GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA

News

Ebb & Flow: Early pollock run brings boosts for day draggers

Ebb & Flow
Peter Prybot
Published: November 29, 2008

Many Gloucester groundfishermen thought turkey and pollock this November.

An early inshore run of that powerful food fish beginning about three weeks ago off of Cape Ann benefited approximately four local day-boat draggers for change. Instead of netting cod with the rest of the inshore fleet, those vessels zeroed in on the pollock using the bigger boats' quick-volume trip strategy.

Just about every fall, schools of Gulf of Maine pollock migrate inshore, remaining into the early winter before heading offshore again. But many groundfish boats shy away from them as main targets because of the commonly low return — often less than 35 cents per pound — and for the extra back-breaking work of cleaning the large volumes of them needed to make a profit.

"There's pollock, but no price. I haven't keyed in on them; they aren't worth anything," said Capt. Tom Turner of the dragger Capt'n Jake. "If they go to 60 cents, 70 cents or 80 cents a pound, I might be tempted. At 38 cents a pound, how do you pay for the fuel, ice and lumpers?"

Turner, who reflects the attitude many fishermen have toward pollock, primarily targets flatfish, monkfish and hake in the Gulf of Maine. Many vessels, such as the Capt'n Jake, regularly net and land incidental catches of pollock throughout the year.

About five of Gloucester's remaining big boat draggers — those approximately 75 feet or longer, like the Grace Marie — did well on pollock last year, especially in December and January, by making repeated quick-volume trips, often landing 50,000 pounds of pollock or more during 24- to 48-hour periods. The Gloucester Seafood Display Auction handled more than 400,000 pounds of pollock one week last January.

The Canadian salt fish market absorbs most of the pollock catches during times of plenty. It also buys cod when it's cheap (around $1.20 a pound). Cod usually yields the fishermen at least $1.50 a pound. Demand for most seafoods generally ebbs in November.

The pollock fishing "saved my month (November)," said Russell Sherman, owner and captain of one of those day-boat draggers, the Lady Jane. "We (including crewmen Joe "Ringo" Parisi, Stevie Cambria and V.J. Orlando) lucked out. The pollock came in closer this year, and the boat price remained steady, about 35 cents to 30 cents a pound, while the price of cod was down about $1.20 a pound."

Busty Noto, captain of the Grace Marie, also believes "the pollock showed up early this year. The price has been about 5 cents a pound higher, too."

Instead of spending longer fishing days in November with its limited days-at-sea allotment in an area where every hour counts as two trying to catch her 800-pound daily cod limit, the Lady Jane quickly got to the pollock grounds, netted around 10,000 pounds, and returned to port, often in less than six hours time.

"We turned over the most dough in the shortest time, and we got a $3,000 stock for the day (versus around $1,000 for cod, plus a higher fuel bill and more days-at-sea time during the same period)," said Sherman.

Cleaning the 10,000-pound daily catches of pollock typically took the Lady Jane's crew about two hours. "The fish are only about three hours old when they hit the dock," Sherman said.

The pollock inshore have recently petered out. The Lady Jane and the other day-boat pollock draggers will join most of the rest of the inshore groundfish fleet and target cod again when Middlebank re-opens this Monday. Cod should be plentiful there, and prices have been on the rise.

The big boats will continue concentrating on pollock — considered to be a healthy species, at least up to this year — and their landings should increase along the waterfront for the upcoming months. The 99-foot Princess Laura out of Gloucester recently had a 50,000-pound set of them elsewhere after towing its fishing gear only 45 minutes.

But the fishery powers-that-be have already proposed a 600-pound daily pollock limit for the upcoming fishing year that begins May 1.

Gloucester lobsterman Peter K. Prybot regularly writes about the fishing industry and related issues for the Times.SFlb

Photos