The Alaska commercial fishing fleet: thousands ply the sea for abundant fisheries.

• Author: Anderson, Tom
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Natural Resource

The heart of the Alaska fishing industry, and the backbone of its success, has always been the fishermen and their vessels. The enormity of Alaska's commercial fishing fleet is indicative of the trade's vital importance to communities across the state as an economic lifeline for thousands of workers who choose the sea as their workplace.

Just how big is big and who's in charge?

Alaska's commercial fleet is sizable. As of September 2016, there were 9,350 vessels registered with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G). The registration areas spread from Southeast to the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutians to the Yukon River, including fish-rich waters like Prince William Sound, Kodiak, Chignik, Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet, and the Bering Sea.

The lifespan of vessels registered with the state encompasses a huge range, with some of the oldest vessels dating back to 1907 and 1912. Add to the equation the varied kinds of commercial fishing boats: From purse seiner to gillnetter, trailer to longliner, and certainly the crabbers, the industry's array of vessels is multi-faceted.

The sentinel of Alaska's commercial fishing waters, along with several other federal governing bodies, is predominantly ADF&G.

Forrest Bowers, the Deputy Director of ADF&G's Division of Commercial Fisheries, is a former Alaska commercial fisherman who understands the layers and nuances of the industry. ADF&G works integrally in oversight with the National Marine Fisheries, International Halibut Commission, North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, Board of Fisheries and Limited Entry Commission.

ADF&G monitors the collective of commercial vessels through owner self-reporting and licensure. An online spreadsheet is maintained in real time, delineating a vessel's name, owner, home port city, identification number through ADF&G, year built, length, weight in gross and net tons, horsepower, holding tank, fuel capacity, and type of vessel.

"One of the important tools we have in fishery management is the ability to track efforts," notes Bowers. "The number of licensed vessels is an indicator of effort. When managing fisheries during the season it's critical to know the fishing power of the fleet and when the quota threshold is met."

Commercial fisherman have to be aware of the multiple levels of oversight and compliance, which include different gear types or fishing hooks and nets used. It can get complex. The Board of Fisheries has a vessel size limit for some fisheries, and for the salmon fisheries there are gill net limits for drift gill-netters and statewide purse seine vessel limitations which can bleed into fisheries for Pacific cod fisheries that state manages--as well as some crab fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska that can exclude larger vessels that may be more competitive and owned by fisherman that don't reside in local communities.

Bowers indicates the Ground Fish fishery is the largest fishery in the state by volume and per federal management. The Bering Sea Pollock fishery, which is the largest single-species fishery in the world in terms of volume, generates a large tax revenue split with state and municipalities like Unalaska, Akutan, and Kodiak. The next largest fishery managed by the state in this category is Pacific cod. Add in Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska rock and...