The unprecedented COVID-related closure of three major Alaska processing plants has hobbled one of the world's most valuable fisheries, just as the Alaska pollock harvesting season begins and high-value roe is caught and processed.

The Alaska pollock fishery, valued at around $500 million (€411 million), is poised to bring as much as 1.375 million metric tons of harvest this year in the Eastern Bering Sea region alone.

Of that quota, shore-based processing plants in the Aleutian Islands -- supplied by a fleet of catcher vessels -- are allocated 45 percent.