United Fishermen of Alaska, representing 37 Alaska commercial fishing organizations, has called for protections for ongoing sustainable fishing activities in the North Aleutian Basin, as the federal government considers moving forward with development of oil and gas leases in the area. UFA President Joe Childers, informed that the area under consideration represents over 40 percent of the commercial U.S. fisheries catch including the nation’s richest crab, pollock, cod, halibut, and salmon fisheries, with annual harvests worth more than a half a billion dollars in ex-vessel value.
According to Childers with additional value in the processing sector and the nutritional value of sustainable seafood from these pristine waters, the long term value to the region and the nation stands on a par with energy needs. UFA recommends fourteen points of protection and mitigation, including creation of Regional Citizens Advisory Councils to be funded by the approved leaseholders following lease sales, and not to wait for funding from production.
The group also called for establishment of an adequate fisheries disaster fund to provide compensation to the fishing industry and coastal communities in the event of disruption of fisheries; zero discharges from drilling installations; and inclusion of commercial fishing organizations in the planning process as stakeholders on a par with other cooperating municipal, state and federal agencies.
UFA Executive Director Mark Vinsel said that the group is very much concern about the fisheries in the region saying they to do all we can to set up protections and a process to protect the nation’s sustainable supply of seafood as we seek to address energy needs. UFA also supported the fisheries protections called for in a draft memorandum of understanding between the borough governments on the north coast of the Alaska Peninsula, including protections that fishermen are not displaced or precluded from access to fishing areas.
