ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT BY
THE NORTH PACIFIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is very proactive in its efforts to protect the marine habitat and ecosystem of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. The Council prepared an extensive evaluation of the impacts of fishing on essential fish habitat and adopted a new approach for identifying habitat areas of particular concern.
Since 2005 the Council closed over 350,000 square miles to bottom trawling in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. Also closed were six areas with high density coral and sponge habitat to all gear that comes into contact with the sea floor, including crab pots.
The Council initiated an Arctic Fishery Management Plan to establish federal fishery management in the Alaskan Arctic. This plan prohibits all commercial fishing in this area until there is adequate information on fish and crab stock abundance.
The Council’s Ecosystem Committee has been developing a pilot project called the Aleutian Islands Fishery Ecosystem Plan to create a policy and planning document that includes all fisheries of the region’s ecosystem. This tool can provide the Council with an ‘early warning system’ for signs of ecosystem change.
Presently the Council is planning to review new proposals to study additional areas in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands that may be designated habitat areas of particular concern. A five-year review of essential fish habitat is also being initiated.
