Pollock Fishing in the Bering Sea, Alaska

Pelagic (mid-water) trawling for pollock fish. This is a compilation of still shot and video edited to show a typical fishing experience on this type of commercial trawler in Alaska from start to finish. Unfortunately there is no audio. This video was made in 2006 on F/V Highland Light. Pollock is a white fleshed fish used for fish sticks, fillet 'o fish, and also a main ingredient in surimi (artifical crab). Other byproducts include fishmeal (fertilizer and animal feed) and fish oil.

Comments

1. Hi Dave, can I have permission to use a few clips from your film "Pollock Fishing in the Bering Sea, Alaska"?
   
   Many thanks.
2. ce vraiment à d'orable j'aime la pêche
3. cá khoai
4. crazy to think i have been eating this shit
5. Its funny coming here and seeing complain about this sort of fishing when they have absolutely NO idea what they're talking about. This is not at all out of the normal for big fishing operations, and this happens all around the world. This is how your fish is caught. Deal with it.
6. What a criminal waste of expensive netting. Surely someone will notice it's only the last 20 feet that ever has any fish in it.
7. I am a commercial fishermen by trade. I started working as a commercial scuba diver for shellfish & then I landed My first job on a 185 foot herring & then mackerel boat, same boat different seasons. I have worked on too many boats, enough to know that fishing is probably the most physically demanding & exhausting job in the world, & the 2nd most dangerous job in the world. I have worked as a deckhand over 2 (or maybe even 3) days straight without sleep, but that is common for fishermen on the oceans. I know that I have been in some pretty hairy storms, & this might be an oxymoron for a commercial fisherman, but sometimes I have been sea sick puking to the point of vomiting up stomach bile & then dry heaving with gag reflex, etc.. And I have been in storms that the wind was probably blowing over 80+ miles per hour in the open ocean in the Atlantic, but I do not know for certain as the boats I worked on didn't have wind reading instruments, but l assume over 30 feet waves too. Again, no way for Me to measure the height of the waves while out at sea. And I would recommend everyone to do some other profession other than fishing, unless you want to take a gamble at an early death & make maybe less than minimum wage while you work to the point of collapsing & then maybe get 1 or 2 hours sleep & do it again & again until the fishing trip is done, you might feel like you got ran over by a 1k foot train that ran you over & over. And the ocean is a relentless & unyielding, perilous place to work, if you get seriously injured or die while out at sea, the ocean will not care & you might be many hours away from the nearest harbor if you get hurt, & the boats will usually not turn around & head for port if you get hurt, they might just call for the coast guard if the injury is life threatening. And I know that fishing is probably the most underpaid job in the world, for the fishermen / deckhands, & you might work over 500 hours & get paid less than $4k before they take taxes from you, as I made the last boat while being like 4 weeks at the Grand Banks fishing for the ~250,000 pounds total of flounder caught during the ~4 weeks. But hey, thats why they call it fishing, sometimes you make more but sometimes not. But fishing is not even an option for the men who are not in like very athletic shape & being young enough to do the job. And I am not an aficionado of fishing on commercial fishing boats, I don't know why Lord led Me to do that trade, but I wanted to make money & it kind of just happened within a year after I dropped out of college, etc.. And I couldn't advocate anyone be a fisherman, it is an elite breed of people that are very strong & don't fear death like many other would. And I believe that even the most athletic people would have a hard time just staying awake for the same time as a normal trip that fishermen endeavor in, nevermind the work too. And I guess that the storms didn't worry Me as much as like having to deal with the physical work itself, which said work is akin to being beat up by a gang of professional heavyweight kick boxers. But the storms, I enjoyed them to a degree, & I would work like the storms were another day in the office. And I am still not afraid of death to a degree, but I plan on being safe anyways, but fishing is like gambling with your life on a string. And I know that videos online cannot justly depict what it is like being in the mix of the brewing hurricanes, but the same would apply to many other things, too. And I know that fishing is probably the worst job in the world, as far as needing to exert strenuous feats daily without much sleep, but l am grateful that I am still alive & I have some stories to tell about the adventures, but the money is nil compared to the applied efforts. And if you are or were a fisherman, you would probably know that this is true &/or maybe not emphatically stressed enough about the fishing trade per a deckhand. And I am not implying everyone would be unable to be fishermen, but if My advice could help, it is not worth the risks & the efforts, but I know that I can only give My advice from this perspective from experience, but it is what it is, & the Lord is with everyone, regardless. . .
   
   Peace be upon you,
   George Manuel Oliveira
   
   ~PEACE~
8. This is where all the McDonald's fish sandwiches come from
9. we have the best managed fisheries in the world in North America we ship are sea food around the world and import sea food caught by unsustainable practises and the people that comment on here have been eating that shit there whole life
   
   read and educate yourself on fishing before you comment!!
10. This video brings back memories of DUTCH HARBOR. I've worked at Unisea Inc and I sure do miss it. Offloading Crabs, butchering it, Case Up, Badder Driver and much more task I was assign on. Starting Pay wasn't enough but I was still pleased with it. Thank you Unisea and Dutch Harbor, I would still want to visit there again.
11. wou shit they do aal this in the ship dude what murdering machine
12. 🚡🚃
13. IS tara fish ma na nae daka
14. linda pezca
15. I like how people assume based on no evidence that this is environmentally unfriendly when the pollock fishery is one of the best managed in the world. That or they cry and tear their garments over eating fish. This is where the majority of your fishsticks and fast food fish come from folks. Did you think the fish fairy dropped them off instead?
16. this cost 1.2 million a piece
17. How do I apply ?
18. Also to those brave fisherman out there risking life and limb to feed us I applaud you for your hard work
19. Nobody thinks of where or how their seafood is caught and packaged till someone thinks hey I will show how it's done then the bleeding heart liberals come out of the woodwork.
20. mashallah mashallah good job