10 May 2012: Report
Melting Sea Ice Could Lead
To Pressure on Arctic Fishery
With melting sea ice opening up previously inaccessible parts of the Arctic Ocean, the fishing industry sees a potential bonanza. But some scientists and government officials have begun calling for a moratorium on fishing in the region until the true state of the Arctic fishery is assessed.
When scientists with the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program began tracking 323 vertebrate species across the entire Arctic several years ago, most assumed that many fish and animals would not fare well in a region where rapid warming is causing such profound changes.
But in a report released recently at the International Polar Year (IPY) conference in Montreal, that scenario isn’t turning out to be as dark as some
A key concern is the so-called 1.1 million-square-mile ‘donut hole’ in the central Arctic Ocean.had originally thought. While it appears that ice-dependent mammals such as polar bears and beluga whales could be in trouble, scientists are reporting that the great bowhead whale that was nearly hunted to extinction in the early twentieth century is making a remarkable comeback. And commercial fish populations such as Pacific herring and ocean perch appear to be expanding dramatically in some places.
Not surprisingly, the world’s fishing industry is watching the swift disappearance of Arctic sea ice and the potential fishing bonanza with great interest. But so are a growing number of scientists, government officials, and conservationists, who are calling for a fishing moratorium in this area until the health of fish stocks can be assessed.
A key concern is the so-called 1.1 million-square-mile “donut hole” in the central Arctic Ocean that does not fall under any country’s jurisdiction. Until a few years ago, this part of the Arctic Ocean was locked in ice for virtually 12 months a year. But now climate change is melting that barrier and making it seasonably accessible. In 2007, when sea ice cover in the Arctic was at a record low, 40 percent of the “donut hole” was open.
What fish live in that area now and in what numbers, and which species might move in as sea ice continues to melt, are not well understood. But a number of factors — including melting sea ice, warmer and fresher water, and shifting gyres and currents — appear to be improving productivity in many areas, including those that used to be covered in ice for most of the year.
No one believes that the central Arctic Ocean is ripe for fishing just yet. But because there are snow crab on the Chukchi Shelf and fish such as Arctic cod
Concern is growing about the exploitation of this untapped resource in the heart of the Arctic.along the shallower perimeters of the region, it wouldn’t require a long migration for these fish to move in and out of the “donut hole.” The small Arctic cod is not what commercial fishermen are after. But because they are found across the Arctic region and play a key role in supporting larger fish populations, they will play a pivotal role in the expansion of Arctic fisheries.
Concern about the exploitation of this untapped resource in the heart of the Arctic is growing.
“I was there in 1992 when the last trawler brought in the last catch of cod off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador,” says Trevor Taylor, a one-time fishing vessel captain and former Minister of Fisheries for the Canadian province. “It’s been 20 years since the cod fishery was shut down, and although there are hopeful signs of a recovery, it’s going to be a long time, if ever, before it’s even half recovered. The same thing is going to happen in the Arctic if we open the door to commercial fishing without understanding the presence and abundance, the structure and movements, and the role these fish play in the broader ecosystem of the central Arctic Ocean.”
Taylor is now policy director for Oceans North Canada, which advocates science-based policies on fishing, shipping, and energy development in the Arctic Ocean that are consistent with indigenous land claims and traditional practices. The group is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts in the United States, which worked to persuade more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries to sign a letter at the IPY meeting in April calling for the development of an international fisheries agreement that would protect the waters of the central Arctic Ocean. Other Arctic waters within 200 miles of coastlines are governed by various nations as part of their Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ, rights.
As indifferent as governments often are in responding to such petitions, some Arctic states are paying attention to the issue of fishing in the polar regions. The U.S. closed its Arctic waters to fishing in 2009 to allow scientists to assess
Large parts of the Arctic are fertile fishing grounds that have already been overexploited.the changes that are taking place in the marine ecosystem. While the new regulations close all U.S. waters north of Alaska’s Bering Strait, fishing in the Bering and Chukchi seas continues.
Canada is considering doing the same thing on its side of the Beaufort Sea in advance of energy developments that could have an impact on a fishery that is only beginning to be inventoried.
Marine conservationists see this as a good start because management of the world’s fish stocks has generally been disastrous. The United Nations estimates suggest that 28 percent of global fisheries are overexploited, 3 percent are depleted, 52 percent are fully exploited, and just 1 percent is recovering.
