American Seafoods Sets the Record Straight on Dutch Harbor Offload: A Paperwork Discrepancy, Not a Violation

SEATTLE, Washington (April 7, 2026) - In response to recent media reports regarding the seizure of pollock roe in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, American Seafoods is issuing the following statement to correct the public record, address inaccurate narratives, and clarify the nature of this regulatory inquiry.

American Seafoods operates with complete integrity and transparency regarding our harvesting and processing operations. It is critical to understand that American Seafoods did not under-report, conceal, or hide any pollock catch or product onboard the Northern Eagle. Recent accusations, including those described in a United States Coast Guard (USCG) press release, center around “misreporting production.” However, the seizure of 241 cases of frozen pollock roe, out of a total of more than 72,000 total cases of product, is based on differences between daily production estimates and final production reports, which have, unfortunately, been mischaracterized as a regulatory violation.

“We strongly reject any narrative that portrays a discrepancy in daily estimated production as an intentional breach of conservation measures that protect our fishery,” said Inge Andreassen, President of American Seafoods. “There is no economic motive to report anything other than exactly what we produce.” 

Every pound of fish brought onboard is weighed via National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved and certified flow scales, tracked through production, and accurately accounted for. The citations in question were based on daily, at-sea production estimates, rather than the final, reconciled production reports that are required by law at offload. Differences between estimated and final reconciled numbers are routine, expected, and a result of different methodologies—not as a result of any misreporting.  Federal officers are attempting to criminalize minor discrepancies between these daily production estimates and official offload totals, despite American Seafoods being completely transparent regarding the difference.
To offer a clear and transparent sense of our reporting accuracy: our final daily report indicated 1,534 metric tons of total production, while our actual total offload was 1,537 metric tons. Between the final production report and the final Product Transfer Report (PTR), we were within about 2.5 metric tons of overall production.

The discrepancy at the center of this issue exists because the regulatory agency has inaccurately applied an antiquated equation for determining estimated production totals. The substance of this issue is that the Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) is extrapolating actual finished pollock production weight to a Raw Weight Equivalent (RWE) using pollock recovery rates set in regulation over 40 years ago. These rates are generally much higher than actual achieved recovery rates.

These product recovery regulations were implemented over four decades ago to regulate foreign vessels and enumerate total catch. They pre-date the comprehensive and sophisticated flow scales used today to track all fish. Using ancient and ideal recovery rates to back-calculate a Raw Weight Equivalent completely ignores the actual catch totals from NMFS certified scales, where total catch is certified daily by federally trained observers.

To be clear: this is not a conservation issue or intentional deceitful behavior. It is an issue with the method used to calculate daily production estimates. Flow scale weight is used to calculate taxes and provides the basis for conservation and management measures, such as tracking catch. Our flow scale catch totals and actual achieved production estimates are a far more accurate evaluation of onboard production compared to a method that uses outdated recovery rates to back-calculate total catch. By taking enforcement action based on these assumed catch calculations, agencies are effectively attempting to regulate achieved recovery rates and penalize transparency around actual production outcomes. Unfortunately, the ongoing scrutiny against the trawling industry frequently lacks the necessary due diligence before conclusions are drawn.

Our business depends on accurate catch and production numbers and transparent operations, our customers demand them, and we advocate for accuracy and transparency across our operations.  To that end, we welcome cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure ongoing accuracy and transparency in our operations. Furthermore, we would like to work alongside the agency to modernize these regulations and procedures to better align how the industry reports catch with current catch accounting systems.

American Seafoods is proud to be part of the most regulated fishing industry in the world. We are deeply committed to fishing responsibly and operate entirely within the scientifically managed, sustainable fisheries of the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean. Our commitment to sustainability and compliance is uncompromising:

We will continue to operate with the unparalleled transparency and environmental stewardship that makes American Seafoods a global leader in sustainable seafood. We look forward to resolving this outdated accounting discrepancy promptly.

For any questions, please contact Trent Hartill at trent.hartill@americanseafoods.com