Efforts are on to limit harm to Arctic waters opened by global warming. In this context a federal advisory board voted to ban commercial fishing north of the Bering Strait off Alaska’s coast. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting in Seattle, voted unanimously to prohibit industrial fishing in nearly 200,000 square miles of U.S. waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
It is likely that the U.S. Commerce Department would approve the recommendation. Environmental and industry representatives hailed the council’s decision, saying summertime melting of sea ice has outpaced regulators’ ability to manage Arctic Ocean waters. The fact is that the rate of change in the Arctic is increasing, and the retreat of sea ice is happening faster than our available information.
Janis Searles Jones, vice president of Ocean Conservancy, told that the decision removes one source of additional stress, giving the Arctic, its peoples and animals a better chance to adapt to the changes. The fishery council has primary responsibility for managing Bering Sea groundfish, including Alaska pollock, the largest U.S. fishery by volume.
It is informed that the authority is mulling over a plan that will protect 196,000 square miles of U.S waters. Commercial fishing interests so far have stayed in the North Pacific, but warming has opened vast stretches in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, imperiling animal habitat but opening the area for commerce.
