The Arctic is Melting, But Fishermen Won’t Benefit From the Expanding Seas

Photo courtesy of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration.

There is little dispute anymore that global warming is real. The 20th century’s last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to National Geographic’s review of a number of climate studies.

About the best piece of news is that most people, and especially important, world leaders and government agencies are starting to acknowledge the issue and taking measures to both combat its causes and ramifications.

One of the most visible affects of global warning has been the increased summer retreating of the Arctic ice sheets. While no one yet has figured out how to stop it, the U.S. government has put into effect a plan to stop commercial fishing from entering into the seas opened by the newly melted ice.

Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, just approved a plan to prohibit the expansion until researchers gather enough information on the fish and the Arctic marine environment to prevent adverse affects to the ecosystem.

“This plan takes a precautionary approach to any development of commercial fishing in an area where there has been none in the past. We are in a position to plan for sustainable fishing that does not damage the overall health of this fragile ecosystem,” said Locke, in a statement.

The Fishery Management Plan, as its formally known, was drawn up by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. The plan governs commercial fishing for most species of fish within the Arctic Management Area, which basically covers seas between Alaska and Russia.

Map courtesy of Oceana.com.

For those that love nautical details, the area covers all marine waters in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas from three nautical miles offshore the coast of Alaska, or its baseline to 200 nautical miles offshore, north of the Bering Strait and westward to the 1990 U.S./Russia maritime boundary line and eastward to the U.S./Canada maritime boundary.

The plan, implemented through regulations published in the Federal Register, will establish two categories of species: target species and ecosystem component species.

“Target species are those that are most likely to be targeted in a foreseeable commercial fishery based on potential markets and available biomass in the Arctic Management Area,” according to the Register, which lists these species as: Arctic cod, saffron cod, and snow crab. Component species are basically the other plants, fish, and animals that are critical parts of their food chains. Species that won’t be affected by the plan are Pacific salmon and Pacific halibut.

This fishery closure will be enforced by the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement.

The NPFMC says that it will conduct a complete review of the “essential fish habitat” once every five years or “as appropriate as new scientific information on the habitat is available.”

This fishery closure will last, according to the NPFMC, until enough information is available to support a plan for the “sustainable management” of the commercial fishery in the area.

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