Protecting the Grand Canyons of the Bearing Sea

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Published: Greenpeace 2012
• Subjects: Animal Welfare; Energy and Environment; Bering Sea; Pacific; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://issuelab.org/resources/38176/38176.pdf; https://issuelab.org/permalink/resource/38176

The science is in: Marine Reserves work! Well-designed reserves have resulted in an increase in the amount, size, and diversity of fish and other marine life. NMFS, the American Fisheries Society, and many hundreds of marine scientists have recommended Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a buffer against the variability in stock recruitment and unforeseen fishing mortality events, and as control areas, or living laboratories, for scientific learning. Fishermen too know the benefit of MPAs; instead of fished-out zones to avoid they pull their boats up to the edge of reserves knowing that fish will spill across the watery boundary and into their nets. Yet, only about 1% of the world's oceans have been given any protection at all.The Bering Sea canyons, like much of the deep-sea, are one of this world's final frontiers. If we are not careful to protect vulnerable habitats in the deep-sea we could unknowingly lose them before we understand their full value—like blowing up Mars before we even get there. Scientists believe they have yet to collect hundreds of species in the Aleutian Islands, many unknown to science. The Bering Sea canyons may yield more species too, and like biodiverse rainforests, some could hold disease-fighting agents invaluable to humanity.Alaska Native communities too are calling for protections for the spectacular canyons, understanding theirimportant role in the ecosystem as a source of their native foods. No MPAs exist in the Bering Sea to protecttheir cultural heritage, nor are there any protections in place along the fishable depths of the BeringSea Green Belt despite its invaluable role in the ecoregion.A growing coalition of conservation organizations, Alaska Native communities, and public stakeholdersare calling on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to provide protections for the Zhemchugand Pribilof canyons now. Too much is at stake, both ecologically and economically, to wait any longer topreserve these areas for future generations.