Sustainable fisheries are the backbone of many Alaskan coastal communities. Promoting clean fishing practices (that minimize waste and protect habitat) and opportunities for independent fishing families supports conservation and the long-term interests of our communities.

Fisheries in Alaska and worldwide are under regular pressure to maximize catch and limit constraints on fishing operations. At the same time, our coastal communities must succeed in an increasingly competitive global environment that rewards industrial production at the lowest cost. Conservation of fisheries and the well–being of the communities that rely on them often take a back seat to maximizing efficiency and profits. AMCC is working with fishermen on strategies that meet both parts of what makes fisheries sustainable: healthy marine ecosystems and vital working waterfronts.

North Pacific fishery managers are now developing systems that limit access to the public's resource by assigning quotas to individual fishermen based on catch history. The more you caught in the past, the more you will be allocated for the future. If the market for quota is unfettered, shares will be traded, consolidated or leased.

The aim of fishery managers is to slow down the pace of fishing to improve conservation, increase safety and reduce excess capacity for economic efficiency. However, the design of these programs determines actual results — and allowing the quota market alone to decide who has access to our fisheries can have startling consequences.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is considering limited access plans for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries. Known as "groundfish rationalization," these plans are expected to allocate quotas for future fishing based on past history.  Such plans are monumental in terms of the array of issues that need to be addressed as well as the long-term changes that will affect fishery-dependent coastal communities for generations to come.

Pursuing a Viable Solution

Given what is now known, policymakers and managers must come together to recognize the connection between rewarding environmentally sound fishing practices (that minimize bycatch and protect habitat) and enabling working communities to maintain access to the resource. Community–based fishermen running low impact operations for high value products successfully achieve both conservation and local economic benefits.

Enabling fishing opportunities for clean, community–based fleets fortifies their voice in the management arena. It also provides the diversity of opinion necessary for balanced decisions and a viable alternative to systems that maximize efficiency at the expense of local economies.

Key to lasting success are management tools and financial instruments that make it economically advantageous to employ conservation and socially responsible practices. Without them, fishing communities – and the marine resources they depend on – will inevitably fall to large, often distant, corporate control.

Building on Alaska's rich fishing heritage, we must call upon our leaders to make possible a future in which:

• Fishery resources are managed for long–term conservation and with minimum impact on the marine habitats and ecosystems that support them.
• Fishing families support themselves through employment in Alaska's array of fisheries as vessel owners, skippers, crew and processing workers;
• Viable opportunities exist for future generations to enter Alaska's fisheries and build family businesses;
• There are open markets to deliver catch, a positive economic environment for diverse processing operations and opportunities for entrepreneurial processing enterprises;
• The economic value of Alaska's fisheries remains in coastal communities to benefit local economies, including related businesses and community infrastructure.