanization of the fi shery brought several new problems.
Chapter 9 describes the struggle between industry and the environ-
mental movement. Chapter 10 describes the strife within the industry
preface / ix
caused by a race that involved too many boats catching a limited num-
ber of fi sh.
A> er the American Fisheries Act passed in 1998, the waters of the
pollock industry calmed. But new issues keep surfacing. Chapter 11 de-
scribes the struggle for fairness in se= ing up private quotas, resources
given to western Alaskan coastal communities, and issues of salmon
bycatch, management councils, and ecosystem impacts. Finally, Chap-
ter 12 paints a scene of the future.
Over the course of this project over fi > y people were formally inter-
viewed or engaged in long discussions. In most cases, their participa-
tion also involved a review of the notes I had taken and o> en follow-up
correspondence, phone calls, or further discussions. I thank the fol-
lowing people for allowing themselves to be interviewed and for their
openness: Tim (cid:22) omas, Mick Stevens, Becca Robbins-Gisclair, Fred
Munson, Vera Schwach, Wally Pereyra, Marty Nelson, Ken Stump,
John Warrenchuk, Rune Hornnes, Tony Allison, Lee Alverson, Linda
Behnken, Dave Fluharty, Dan Huppert, Chris McReynolds, John Sjong,
Bernt Bodal, Brent Paine, Dorothy Lowman, Magne Nes, Mike Weber,
John Gruver, Rod Fujita, Tor Tollessen, Paul MacGregor, Jan Jacobs,
Susanne Iudicello, Tim Smith, Zoya Johnson, Chris Mackie, Ed Miles,
Lowell Fritz, Jena Carter, Larry Merculieff , Boris Olich, Howard Car-
lough, Jessie Gharre= , Doug Dixon, Leif Mannes, Artur Dacruz, Kaare
Ness, Mary Furuness, Becky Mansfi eld, Dave Fraser, Mike Zimny, Ed
Lu= rell, Jim Ianelli, Alan Longhurst, Joe Plesha, Marc Wells, Vera Ago-
stini, Pat Shanahan, Erik Breivik, John Bundy, and several anonymous
fi shermen. I a= empted to contact or interview many others and was
not successful.
I am grateful for the repeated discussions, suggestions, and/or en-
couragement of Monica Orellana, Mike Canino, Wayne Palsson, Jeff
Napp, Carmel Finley, Layne Maheu, Gary Stauff er, Lorenzo Cian-
nelli, Mary Hunsicker, Bob Francis, Daniel Sloan, Mike Macy, Suam
Kim, Anne Hollowed, neighbors, and others. I also appreciated Nick
O’Connell’s Writer’s Workshop and the support of my classmates. (cid:22) e
following people relayed information/contacts or gave comments:
Stan Senner, Dorothy Childers, Paul Dye, Bill Eichbaum, Gary Stauff er,
Mike Macy, Doug Dixon, Carmel Finley, Gordy Swartzman (for the
Dickens quote), Akira Nishimura, Katie Flynn-Jambeck, Chris Wilson
(for suggesting that I write a book on pollock), and Dave King.