10
October 2008 - Bering Sea, United States
— The world’s largest food fishery is on
the verge of collapse. Pollock, used to
make McDonald’s fish sandwiches, frozen
fish sticks, fish and chips, and imitation
crabmeat, have had a population decrease
of 50 percent since last year.
The dwindling fish populations
are largely due to the enormous amounts
of fish being removed from Alaska’s Bering
Sea. Factory trawlers take over a million
tonnes of pollock out of the ocean each
year. The fish can’t reproduce and recover
as quickly as they are being fished.
Just as the financial
institutions on Wall Street collapsed due
to poor oversight and mismanagement—the
pollock fishery is on the fast-track to
collapse as well. In order to avoid a collapse,
the North Pacific Fishery Management Council
must take swift and decisive action when
they meet in December to reduce catch levels
and put pollock back on the path to healthier
population levels.
A Billion Dollar Industry
The pollock fishery is a billion-dollar
industry. These days, it seems when you
have that much money at stake, common sense
gets thrown out the window. Each year, fishery
management wants to catch the most fish
to get to the most profit. They continue
to fish, even when warning bells are going
off and science tells them its time to cut
back.
Just how much pollock
are they catching? Picture this— if the
pollock from the 2004 catch were laid end
to end they would wrap around the earth
more than 38 times. Now, that’s a lot of
fish sticks! Pollock are being fished excessively
and cannot keep up with the pressure.
Of the four Alaska pollock
stocks, two are now shut down completely
and a third is just a fraction of its former
size. Despite the warning signs, including
five years in a row of low juvenile survivorship,
the industry has continued to target the
pollock spawning aggregation, taking huge
numbers of pregnant females before they
release their eggs. This kind of fishing
practice only deepens the problem by not
allowing pollock to reproduce, grow and
mature to reproduce again.
Bering Sea Ecosystem
Scientists and conservationists have warned
that unless the Council reduces fishing
pressure on Pollock - a vital forage species
for fur seals, whales, and endangered Steller
sea lions - the entire Bering Sea ecosystem
could be in jeopardy of collapse. This would
prove devastating for the state’s commercial
fishermen and traditional coastal communities
that depend on a healthy ocean for their
livelihoods.
Swift Action is Needed
Fishing interests have no doubt played a
huge role in shaping the pollock fishery.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council
is dominated by fishing industry representatives.
With exemptions from conflict of interest
laws, Council members regularly vote against
measures that would affect their bottom
line.
In December, the North
Pacific Fishery Management Council will
set the new pollock catch limits for 2009.
In order to restore the pollock fishery’s
health, the allowable catch must be cut
in half, fishing on spawning populations
suspended, and marine reserves established
to protect critical habitats.
Bering Witness - Learn
more about our work to protect the Bering
Sea.
