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Alaska Fish Populations Taking a Dive
ANCHORAGE , Alaska , July 14, 2005 (ENS) - The North Pacific ecosystem along Alaska 's coast that generates half America 's $2 billion annual seafood catch could collapse unless the problems are addressed when Congress reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, an Alaska conservation group warns in a new report.
The Alaska Oceans Program issued its report ahead of the Alaska Oceans Festival on Saturday.
The report, "Vital Signs in North Pacific: Code Blue for the Ocean," found that from seafloor crabs to seabirds, many populations of marine life have experienced "alarming" declines in recent decades.
Alaska Oceans says the take of fish and other animals and birds is at unsustainable levels due to "a combination of policy decisions, economic pressures, and collapses of fishable populations in other regions."
"The North Pacific waters seemingly limitless productivity gives rise to the alluring illusion that the ecosystem is healthy enough to sustain this bounty into perpetuity," said Mark Spalding, senior program officer of the Alaska Oceans Program, which funded the study.
"In truth," Spalding warned, "it may be slowly dying, contrary to recent congressional testimony by the National Marine Fisheries Service."
Spalding was referring to testimony July 6 before the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries and Oceans during a hearing on reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs the regional fisheries councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
"The North Pacific is a highly productive ecosystem with no depleted or overfished groundfish stocks," testified Sue Salveson, NMFS assistant regional administrator for sustainable fisheries in the Alaska Region.
"Our success is driven by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's tenet to adhere to the underlying science provided by NMFS, the state of Alaska, universities, and other independent scientists," Salveson told the lawmakers.
The Alaska Oceans report found little basis for Salveson's statement. The status of most of the 194 fish populations managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is unknown, the report found, making it impossible for managers to make informed decisions affecting their health.
"In just two decades, the fisheries have wiped out four out of the five female pollock of reproductive age in the Gulf of Alaska," the Alaska Oceans report states.
At least 55,000 fishing industry jobs depend on healthy Alaska fish populations.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has failed to address the question of how removing huge numbers of fish and other marine animals affects other parts of the ecosystem. "Management rules determining allowable catch levels of exploited populations are not scientifically based on what is sustainable for marine ecosystems," the report warns.
Alaska Oceans says the amount of wasted birds, mammals and other non-target species killed as a byproduct of fishing "regularly reaches 300 million pounds in a year."
During the past 50 years, the total catch in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska has grown more than one hundred fold - from less than 31.6 million pounds and two species - to nearly 4.77 billion pounds, and several dozen species, the Code Blue report says.
During this same period, the number of seabirds such as the common murre, spectacled eider, and short-tailed albatross dropped by up to 96 percent. Marine mammals including harbor seals, sea otters, and northern fur seals are also declining, according to the report.
Spalding warned, "If the status quo continues, declines in a vast array of marine life ranging from fish to crabs to birds to mammals could lead to extinction of threatened and endangered species, and other cascading effects, including the collapse of the North Pacific ecosystem."
To read the full report, visit: www.alaskaoceans.org
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