October 9, 2019 — The commercial fishing fleet based in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. – the home port for many vessels fishing in the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, and the Aleutian Islands – is aging, but modernization efforts have run into numerous obstacles.
Chad See, the executive director of the Freezer Longline Coalition and a board member of the Washington Maritime Federation, told SeafoodSource restrictive U.S. regulations, a tight credit market, catch limits created by fishing quotas, and the diverse needs of a fleet with varied objectives are hindering progress on fleet-renewal efforts.