Enduring the fishing frenzy: creating sustainable fishing communities starts with creating sustainable fisheries.

• Author: Minor, Steve
• Position: Alaska competitive fisheries policies

For decades Alaska pursued derby-style competitive fisheries policies which, while they were exciting (and dangerous) in a style reminiscent of the Old West, did not evolve to keep Alaska competitive in the world market. Nor did these policies allow us to optimally manage our resources to sustain the economic health of our industry and coastal communities. In many fisheries, we have lost our competitive advantage and we are living off our equity rather than our earnings. It is a short-term game with potentially disastrous consequences.

In the last half-decade, a tremendous effort has been under way throughout Alaska to radically restructure our fisheries, including halibut, pollock, crab, salmon and the major groundfish species. These fisheries are spread across several local and regional jurisdictions and at least two regulatory systems (both state and federal). But what binds harvesters, coastal communities and processors in this effort is our common goal: Economic and resource sustainability.

As Alaska's fisheries policies mature and shift toward market-based models in response to global competition, there will continue to be controversy and some resistance to change. But if we have learned anything from the current Alaska salmon debacle, it is that we need to make these changes to maintain our communities and related industries.

Alaska can do it if we keep three simple goals in mind:

* To create sustainable coastal communities, we need to create a sustainable commercial fishing industry. That means we need to recognize the interdependence of coastal communities, harvesters and inshore processors, and craft programs that recognize this interdependence.

* We need to protect the resource and the lives of those who go to sea to harvest it for us.

* We need to always listen to the market. The days when we could count on high-value fish and short seasons have disappeared. Those days are replaced by a commodity marketplace that requires a wide variety of seafood products at a competitive price in a form that consumers are willing to purchase.

There are several signs that Alaska is on the right road:

1. The halibut and sablefish individual fisheries quota, or IFQ, program implemented in the early 1990s significantly reduced the loss of life in this fishery. The program created new wealth for fishermen who participate in it by replacing the short derby-style race for fish with more rational seasons that allow the industry to respond to market...