Large parts of the Arctic, particularly those on the periphery of the Arctic Ocean, are fertile fishing grounds that have already been overexploited. From the 1960s to the 1980s, fishing trawlers scooped up — often illegally — redfish and round-nosed grenadier in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, to the point that stocks there are now almost completely depleted. Both Barents Sea cod and Bering Sea pollock have also suffered from extreme harvesting pressures.
The situation could actually be far worse than has been estimated. A team of University of British Columbia researchers reported last year that fisheries catches in the Arctic totaled 950,000 tons from 1950 to 2006. That’s
Oceanographers are seeing a shift on the sea bottom from an Artic to a sub-Arctic ecosystem.almost 75 times the amount reported by fishermen to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) during this period.
Oceanographer Eddy Carmack has conducted 90 field investigations in rivers, lakes, and seas and published over 170 scientific articles during his long career. Having first traveled to the Arctic in 1969, the year of Woodstock, he is only half joking when he says that “things are a-changing” in the region. While he doesn’t doubt that some fish populations are expanding, he says the issue of harvesting is not as simple as one might imagine.
“You can’t expect to exploit one species in the Arctic when you really don’t have any idea what role that species plays in a larger ecosystem that is undergoing dramatic change that we really don’t understand very well,” he said.
MORE FROM YALE e360
The Unfulfilled Promise of the
World’s Marine Protected Areas
READ MORE
Henry Huntington, science director for Pew’s Arctic Program, says the time has come for Arctic states to act fast, especially in areas such as the central Arctic that are currently unprotected. “For the central Arctic Ocean, the rapid retreat of summer sea ice means that the international waters are accessible to fishing vessels for the first time in recorded history,” Huntington said. “Everywhere else in the world, fisheries have rapidly expanded into accessible waters. Rather than see a repeat of the sad history of fisheries in most of the world — when we were left to wonder where the fish went and start some science and management later — we have a chance to get the science and management in place before fishing begins.”
POSTED ON 10 May 2012 IN Biodiversity Energy Oceans Oceans Pollution & Health Antarctica and the Arctic North America
Print
Email
Recommend
Tweet
Stumble Upon
Share
ABOUT THE AUTHORCanadian author and photographer Ed Struzik has been writing on the Arctic for three decades. In previous articles for Yale Environment 360, he has written about a potential uranium mining boom in Nunavut and about a controversial plan to kill wolves in Alberta.
RedditRELATED ARTICLES
How Mussel Farming Could
Help to Clean Fouled Waters
Along the shores of New York Harbor, scientists are investigating whether this ubiquitous bivalve can be grown in urban areas as a way of cleansing coastal waters of sewage, fertilizers, and other pollutants.
A Key Experiment to Probe the
Future of Our Acidifying Oceans
In a Swedish fjord, European researchers are conducting an ambitious experiment aimed at better understanding how ocean acidification will affect marine life. Ultimately, these scientists hope to determine which species might win and which might lose in a more acidic ocean.
A Leading Marine Biologist
Works to Create a ‘Wired Ocean’
Stanford University scientist Barbara Block heads a program that has placed satellite tags on thousands of sharks, bluefin tuna, and other marine predators to better understand their life cycles. Now, using data available on mobile devices, she hopes to enlist public support for protecting these threatened creatures.
Will Bold Steps Be Needed to
Save Beleaguered Polar Bears?
In a new paper, the world’s leading polar bear scientists say the time has come to consider drastic measures to save these iconic animals, including supplemental feeding by humans during ice-free periods and relocating more southerly populations to the High Arctic.
What’s Damaging Marshes on
U.S. Coast and Why It Matters
A nine-year study led by researcher Linda Deegan points to the damage that human-caused nutrients inflict on salt marshes along the U.S. East Coast. In a Yale Environment 360 interview, she describes what these findings mean for an ecosystem that provides critical services, from nourishing marine life to buffering the coast from storms like Sandy.
MORE IN Reports
A Plague of Deforestation
Sweeps Across Southeast Asia
Illegal logging and unchecked economic development are taking a devastating toll on the forests of Vietnam and neighboring countries, threatening areas of biodiversity so rich that 1,700 species have been discovered in the last 15 years alone.
In Post-Tsunami Japan, A Push
To Rebuild Coast in Concrete
In the wake of the 2011 tsunami, the Japanese government is forgoing an opportunity to sustainably protect its coastline and is instead building towering concrete seawalls and other defenses that environmentalists say will inflict serious damage on coastal ecosystems.
How Mussel Farming Could
Help to Clean Fouled Waters
Along the shores of New York Harbor, scientists are investigating whether this ubiquitous bivalve can be grown in urban areas as a way of cleansing coastal waters of sewage, fertilizers, and other pollutants.
