CORALS, CONSERVATIONISTS, AND COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN WIN LARGEST PROTECTED A

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://oceana.org/index.php?id=186&no_cache=1&tx_pressrelease_pi1%5Bpointer%5D=0&tx_pressrelease_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=461

CORALS, CONSERVATIONISTS, AND COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN WIN LARGEST PROTECTED AREA IN AMERICA’S OCEANS

NOAA Fisheries bans bottom trawling in more than 370,000 miles in the Aleutians

CONTACT/CONTACTO:
Susan Murray ([e-mail])

Oceana

June 27, 2006

Juneau, Alaska -- In a watershed event for ocean conservation, NOAA Fisheries today protected more than 370,000 square miles of seafloor in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska from destructive bottom trawling. This closure establishes the largest protected area in United States waters, and the third largest such area in the world (after closures in the Mediterranean Sea and Azores and Canary Islands). The Aleutian closure signals a changing tide in U.S. fishery management practices to look at the health of the entire ecosystem instead of productivity of single species money fish.

“Nationwide, we’ve seen federal managers shut down fisheries because of crashing or declining stocks,” said Jim Ayers, vice president for Oceana. “This remarkable Aleutian closure protects important seafloor habitat where there are threats before there is a problem. This is about the next generation and the world we are giving them. And it goes to show that everything really is bigger in Alaska!”

Supporting more than 450 species of fish, millions of seabirds hailing from all seven continents, 26 species of marine mammals, and unique lush coral gardens, the Aleutian Island Archipelago is a national treasure. The fishing that supported the Aleut people for centuries has also become the focus of large scale bottom trawl commercial fishing, and that kind of resource exploitation is not always compatible with sensitive habitat or sustainable oceans.

“Our oceans are not limitless,” says Dr. Daniel Pauly, professor and director of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. “We have clearly shown we have the technology and ability to destroy our ocean resources in a short period of time. The Aleutian closure shows we also have the ability to protect those resources.”