Area covered by the new Arctic Fishery Management Plan Source: Council's Draft Arctic FMP.
On
Thursday, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to adopt a
Fishery Management Plan for the Arctic. There's currently some limited
commercial and subsistence fishing managed by Alaska in her state
marine and internal waters, but none, or no more than trivial amounts incidental to the state fisheries, in Federal waters (starting three
miles offshore). Moreover, there is probably little or no current
interest in fishing in Federal Arctic waters.
The new plan
effectively prohibits commercial fishing in Federal waters for now, and
creates mechanisms to ensure that if there is interest in the future,
any fishing develops in a way that takes account of the impacts on fish
stocks and on other parts of the ecosystem.
Wesley Loy of the Anchorage Daily News reports here: Council Outlaws Arctic Fisheries. Here's the draft Fishery Management Plan: Fishery Management Plan for Fish Resources of the Arctic Management Area, and here's the analysis.
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