Conservation for Resource-Rich Aleutian Islands Ecosystem Moves Forward
North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopts nation’s first comprehensive ecosystem-focused blueprint for the Aleutian Islands
CONTACT/CONTACTO:
Susan Murray (smurray@oceana.org)
Oceana
June 12, 2007
Sitka, Alaska – The North Pacific Fishery Management Council moved forward today with a blueprint for considering all aspects of the ocean ecosystem, including biological diversity, abundant populations of fish, food needs of top predators, and healthy intact habitats, when they make decisions on managing healthy and sustainable fisheries in the Aleutian Islands. This document will assist the Council in managing Aleutian Islands fisheries from a more holistic, ecosystem-based perspective.
In the past four years, two blue-ribbon reports – Pew Oceans Commission report and U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy report – came to the conclusion that our oceans are in trouble and we must immediately take action to change the way we manage them. The Aleutian Islands Fishery Ecosystem Plan begins this change in the North Pacific.
“Five years ago ‘ecosystem’ was a dirty word and ecosystem-based management was uncharted territory,” said Jim Ayers, Vice President of Oceana. “Today the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is leading the way into this previously unexplored part of the fishery management world.”
An ecosystem-based approach takes into account more of the science around managing ocean resources, making connections between aspects of an ecosystem and what the potential impacts of fisheries would be on these complex and ever-changing systems. Most traditional fishing policy decisions focus primarily on the health and population of a single species—as fish populations rise and fall, policy makers make changes based on those population differences, without necessarily looking at other factors like changes to habitat or predator populations. This new document will help the Council, which advises the federal government on fisheries policy in Alaska waters, to consider fishery management decisions in the Aleutian Islands from more of a holistic, ecosystem-based perspective.
The Aleutian Islands archipelago is a chain of volcanic islands bisected by deep straits and passes that connect the Bering Sea with the rest of the North Pacific to create a unique marine ecosystem found nowhere else. It is one of the most fragile and wondrous places on Earth. The region is rich in wildlife, from extraordinary and exquisite deep-sea coral gardens, hundreds of species of fish, dozens of species of sea birds and 25 different marine mammal species, including sea otters, Steller sea lions and many species of whales.
Recent declines of marine mammals and sea birds in the North Pacific have raised concerns about the health of these ecosystems and the impact of commercial fisheries. One of the more dramatic and closely-followed of these declines has been the “crash” of the Steller sea lion population off of Western Alaska. Steller sea lions are estimated to have declined by as much as 80% in the last 30 years, and while commercial fisheries are thought to have contributed to the decline, scientists are still struggling to fully understand the causes.
“Looking at fisheries management from an ecosystem perspective is the wave of the future, and we commend the Council for again leading the nation towards new and more progressive ocean policy,” said Ayers. “It is only by looking at all potential impacts of our decisions, including how those decisions affect each part of an ecosystem, that we can truly put in place the sort of far-reaching and responsible protection that our oceans so badly need in these challenging times.”
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