Casey’s Pomfrets

by Wyatt Fournier

July 18, 2013

The Pacific pomfret has a wide range across the Pacific Ocean that extends from the Gulf of Alaska to Japan and Peru.  And although we have caught it each year on this survey, mostly farther off-shore, it is not a fish that most Alaskans are familiar with.  Casey Debbenham is from Fairbanks and was hired as a fisheries scientist for the GOAIERP due to his experience on the ocean as both a fisheries observer and scuba instructor.  Even though he is a lifelong Alaskan and graduate from UAF’s School of Fisheries, this was Casey’s first time seeing the Pacific pomfret.  He opened up their stomachs to observe their diet to find many squid and a few fish; including a sablefish, a few rockfish , and a daggertooth.