This report was developed to provide the North Pacific Fishery Management Council with information it needed during the late 1990s to assess prospective management measures for the productive pollock fisheries of the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. The document incorporates two principal components: (1) a detailed description of socioeconomic conditions in communities most likely to be affected by pollock allocation alternatives, and (2) an accompanying Social Impact Assessment, which was designed to elucidate the potential social, economic, and demographic effects of the proposed management alternatives. The analysis addresses potential impacts as these could occur within and between the various communities involved in the fishery, with due emphasis on potential effects among industry participants in Seattle and Dutch Harbor. A variety of methods and approaches were used during the course of the study, including in-depth interviews, ethnographic observation, and analysis of archival data regarding participation and production in the fisheries over time.