A Key Experiment to Probe the
Future of Our Acidifying Oceans
In a Swedish fjord, European researchers are conducting an ambitious experiment aimed at better understanding how ocean acidification will affect marine life. Ultimately, these scientists hope to determine which species might win and which might lose in a more acidic ocean.
Declining Bee Populations Pose
A Threat to Global Agriculture
The danger that the decline of bees and other pollinators represents to the world’s food supply was highlighted this week when the European Commission decided to ban a class of pesticides suspected of playing a role in so-called “colony collapse disorder.”
Fires Burn More Fiercely
As Northern Forests Warm
From North America to Siberia, rising temperatures and drier woodlands are leading to a longer burning season and a significant increase in forest fires. Scientists warn that this trend is expected continue in the years ahead.
Will Electric Bicycles Get
Americans to Start Pedaling?
Electric bicycles are already popular in Europe and in China, which has more e-bikes than cars on its roads. Now, manufacturers are marketing e-bikes in the U.S., promoting them as a "green" alternative to driving.
Copenhagen’s Ambitious Push
To Be Carbon Neutral by 2025
The Danish capital is moving rapidly toward a zero-carbon future, as it erects wind farms, transforms its citywide heating systems, promotes energy efficiency, and lures more people out of their cars and onto public transportation and bikes.
How Ontario Is Putting an End
To Coal-Burning Power Plants
Ontario is on the verge of becoming the first industrial region in North America to eliminate all coal-fired electrical generation. Here’s how Canada’s most populous province did it — and what the U.S. and others can learn from it.
Long Outlawed in the West,
Lead Paint Sold in Poor Nations
A new study finds that household lead paint — banned for years in the U.S. and Europe because of its health effects on children — is commonly sold in the African nation of Cameroon. Is lead paint the latest case of Western companies selling unsafe products in developing countries?
RELATED e360 DIGEST ITEMS
22 May 2013: Whale’s Battle with Nets
Is Revealed Through Monitoring Device
21 May 2013: Large Majority of Americans
Believe Global Warming Should be a Priority
21 May 2013: Interview: For Solar Sisters,
Off-Grid Electricity is Power
20 May 2013: System Converts Pig Waste
Into Biogas at Chinese Pig Farms
17 May 2013: ‘Artificial Forest’ Nanosystem
Mimics Photosynthesis, Researchers Say
16 May 2013: Scientist’s U.S. Road Trip
Reveals Unexpected Methane Emissions
14 May 2013: Shifting Petrel Diets Suggest
Effect of Humans on Ocean Food Web
13 May 2013: Project Looks to Quantify
Power Emissions Through Crowdsourcing
09 May 2013: Third Coal Export Proposal
Falls By Wayside in Pacific Northwest
08 May 2013: Declining Snow Cover Imperils
Plant and Animal Species, Study Says
Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies.
SEARCH e360
CONNECT
Twitter: YaleE360e360 on Facebook
Donate to e360
View mobile site
Bookmark
Share e360
Email newsletter
Subscribe to our feed:
ABOUT
About e360Contact
Submission Guidelines
Reprints
e360 PHOTO GALLERY
South African photojournalist Adam Welz documents the harrowing relocation of six white rhinos to a region that has lost all its rhinos to poaching. View the gallery.
DEPARTMENTS
OpinionReports
Analysis
Interviews
e360 Digest
Podcasts
Video Reports
TOPICS
BiodiversityBusiness & Innovation
Climate
Energy
Forests
Oceans
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Sustainability
Urbanization
Water
REGIONS
Antarctica and the ArcticAfrica
Asia
Australia
Central & South America
Europe
Middle East
North America
e360 VIDEO
A Yale Environment 360 video explores Ecuador’s threatened Yasuni Biosphere Reserve with scientists inventorying its stunning forests and wildlife. Watch the video.
e360 MOBILE
from Yale
Environment 360 is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile.
e360 VIDEO
In a Yale Environment 360 video, photographer Pete McBride documents how increasing water demands have transformed the Colorado River, the lifeblood of the arid Southwest. Watch the video.
Top Image: aerial view of Iceland. © Google & TerraMetrics.
e360 VIDEO
The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the video.
OF INTEREST
POST A COMMENT
Comments are moderated and will be reviewed before they are posted to ensure they are on topic, relevant, and not abusive. They may be edited for length and clarity. By filling out this form, you give Yale Environment 360 permission to publish this comment.