Pollock and other fish in the Bering Sea are moving to higher altitudes as winter ice retreats and water temperatures rise. Pollock, the main course in a billion-dollar U.S. industry, are heading north to cool themselves. The tightly managed Alaskan pollock fishery has been a rare success story in the United States, which has seen the collapse of species such as New England cod and now imports 80 percent of its seafood.
It is said that Alaskan pollock are becoming Russian pollock, swimming across an international boundary in search of food and setting off what could become a geopolitical dispute. Andrew Rosenberg, former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, informed that the pollock is a test case in an emerging pattern of fish driven by climate change across boundaries. He added that it will be a food security issue and has an enormous potential for political upheaval.
As Bering Sea get warmer the fishermen were forced to motor 360 miles to reach profitable fishing grounds. Fisherman Jim Summers said that it feels like every year they are going farther and farther north. It is said that pollock spawn each winter near the Aleutian Islands and then follow their food north as waters warm in the spring. But the food has shifted farther north with receding sea ice, and now pollock, which follow the northwesterly contour of the continental shelf, are shifting their range ever closer to Russian waters.
According to a study in the Northern Hemisphere, the range of fish appears to be shifting toward the North Pole two or three times faster than the range of animals on land, studies show. This means that some nations might gain a fishery while others will lose one. Russia this summer announced that its pollock catch was up and its stocks were in “good shape,” justifying a higher catch in 2009. Meanwhile, U.S. fisheries managers have scaled back on the catch in recent years.
