NMFS releases huge Alaska groundfish environmental analysis
http://www.fis.com/fis/hotnews/
Monday, January 29, 2001
By Wesley Loy -- FIS News
An encyclopedic analysis of groundfish management in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands
and Gulf of Alaska has been released by the federal government, opening a 90-day
window for public comment.
The huge Draft Programmatic Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) is more
than 3,000 pages long.
The document is required under a federal law, the National Environmental Policy
Act.That act requires a broad analysis of the impact of any major federal action, such
as a fishery management plan, on the environment.
Environmental groups including Greenpeace claimed in a lawsuit that the National
Marine Fisheries Service had long neglected its duty to produce a proper SEIS. That
argument found considerable agreement from a federal judge.
The prevailing wisdom in the fishing industry, however, is that the new document might
need to be rewritten almost immediately. The reason is because the groundfish
fisheries are changing significantly this year due to another federal document, a
"biological opinion" of the possibly harmful effects of pollock, cod and Atka mackerel
harvests on the endangered Steller sea lion.
The SEIS is not expected to have much practical meaning for fishing fleets as the
BiOp. Still, the fisheries were imperiled by NMFS´ failure to write an SEIS, and to do
it properly.
"With this large-scale examination of our groundfish fishery management plans and
their potential effects on the ecosystem, we have an excellent baseline for
considering changes to management policy and potential management actions for
groundfish fisheries off Alaska," said Jim Balsiger, Alaska region administrator for
NMFS.
The analysis examines current and hypothetical fishery management regimes and studies
issues like the impact of fishing on marine mammals and seabirds; the effects of
fishing gear on the seabed; excess fishing and processing capacity; the effects of
fish harvests on the North Pacific marine ecosystem; bycatch and waste; data gathering
and enforcement; economic stability for fishing communities; and the cumulative
effects of the groundfish fisheries.
NMFS is responsible for fisheries research and management in the federal waters of the
United States.
Public hearings will be held around Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. To see the SEIS
and learn how to comment on it by 26 April, visit
www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/seis/intro.htm.
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