June 2011 Legal Brief
Dear Friend,
Trustees for Alaska works strategically to address some of the most important environmental issues affecting Alaska. We represent a wide range of clients from native villages, community and citizen groups, local and national conservation groups, statewide coalitions, hunting and fishing groups, as well as individual Alaskans. Please read on to learn more about some of our current work.
Sincerely,
Trish Rolfe Executive Director
Global warming is devastating ecosystems in Alaska, and coastal communities are being disproportionately impacted. Alaska Native people living on the coast are witnessing many changes in seasonal patterns, sea ice and animals. In recent years, Bering Sea ice has been forming later in the year and melting early in spring. Regular scientific surveys show that during recent years that were especially warm, 45 species of fish shifted the center of their range northward. While ocean temperatures vary year-to-year, the trend over time is expected to be warming. With rising temperatures and changes in annual sea ice, commercially valuable fish species are expanding to more northern waters. Large-scale fishing fleets are increasing the pressure to expand operations into these new areas.
In 2007, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) voted unanimously to establish a northern bottom trawl boundary as a precautionary measure to prevent movement of this fleet northward beyond its current footprint while a long-term plan for the northern Bering Sea is being developed. The NPFMC is now moving forward with plans to develop a Northern Bering Sea Research Plan which could open previously closed areas to bottom trawling through a special research permit. Bottom trawling could be allowed in this area on a large scale in the future.
Also in 2007, eight Tribes from the Bering Sea region in western Alaska established the Bering Sea Elders Advisory Group. The group now has 40 formal tribal members by resolution. Each participating Tribe designates an Elder and an alternate to serve on the board of directors. The group’s mission is to enable Alaska Native Tribes to fully participate in the federal fishery management process on upcoming decisions affecting the Bering Sea from Kuskokwim Bay to Bering Strait. The Bering Sea Elders Group provides traditional guidance for protecting subsistence and the tribes’ way-of-life.
The Bering Sea Elders Group has asked Trustees for Alaska, in addition to the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and the Native American Rights Fund, to provide legal and strategic advice and support to help them develop long-term protection for the northern Bering Sea that will safeguard subsistence hunting and fishing areas and areas of biological importance to the species that tribes rely on for survival. This coalition will be working in the NPFMC process for the Northern Bering Sea Research Plan and other Magnuson-Stevens Act issues.
Read the full June 2011 Newsletter (PDF)