July 23, 2021 — Alaska’s Bering Sea pollock B season, which runs from June 10 to October 31, is experiencing strong volumes, but smaller fish sizes are causing a shortage of supply for the pollock fillet market.
This season is an improvement over last year’s B season, when a disappointing slog ended with fishermen leaving part of the total allowable catch in the water. Brent Paine, the executive director of United Catcher Boats, told SeafoodSource that the fish are out there, but they are about half the ideal size.
“The fishing is okay, but the fish are small. The fleet would like to see 700- to 800-gram fish, but what they’re bumping into is a lot of 400-gram fish. They’re smaller than we would like to see,” Paine told SeafoodSource.
During a recent 3-Minute Market Insight, Tradex Foods, a Canadian seafood supplier, warned that the smaller pollock size would strain supply for once-frozen pollock fillets.
“Small-size pollock will ultimately minimize the amount of pollock fillets being produced, especially for anything larger than two to four ounces,” said Tradex’s Kyla Hayward.