The mission of the Freezer Longline Coalition is to promote public policy that facilitates the intelligent and orderly harvest of Pacific cod and other groundfish species in the BS, AI and GOA, to encourage the reduction of waste and improvement of resource utilization in the longline fishery, to encourage the reduction of incidental catch of non-target species in the longline fisheries, to support research and public education about the longline fisheries, and to represent longline fishery interests in matters concerning the management and regulation of the longline fishery with respect to target species and protected resources.
The FLC is a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that represents the owners and operators of the vessels that participate in the freezer longline, or catcher processor hook-and-line sector of the Pacific cod fishery in the federal waters of the Bering Sea (“BS”) Aleutian Islands (“AI”) and the Gulf of Alaska (“GOA”).
The longline fishery is based and serviced in the States of Alaska and Washington, with freezer longline-caught Pacific cod marketed and sold in the Pacific Northwest. Freezer longline-caught cod provides between $150-200 million in annual export revenues to the Nation. The longline fishery creates more than 1,200 full time positions , has more than 30 modern vessels with fish processing and freezing capabilities on board, and community businesses that repair vessels and sell supplies rely on the fishery to sustain jobs.