Dangerously heavy fishing practices in Alaska's ocean

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) has been unable to prevent the decline of species such as pollock, Pacific cod, halibut, or Atka mackerel; NPFMC models project significant drops in catch quotas for most groundfish species in the coming years. Three of the region's main pollock fisheries have been closed or severely limited due to overfishing: two in the Bering Sea - the Aleutian Island and Bogoslov fisheries; and one in the Gulf of Alaska, the Shelikof Strait roe fishery.

Today, the vast majority of the fishing pressure is on the spawning aggregation in the eastern Bering Sea, home to the last pollock stock capable of supporting a sizable commercial fishery. Crab populations, managed by AK Fish and Game have dropped dramatically.  Braxton Dew, a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) biologist, referred to the collapse of the red king crab in Bristol Bay in the early 1980s as "one of the most spectacular crashes in the history of U.S. fisheries management."  

Moving beyond the species targeted for fishing, the problems continue.  Fish-eating predators like endangered Steller sea lions, sea birds, and northern fur seals have declined sharply as fishing has removed millions of tons of their prey.  A common thread linking these predators is their reliance on Alaska pollock, the target of the largest food fishery on the planet.  NMFS has concluded that the pollock fisheries are likely to jeopardize Steller sea lion survival and recovery and adversely modify their habitat, and concern is growing that the fisheries may be responsible for the rapid disappearance of northern fur seals from the once massive rookeries on the Pribilof Islands.

These problems extend to the human members of Alaska's ecosystems as well.  Localized depletion has impacted communities throughout the southern half of the Bering Sea and the Aleutians, as well as the Gulf of Alaska.  Fishermen are traveling farther and farther offshore in search of fish and crab that were once plentiful right off the beach, facing increasing risks for diminishing returns.  Many of these communities live and die by the health of their surrounding waters; the human population of St. Paul Island dropped over 25% following the collapse of the snow crab fishery.  And for Alaska natives who have lived off Alaska's marine resources for thousands of years, addressing localized depletion is a matter of cultural survival.   

The poster child of U.S. fisheries management is in need of a major makeover. Fortunately, Alaska's waters have not faced heavy fishing pressure for as long as many other regions, and the situation is not yet as dire as it is elsewhere.  It is not too late to protect Alaska's ecosystems, fisheries, and communities.