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Resource Management
Scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conduct thorough, ongoing studies of all aspects of the biology of Alaska whitefish species, including their biotic and physical environment in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. The staff of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) conducts similar studies of halibut throughout its range from California to Russia.

Scientists from NMFS and IPHC, in consultation with other fisheries biologists from government and academia, scientifically estimate the biomass of the various species and the recruitment (natural addition of young fish) to the stock. They make their best estimate of the fraction of that biomass that may be safely and sustainably caught. This is a methodical process, performed with state-of-the-art fishery biological modeling methods. The NMFS and IPHC scientists also apportion the estimates among various statistical areas along the coast of North America, based on the abundance of fish in those areas. These estimates are called Acceptable Biological Catches, or ABCs.

After the work of the NMFS and IPHC is done, the fishery management process moves to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC, or “the Council”) in Anchorage. The NPFMC is composed of representatives of both government and industry and manages all commercial fisheries in the 200-mile EEZ off Alaska, a huge expanse of ocean. The Council receives advice from the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), composed of scientists from NMFS, the State of Alaska, and universities. They review the ABCs and then sets the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) levels for each species. The TACs are determined in a conservative fashion, based on the status and trends of the biology of each species. The TAC never exceeds the ABC and it is often less. A further safeguard is applied in the complex tally of species-specific TACs in the Bering Sea: the total of all whitefish TACs in the Bering Sea is never allowed to exceed two million tons, regardless of the abundance of the various species and any requests from industry.

In more than 25 years of managing the Alaska whitefish fisheries the Council has always worked within the biological limitations of the species and stocks. It has never contradicted the recommendations of its scientific advisors, the SSC. This precautionary, risk-averse approach has worked well for over a quarter-century. The harvests of the numerous whitefish species fluctuate in accordance with the biological health of the resources, and these harvests have been sustained for decades. The proof is in the long-term health of the resources.

For many years the Alaska halibut and sablefish fisheries were open to anyone who wished to participate. As more and more boats entered these fisheries, the IPHC and NPFMC responded by repeatedly shortening the seasons in order to prevent overfishing. Although this approach did indeed prevent overharvest, the “race for the fish” led to unsafe fishing conditions for the fleet, reduced quality of product, and abandonment of excess fishing gear on the fishing grounds. All of this changed in 1995 when NPFMC decided on a system of Individual Fishing Quotas (IFQs), one of the first such systems in the USA and one of the most successful in the world. IFQs are a system of property rights to the fish. Since 1995, anyone fishing for halibut or sablefish must own enough IFQ shares to match the amount of fish they wish to land. If an individual wants to catch more halibut or sablefish than they have shares, then they must buy additional existing shares from another person. There are limits on the amount of shares that any individual may own. This prevents excessive accumulation of shares by any person or company.

Other successes and benefits of the Alaska IFQ system are:

• the fisheries are closely and carefully monitored by NMFS scientists and law enforcement personnel
• natural variability is explicitly taken into account, because IFQ shares are percentages of the annually variable TACs, rather than for a certain amount of fish; an individual’s fractional share remains constant, but the total, science-based quota varies in accordance with the natural fluctuations of the fish populations
• far less fishing gear is left on the fishing grounds because the fishery is less frantic than in previous years; this reduces unwanted catch by abandoned gear
• seafood quality is better because steady landings allow for better on-boat handling and prompt processing; this also reduces waste

Every year the NMFS Office of Sustainable Fisheries reports to Congress on the status of United States’ fisheries. According to that report, no species or stock of Alaska whitefish is being overfished or approaching an overfished condition.

One of the tools in the sustainable management of these resources is the observer program. The University of Alaska Anchorage conducts several multi-week training classes for fisheries observers each year. After training and certification, the observers go to work for private-sector companies which deploy the observers to fishing vessels, processing vessels, catcher-processors, and on-shore plants. The cost of the fisheries observer program is borne by industry. However, the data that the observers collect on fishery harvests (target species, bycatch species, quantities, sizes, sexes, ages, locations, etc.) is reported directly to NMFS, which uses the data to help to regulate the fisheries.

Bycatch is the accidental harvest of fishes which are either not the target species or not the desired size of the target species. Certain non-target species (eg- salmon, crab) are termed “prohibited” species, and they must be immediately returned to the sea. Other non-target species (eg- arrowtooth flounder) may be retained as may the undesired sizes of target species. The industry minimizes its catch of undesired sizes of the target species by using fishing gear that selects for the target sizes, while allowing smaller individuals to escape. Under an NPFMC initiative called “improved retention / improved utilization”, the industry is working toward reduction of waste and better use of this bycatch. The industry is encouraged to donate bycatch to foodbanks or to process the bycatch into useful products such as meal and oil.

The Council and industry have also made great progress in reducing the environmental impacts of fishing operations through regulations which:

• prohibit on-bottom trawling in large areas of the ocean: some 98,000 square nautical miles are closed year-round, and other areas are closed seasonally
• prohibit fishing activity within wide zones around marine mammal habitats
• mandate the use of equipment to prevent contact of fishing gear by endangered marine birds

These regulations are enforced by NMFS and the U.S. Coast Guard. Large areas of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands have been closed to trawling to protect crab, sea lions, and other species. These refuge areas allow fishes to avoid capture, thus helping to ensure the sustainability of the marine ecosystem. Except for a very small fishery for herring roe, there are no harvests of forage fishes such as capelin or sandlance. Alaska’s harvesters are not “fishing down the food chain”. Rather the harvests are subordinate to the needs of the ecosystem.

The American Fisheries Act (AFA) is a good example of how tightly these fisheries are regulated. AFA is federal law that took effect in 1998 and restructured the Alaska pollock fishing and processing industry into a group of cooperatives which no longer had to compete for the fish. The positive impacts of the AFA include:

• better fishing practices, which spread out the harvest in space and time, using the most efficient methods
• increased safety at sea, because the old-style “Olympic race for the fish” had been eliminated, so that vessels were not forced to fish during bad weather
• better utilization of the harvested fish, and less waste
• further lowering of rates of bycatch and discards
• mitigation of the impacts of closing fishing grounds to protect marine mammals

In summary, the sustainable conduct of the Alaska whitefish fisheries is guided by precautionary management and responsible stewardship.