Council votes to address Bering canyon concerns

April 6th 2:46 pm | Hannah Heimbuch

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which gathered in downtown Anchorage this week and last to talk fish, responded to requests from environmental groups by voting to reassess the management of the Pribolof and Zhemchug canyons in the Bering Sea.

Greenpeace was one of the groups hoping the council would consider their research into Bering deep-sea habitats as a signal of needed protection.

"This is hopeful news for the Bering Sea, and for the largest underwater canyons in the world," said John Hocevar in a release. Hocevar is a Greenpeace marine biologist and one of the submarine pilots who explored the canyons. "Protecting the Grand Canyons of the sea would give us an insurance policy that will help preserve the health of the spectacular Bering Sea ecosystem, as well as Alaska's highly valuable fisheries."

A collaborative academic white paper, released by the Public Library of Science last month, details the findings of an expedition by researchers including Greenpeace Alaska's campaigner George Pletnikoff. The study delved into the riches of and threats to marine habitats of the two massive canyons and how they affect the larger ocean ecosystem.

Both canyons are larger than Arizona's Grand Canyon, and according to the expedition's report, home to an essential and rich marine ecosystem being systematically threatened by fishery practices — namely bycatch and ocean floor damage from trawling.

According to the Greenpeace factsheet on the canyons:

"The Bering Sea is home to an amazing array of wildlife including at least 450 species of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. The area supports about 80 percent of the US seabird population, estimated at 36 million birds in 35 species. At least 25 species of marine mammals inhabit or migrate through the area including endangered bowhead and northern right whales. Many species are unique and endemic to the area. The canyons provide important foraging habitat for a number of protected species, including northern fur seals, Steller sea lions, and endangered short-tailed albatross."

Activists asked the council to consider greater protection measures for the habitat some years ago, Pletnikoff said.

"The council came back by saying yes, the canyons are unique but much more research needs to be done in order to qualify the need for protection," he said.

That's where the Greenpeace expedition into the canyons comes in. Staged from the vessel Esperenza, they commissioned two one-man submarines to help explore the marine life in the Bering depths.

"What we were looking for is the amount of destruction that is caused by trawling and mid water trawl in the entirety of the Bering Sea," Pletnikoff said. "Statistics say that the mid water trawl in the pollock fishery touch bottom forth to 50 percent of the time."

Their findings resulted in the white paper that was presented to the council for consideration this session.

Pletnikoff, who grew up on St. George Island, said protecting subsistence fisheries and the industry as a whole starts with protecting the essential nursery habitat found in these unique canyons. The deep-sea corals and sponges of the Bering Sea canyons are perfect examples, he said.

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the nation's fishery's councils are required to consider and submit intermittent reports to congress describing issues threatening undersea life, Pletnikoff said.

"The council needs to take the findings of our research and make it a part of their report," he said. "Greenpeace and tribal communities are sounding the alarm that we need to provide these protections in order to ensure that this fishery is sustainable as well as the foods that we depend on. If we continue to maintain the level of fishing, especially trawling which is extremely destructive to the habitat, it won't be much longer until we'll be seeing much more scarcity."

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Council votes to address Bering canyon concerns