In June of 2007 the North Pacific Fishery Management Council ("the Council") closed the northern Bering Sea to bottom trawl fishing to protect “essential fish habitat.” Over 25 Bering Sea tribal governments and Alaska Native organizations requested the closure, and the Alaska Marine Conservation Council fully supported the action.  In addition to the closure, federal fishery managers established the northern region as the “Northern Bering Sea Research Area” (NBSRA).  The Council is considering future management actions in the NBSRA as rising ocean temperatures cause a major redistribution of commercially valuable fish species into this area.

Click here for larger map (PDF)

Shaded area is the historic trawl footprint and remains open to bottom trawling. (Note: All existing trawl closures remain in place, including Pribilof Islands closure not shown here.)

What does the northern boundary actually mean?

The North Pacific Council has limited bottom trawling to those areas of the southern Bering Sea where it has historically occurred.  “Freezing the bottom trawl footprint” is a precautionary measure to ensure the fishery doesn’t expand into untrawled habitats without an explicit management plan in place.  Bottom trawling involves dragging large nets weighted with heavy tires, chains and other hardware across the bottom of the ocean, and is widely considered destructive to the physical structure of the seafloor and the marine life that lives there.
 

What is the Northern Bering Sea Research Area?

Before the Council will consider allowing bottom trawling beyond the northern boundary, they will establish protections in the northern area for marine mammals, species listed under the Endangered Species Act, crab species, and areas important for subsistence.  Once these protected areas are in place, scientists will conduct research in the remaining areas to assess the impact of bottom trawling on that habitat.  The results of this research will provide information to support an adaptively managed commercial fishery.

 Click here for larger map (PDF)

Why is a northern bottom trawl boundary in the Bering Sea important?

Establishing a northern boundary is an important conservation approach in light of ecological changes under way in the Bering Sea due to warming temperatures and dramatic loss of sea ice.  With warming temperatures, commercially valuable fish species may occupy increasingly more northern waters, inviting fleets to expand trawling into new habitats and sensitive areas.

Climate change and its associated ecological upheaval is an important reason for applying special precaution in the northern Bering Sea:

• The northern Bering Sea supports sensitive marine mammals, such as walrus and seals that use sea ice as a winter platform for feeding, resting and pupping. The entire population of spectacled eiders, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, winters in open water leads within the pack ice south of St. Lawrence Island.  The northern Bering Sea also serves as a migratory pathway for halibut, salmon, herring, walrus, bowhead whales and some species of seals.  Loss of sea ice is changing the ecosystem, raising a new degree of uncertainty in terms of evaluating effects of fisheries. Preventing new sources of impact, such as bottom trawling, is important for promoting resilience in the northern Bering Sea.
• The center of the opilio crab population appears to be shifting northwest following colder water. It is important to understand this change before bottom trawl vessels are allowed into newly occupied crab habitat.
• Stock assessment surveys have not been conducted in the northern Bering Sea. Effects of fisheries will be impossible to measure if large scale fishing efforts move into new areas without a baseline or an ability to track trends
• Traditional subsistence use of marine and coastal resources is fundamental to Yup’ik and Inupiaq cultures in the Bering Sea. Establishing a northern boundary provides some safeguards while the larger issue of managing fisheries in a changing ecosystem can be addressed.

Over 25 Bering Sea tribal governments and Native organizations presented resolutions to the North Pacific Council requesting the bottom trawl closure (see map). Yup’ik and Inupiaq villages along the Bering Sea coast, Nunivak Island, St. Lawrence Island, King and Diomede Islands are dependent on the region for subsistence harvesting and small-scale local fisheries.  Freezing the bottom trawl footprint was one of many options fishery managers considered.  Another alternative on the table was modification of gear to raise the leading edge of the net (foot rope) 2 ½ inches off the bottom.  The industry promoted this gear change as a way to protect habitat. While the North Pacific Council chose to move ahead with the closure instead, they also plan to require gear modification once the industry completes development of the new technology and the gear specifications can be put in regulation.

The villages identified on the map above as well as the Association of Village Council Presidents, Eskimo Walrus Commission and Kawerak, Inc. sent resolutions or letters requesting the northern bottom trawl boundary.

Next steps

• Villages on Nunivak and Nelson Islands to Kuskokwim Bay accepted the bottom trawl boundary as a temporary measure contingent on the North Pacific Council agreeing to reconsider the line in the future. The villages expressed strong concern that the boundary is not protective enough of subsistence hunting and fishing grounds.  The North Pacific Council agreed to reconsider that segment of the boundary in four years.  During that time, the villages will work with elders to develop a proposal for where to redraw the boundary.
• All villages are encouraged to participate fully in creating the Northern Bering Sea Research Area.

Redrawing the boundary from Nunivak Is. to Kuskokwim Bay and designing the Northern Bering Sea Research Area are parallel and related efforts. Together they are an opportunity to apply the best science and traditional knowledge to fishery management decisions. AMCC will continue to provide support to this effort.

Bering Sea Elders Advisory Group website launched

The Bering Sea Elders Advisory Group is supporting Tribes in developing a unified proposal for federal fishery managers regarding bottom trawling in the northern Bering Sea. The goal is to define subsistence use areas and places of ecological significance that are necessary to support the species villages depend on. To learn more about the Elders Group and their mapping program, see www.beringseaelders.net .