The catcher-processor ship Alaska Ocean hauls in some 65 tons of Pacific whiting in its 1,700-foot-long net 30 miles off the coast of Oregon. The 375-foot long factory trawler, converted from an offshore oil-field supply ship in 1990, is the largest US vessel of its kind, catching and processing around 6,000 tons of whiting and 65,000 tons of pollock from the North Pacific and Bering Sea each year. The highly regulated pollock fishery is the largest in the nation, accounting for a third of all US fisheries landings, and it has been deemed sustainable by numerous researchers and environmental groups. The processing crew aboard the Alaska Ocean can head, gut, clean, and flash freeze nearly thirty tons of fish per hour, turning the mild-tasting, fast-growing species into fish filets, fish sticks, surimi (fish paste), and fish meal, including McDonald’s “Filet-O-Fish” sandwiches.
