Paths to resilience: Alaska pollock fleet uses multiple fishing strategies to buffer against environmental change in the Bering Sea

Fishermen seek to maximize profits so when choosing where to fish, they must consider interactions among the environment, costs, and fish prices. We examined catcher vessels in the U.S. Bering Sea fishery for walleye pollock (2003- 2015) to characterize fisher responses to environmental change (e.g., abundance and water temperature). When pollock were abundant and water warm, the fleet fished in similar locations. When temperatures were cooler or pollock abundance declined, two fishing strategies emerged, depending on the processor where a vessel delivered. One vessel group, whose catches were more likely to become fillets, often made shorter trips, requiring less fuel and time at-sea. A second vessel group, whose catches were more likely to become surimi, traveled farther from port, to regions with higher catch rates but generally smaller fish. By fishing in different locations to satisfy different markets, the fleet sustained revenues and buffered against environmental change. We identify a suite of socioeconomic indicators of the impacts of ecosystem change and illustrate that a one-vessel-fits-all approach may be insufficient for assessing the resilience of fleets.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author