Earth Equity News

U.S. Advisory Panel Urges Ban on Fishing in Warming Arctic. By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters, February 5, 2009. "In a pre-emptive strike against the expected effects of climate change, a U.S. advisory panel on Thursday urged a ban on commercial fishing across a wide swath of the Arctic Sea off the Alaskan coast. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to prohibit fishing in nearly 200,000 square nautical miles of Arctic waters in the so-called U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which stretches from 3 miles offshore to 200 miles offshore, starting at the Bering Strait and extending north and east to the U.S.-Canada border... There is no industrial fishing now in the area of the potential ban, but with Arctic sea ice ebbing and sea surface temperatures rising, environmentalists, scientists and policy-makers are already seeing some fish species moving northward into the U.S. Arctic. Without a ban, the fishing fleet would presumably follow... This kind of forward-thinking approach is highly unusual, said Chris Krenz of the marine conservation group Oceana... Krenz said the council's action could serve as a model for other nations and other industries, including oil and gas exploration, contemplating moves into the Arctic. The council's recommendation must ultimately be approved by the U.S. commerce secretary; the approval process, including a period of public comment, could take a year."