| No one could have predicted the dire straits that the | | | | industry began over a hundred years ago, meaning |
| fishing world would find itself in now that the 2010s | | | | that Alaskan fleets have always self-monitored. The |
| have rolled around. After all, certain spots in the world's | | | | result? A population of fish that is actually on the rise, |
| waters used to be teeming with schools of everything | | | | instead of the perpetual decline everywhere else that |
| from cod to salmon, while today fleets scour the seas | | | | is causing great distress for the industry. Whether it's |
| in vain, hoping to find a school. | | | | the difficult king crab harvest of winter, where a set |
| However, this trouble is nothing new. Unfortunately, | | | | number of boats are allowed out at a time, or strict |
| overfishing has become a serious problem that has | | | | salmon rules that regulate not just the size of the fish, |
| taken a toll on the numbers of fish, meaning that fish | | | | but the amount of boats allowed in particular spots, |
| are not currently able to reproduce fast enough to | | | | Alaska has been taking its fishing quite seriously for a |
| make up the numbers after the harvest takes place. | | | | long time. |
| This means that more and more fishing fleets are | | | | What this level of fisheries management means for |
| after a smaller amount of fish, leading to serious | | | | consumers is that buying Alaskan seafood is a |
| warnings worldwide about overfishing. This hasn't been | | | | guilt-free enterprise, while shopping for other things, |
| good for anyone--not the fish, not the fishermen, and | | | | especially farm-raised tuna and cod from the waters |
| not the consumers. A global rallying cry to pay more | | | | near Iceland, can raise some serious moral questions |
| attention to fisheries management has been issued, but | | | | sometimes. With other fishing fleets around the world |
| no one is sure if the entire industry can be turned | | | | starting to look towards the healthy waters of Alaska |
| around. | | | | for answers to their problems, this more sustainable |
| There is one spot, however, where these problems | | | | practice of fishing management might just spread in |
| are considerably less: the icy and pristine waters off | | | | time to reverse some of the more serious damage |
| the coast of Alaska. Here, a state-operated fisheries | | | | that has been done to the planet's fish and seafood |
| management system has been in place since the | | | | population. |