Unalaska, AK – Pollock fishermen in the Bering Sea have hauled in an unusually large amount of squid this summer, causing serious problems for the fishery. Boats have netted about 1,300 metric tons of squid along with their pollock since January, which is about 300 metric tons over the federally allowed limit.

As of Friday, boats were catching about 500 tons of squid a week, a rate that the National Marine Fisheries Service estimates could push squid into the overfishing range by early next week. As a result, NMFS added squid to the list of prohibited species for the fishery on Friday. In an effort to avoid further restrictions, pollock boats are voluntarily fishing farther north in the Bering Sea, in some cases as far away as the Pribilof Islands.

Karl Haflinger is the president of Sea State, Inc., a Seattle-based fisheries consulting firm that specializes in bycatch issues like the squid problem. Haflinger is working with the Bering Sea pollock fleet and federal regulators to coordinate the northward shift of the fishery, a move he says comes at a high cost.

The squid dilemma is the latest bad news for the pollock fleet, which is in the middle of a particularly slow harvest. Since the season opened last month, pollock boats delivering in Dutch Harbor have netted just 80,000 metric tons of fish, about 20 percent of their total allowance for the season.