The true scale and intensity of large-scale longline fishing operations in the Bering Sea
The vessels tracked on this site are not small fishing boats. These are massive, state-of-the-art factory ships that operate continuously in some of the harshest conditions on Earth. To understand the scale of these operations, we need to look beyond the data points and see what these vessels actually do.
One of the 19 vessels tracked on this site, the Northern Leader, was featured in a documentary that reveals the true scale of these operations. This isn't speculation—this is documented reality.
→ View Northern Leader's tracking data and maps
Documentary: "Deadliest Catch: Bloodline" featuring Northern Leader operations
To put this in perspective: 75,000 hooks per day means that in just one week, a single vessel deploys over half a million hooks. In a month, that's over 2 million hooks. Multiply that by 19 vessels operating in the Pribilof Zone, and the scale becomes staggering.
Captain: "We never worry about weather, we just fish straight through it."
Captain: "We never have any downtime unless there's mechanical or something like that."
Captain: "25 years of fishing, I've only shut down twice and that was for winds in excess of 100 miles an hour."
Crew: "We're not making money unless we're catching fish."
Documentary: "Northern Leader has never stopped fishing because of bad weather" (3 years of operation)
This means: When our AIS data shows a vessel in the Pribilof Zone, they are almost certainly fishing—regardless of weather, time of day, or sea conditions. The only exceptions are mechanical failures or truly catastrophic weather (100+ mph winds).
On this website, we classify vessel positions as "apparent fishing" only when they travel at speeds ≤5 knots. This is a conservative threshold based on typical longline deployment speeds.
We're not exaggerating the impact—we're actually showing the minimum of what's happening in these waters.
Around the 15-minute mark of the documentary, the industry makes a familiar claim about halibut bycatch. Here's what they say:
Documentary narrator: "General hook and line fishing in the Bering Sea has very little bycatch. We catch a little bit of halibut, that halibut is released."
Captain: "It's another advantage long lining has over the trawlers and their big nets. The fish is fine, goes back over, survives without any issue at all. That can't be said for other fisheries."
This is the standard talking point used by longline operations: compare themselves to bottom trawlers to make their impact seem minimal. While it's true that bottom trawling is destructive, this comparison is a deflection tactic that avoids addressing the real issues with longline bycatch.
The documentary claims released halibut "survive without any issue at all." This ignores critical realities:
Yes, bottom trawling is destructive. But saying "we're better than the worst option" doesn't make the impact acceptable. This is like saying:
"Our operation only impacts thousands of halibut daily, not tens of thousands like trawlers do. Therefore, our impact doesn't matter."
The real question isn't: "Are we better than trawlers?"
The real question is: "What is the cumulative impact of 1.4 million hooks per day on halibut populations that sustain subsistence users and small-scale fisheries?"
We believe any halibut hooked is one too many in these critical waters. The Bering Sea is vast—there is room for these mega longliners to operate in areas that don't overlap with critical halibut habitat essential to Pribilof communities and small-scale fisheries.
Everything described above is for one vessel. This website tracks 19 mega longliners operating in and around the Pribilof Zone.
This is the reality of large-scale longline fishing in the Bering Sea. These aren't small boats making occasional trips—these are industrial fishing operations running 24/7/365 in waters that are critical habitat for halibut and essential to the subsistence and commercial fisheries of the Pribilof Islands communities.
Understanding the scale helps us understand the impact.
Last updated: November 10, 2025
Data Coverage: This analysis uses AIS tracking data from 2012-2024, with some vessels tracked through early 2025. Vessel operational status may have changed since data collection. Some vessels documented here may no longer be in active service in the longline cod fishery.