Docklines May 2011
Docklines June 2011
Docklines July 2011
Docklines August 2011
(The links below will take you to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute website in new browser tabs.)
Wild Sablefish—The Alaska sablefish longline fishery is certified as
sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Our sablefish are harvested from
depths as great as 3,000 feet. Living in a cold, deepwater environment gives sablefish a rich,
buttery flavor with unmatched Omega 3 content. Snow white sablefish fillets flake perfectly
and are melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
Wild Halibut—Our MSC-certified halibut are also longline harvested.
Halibut’s reputation as one of the premier seafoods in Alaska is well earned. Firm, white
fillets and mild flavor make halibut easy to prepare and always a treat.
Wild Rockfish—Yelloweye rockfish are harvested in limited quantities in
the halibut and sablefish longline fisheries. These bright red fish have a firm fillet with a
delicate flavor well suited to Cajun-style “blackened” rockfish, chowder, or light sauces.
sablefish, halibut and
rockfish are harvested with benthic
longline gear from family-owned fishing
vessels generally less than 60 feet in
length.
Benthic longlining is a passive fishing technique
that has been used sustainably for more than 150
years. Benthic longlines make use of a groundline
set along the sea floor, with short branch lines
called gangions attached every few yards ending
in a baited hook.
Longlines are left to soak for a few hours then retrieved, as pictured above. Each fish is individually landed.
This individual attention to quality continues once the fish is onboard the vessel. Each fish is humanely stunned, gill bled and chilled on ice within minutes of being harvested.
Commercial fishing has been a part of Frank Balovich’s life since he was 5 and he has the photo on board as a reminder of where he’s come from and what he inherited from his dad. When his father died, Frank took on his father’s fishing business and soon learned how different it was being a captain rather than crew. But with his hard working deckhands, Erik Jameson and Waylon Evans, and the Monk design 48’ steel Carole D underneath them, they’ve done well fishing for halibut, black cod, salmon and tanner crab.
Balovich loves the adventurous life on the ocean. He’s constantly awed by the scenery that is always different. And he’s always learning something, especially that you can’t take anything for granted, and “that you have to put your time into it, to understand what it’s all about – things change so much.” Frank is concerned about threats to the biomass and wants to make sure that if he ever has children there will be something to pass on to them.
One way Balovich contributes to this legacy is being careful at the roller. When they’re pulling a longline set, they try to shake the smaller fish and not use the crucifier, which is so efficient it usually kills the unwanted fish. They handle the fish as little as possible and don’t drop them. They make smaller 3-day trips and so don’t overload the boat. The fish are well-cleaned and iced.
Frank Balovich is in this for the long-haul, keeping a family tradition alive. Protecting the resources just makes good sense.
F/V Carole D (293kb PDF file)
