Arctic Sea Partly Closed to Fishing

By LESLIE KAUFMAN

A federal fishery panel voted Thursday to close off a large swath of the Arctic sea to commercial fishing. The move was a pre-emptive measure to protect more than 150,000 square nautical miles north of the Bering Strait that have become more accessible as a result of the warming Arctic climate.

The unanimous vote was unusual in that it was largely supported by industry and conservation groups alike and because it was the first time the United States had acted to close a fishery as a result of climate change instead of in reaction to overfishing, proponents of the measure said.

Jim Ayers, a vice president of Oceana, an international marine conservation group based in Washington, who worked on negotiating the ban for the last several years, said, “Global climate change is making everyone think differently up here and making them understand that precautionary approaches are best.”

The prohibition does not cover any of the existing fishing sites in the Bering Sea, which account for a large portion of the seafood that makes it onto American tables. Instead the new plan, passed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, prevents commercial fishing in very northern areas of the Arctic sea that have only recently become accessible as ice sheets in the Arctic melt.

The ban would last until more rigorous scientific study of the area is completed and the impacts of the warming on local species can take place. Indigenous populations will be allowed to continue to fish for subsistence as they always have.

“Our people are aware that the rate of change in the Arctic is increasing,” said David Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, a group based in Juneau, Alaska, that represents the majority of fish harvesters and processors in the region and supports the new rules.

Mr. Benton said his group also saw the decision as a necessary first step toward an international ban that could prevent overfishing by other countries as new territories opened.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/science/earth/06arctic.html?_r=1&ref=earth