KACHEMAK BAY — Despite more than 30 years of fishing around Alaska, before this past December Kasilof fisherman Rob Nelson had never let out a net hoping to catch pollock.

But the long-time seiner has been learning how to catch the groundfish in Kachemak Bay as part of an experimental fishery this winter.

In most of Alaska, pollock are caught by trawlers. But Nelson and other fishermen are hoping that seines could provide a way to safely catch the fish, without worrying about bycatch. Seining is “one of the better methods to release anything undesirable that you do catch,” he said, because fish are alive until they’re hauled on deck.

Each day of fishing is a learning experience, he said Jan. 11 while making his fifth pollock trip since the experimental fishery opened Dec. 1.

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