Pollack are a big source of white fish now that many cod stocks have been depleted (Image: Scott Aiken/Rex Features)

Heard of the walleye pollack? If you’re partial to a McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish burger, you have probably eaten it.

It is one of the main reasons white fish is still available to eat, despite the collapse of many cod fisheries. But now walleye pollack, which accounts for a third of the total US fish catch, is itself in danger.

Fisheries scientists met last week in Seattle and recommended that next year’s catch in the eastern Bering Sea, the main walleye pollack-fishing region for US boats, be cut by 18% to 815,000 tonnes. See the report (pdf format).


A series of cuts in recent years have seen the quota drop from almost 1,500,000 tonnes in 2005. The scientists’ recommendation, which they say is a sustainable catch based on ecological models, is expected to be accepted by the government next month.

The reduced quota could bump up fish prices, but many fear that worse is to come. Models have failed to foresee the collapse of other major stocks, such as the cod fisheries in the north Atlantic.

Some scientists, as well as the environmental group Greenpeace, have argued that the quota should be cut to around 500,000 in order to give the walleye pollack a chance to recover from years of overfishing.

“We are on the cusp of one of the largest fishery collapses in history,” said John Hocevar, Greenpeace oceans campaign director. “It may still be possible to prevent disaster.”

Hocevar and others add that the fall in walleye pollack numbers is one reason for the population crash of one of the fish’s predators – Steller sea lions. Numbers have dropped by 80% since the 1970s (Ecological Applications, DOI: 10.1890/07-0508.1).