Groundfish Industry Hard Hit by Fishing Ground Closures.

• Author: JEFFREY, SUE
• Position: Protecting the Steller sea lion population

The declining Steller sea lion population places many coastal communities in jeopardy.

The disappearing Steller sea lion population in Southwest Alaska landed the burly beasts of the northern North Pacific on the federal endangered species list in 1997. Last summer, Alaska's $1.2 billion groundfish industry and many Alaska coastal communities received a similar wake-up call when a federal judge closed traditional fishing grounds from Prince William Sound to the end of the Aleutian Chain to protect the endangered Steller sea lion.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service, arguing that NMFS was in violation of the Endangered Species Act because it was not going far enough to protect the sea lions. U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly agreed and issued an injunction that kicked the entire pollock fleet out of traditional fishing grounds and relegated the boats to fish 20 miles offshore in open, unprotected waters.

"Our boats aren't that big (to fish 20 miles offshore) and we just couldn't find anything at all," said Ted Compton of Global Seafoods. "We got about 20 percent of what we projected and that was all due to the 20-mile zone."

Commercial fishing is the backbone of the economy for most small coastal communities in Southwest Alaska. Fish processing plants fillet pollock or make the white-fleshed fish into surimi-the fish paste that is the basis of imitation crab, scallops and other seafood products. The court injunction left the fishing communities devastated. Without fish to process, hundreds of people packed up and left and boat owners cinched up their belts.

To get the injunction lifted, NMFS had to update its fish management plan. In December's biological opinion, NMFS presented a plan that protected the sea lions by severely curtailing the pollock, cod and Atka mackerel fisheries. Before only pollock fisheries had been affected. The prospect of fishing under the new rules brought the industry to its knees.

"The (biological opinion) pushes the fleet fishing in the Gulf of Alaska 20 miles offshore, which is off the continental shelf," said Matt Moir, manager of Alaska Pacific Seafoods in Kodiak "But the pollock are scarce out in deep water beyond the continental shelf."

The new regulations were to go into effect in January, but Sen. Ted Stevens came to the rescue and convinced Congress to postpone implementation of the restrictive management plan until this month. The six-month reprieve allowed Greenpeace, federal fisheries managers and the fishing industry to work together and make recommendations that would address industry needs and still ensure protection of critical sea lion habitat.

The North Pacific...