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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