NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
January 11, 2006
Sheela McLean
(907) 586-7032
Cape Sarichef fishing restrictions ended
NOAA Fisheries has re-opened an area that was closed for part of the year to directed trawl, pot and hook-and-line fishing near Cape Sharichef on Unimak Island. The special closure, enacted for implementation of a multi-year research project, was originally scheduled to close groundfish fishing in the area from March 15-31, 2006.
Alaska Fisheries Science Center researchers have been studying whether intensive trawl fishing resulted in a localized depletion of Pacific cod that could affect food availability for Steller sea lions. The project, now concluded, is part of a larger evaluation of the potential impacts of commercial fishing on Steller sea lion prey.
“We saw clear and consistent results from the Cape Sarichef study over three years. As a result we do not feel it is necessary to continue the study another year. So there is no need to continue the fishing restrictions,” said project leader Elizabeth Logerwell of NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
“The very specific type of persistent localized depletion that the study looked for was clearly not present off Cape Sarichef in 2003, 2004, and 2005, despite intensive trawl fishing,” said researcher Elizabeth Conners. “It is still entirely possible that effects exist over broader areas, or that there could be effects that last only a short time. Our results suggest that Pacific cod in the study area were highly mobile at time spans much shorter than two weeks.” Conners explained.
The experiment compared the seasonal rate of change in cod abundance within the Cape Sarichef no-trawl zone to the rate of change in the adjacent heavily-trawled area, familiarly called ‘Cod Alley’. In each of the three years of research, scientists found no statistical difference between abundance trends in the trawled and untrawled areas. The study was designed to detect a substantial and persistent depletion of cod within two nautical miles of intense trawl fishing.
Results of the study have been presented to the North Pacific Management Council and are expected to appear in scientific journals late this year.
The Cape Sarichef research project was conducted by Elizabeth Conners, Peter Munro, Sandi Neidetcher, and Yunbing Shi, all on the Fishery Interaction Team of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
Related research about the possible effects of commercial fishing in Alaska on Steller sea lions continues in other areas. The Fishery Interaction Team plans to continue a study in the Gulf of Alaska off Kodiak Island in August 2006, examining the possible impacts of commercial fishing for walleye pollock on the ability of sea lions to forage.
Project scientists are currently working on developing tagging studies to find out more about movement patterns of Pacific cod in the Bering Sea.
For more information:
- Final rule lifting restrictions, effective February 10, 2006
- Preliminary results of the study, as presented to the NPFMC in June 2005
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our website at www.fakr.noaa.gov.