Alaska Overfishing

Though overfishing and lack of proper fisheries management has left much of the world in a critical situation, that’s not the case everywhere. Alaska’s fisheries are some of the most environmentally friendly and economically booming businesses in the world. Every year fishermen harvest hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fish and shellfish from their waters. Fishery managers have created a system that successfully creates abundant annual fishing seasons that practically eliminates overfishing and environmental destruction. Under Alaska’s sustainable-fishing rules, which are some of the strictest in the world, these rules help prevent the overfishing that has brought ocean’s elsewhere to near catastrophe. Permit systems and reserves helped …show more content…
The department uses state-of-the-art technology to monitor and count fish and utilize aerial surveys to track fish populations. If specific goals are met it is only then that fishermen are allowed to go fishing. The department makes the call on when fishing can and cannot occur and how long the season will last.

But it’s not just Alaska’s Fish and Game department that keeps fish stocks from collapsing in Alaska. Seven state, federal and international agencies regulate and enforce rules designed to maintain how fishing is done. The governing authorities have a strict limit on licenses to fish for salmon and other types of seafoods. The strict harvest limits were designed to prevent overfishing and control any potential concerns and issues that could arise. When it’s necessary, the agencies have aggressively reduced fish harvest rates to cease overfishing or prevent it from happening.

Another way Alaska protects its ecosystem is by closing areas and placing restrictions on the time, place, and method of fishing. These were set-up to control bycatch, or the unwanted fish and other sealife caught during commercial fishing by fishermen targeting different species in the same area. The goal of these regulations has over time widened to protect the fragile habitat and ecosystems that provide productive fisheries and clean, healthy …show more content…
Fisherman are forbidden to use boats like bottom trawlers in an area larger than the entire United States. These trawlers use large heavy weighted nets that drag and destroy the ocean floor. The nets don’t just target the fish and sealife they are fishing for, but also permanently destroy the seafloor and its habitat that feeds and protects the sea life. Coral that are hundreds of years old are wrecklessly destroyed and endangered fish are also caught and many times killed then just discarded back into the ocean. This method is extremely wasteful way to catch fish. The bycatch alone from these destructive nets can account for 90% of their total