Scientist may have found better way to track Alaska pollock stocks

Since the 1970s experts have determined the biomass of Alaska pollock using bottom trawlers and echo sounders as separate analytics, but a University of Washington doctoral student and employee for National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has developed a way to combine the methods.

Stan Kotwicki has spent more than 20 years observing groundfish in Alaska, but this year he’s the one under observation. Co-workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) are using Kotwicki’s research as an alternative method to help set the total allowable catch (TAC) for Alaska pollock.

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