Fisheries Managers Seek to Protect Sea Lions

Worried by the continued decline of northern sea lions in the waters off Alaska, federal fisheries managers are pressing for changes in the region’s fishing practices.

“There is mounting evidence that fishing for pollock, at various times of the year and in some critical habitat areas, may reduce the availability of an important food resource” for the sea lions, said Rollie Schmitten, director of NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency charged with protecting endangered marine species and implementing fishing regulations.

The National Marine Fisheries Service said Friday it has drafted a framework to adjust pollock fishing, which it will recommend to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council this week.

“Working closely with the Council we can achieve the correct and delicate balance between wildlife conservation and commerce,” said Terry Garcia, assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. The northern, or Steller, sea lion is the largest kind of sea lion.

Garcia said the goal is to recover the sea lions over time while still protecting the Alaska communities that rely on fishing for jobs. The Alaska pollock fishery is worth an estimated $670 million annually.

NOAA Fisheries’ most recent Steller sea lion stock assessment finds the population has declined from 110,000 in 1978 to fewer than 40,000 today. Steller sea lions were listed as threatened in 1990, and those found in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska were reclassified as endangered in 1997.

At the same time, the average amount of pollock harvested annually from waters where sea lions feed and breed has increased from 672 million pounds in 1986 to 1.79 million pounds during the 1990s.

Pollock are not overfished, the federal officials said. The problem is the increasing proportion being taken from areas critical to the sea lions.

Already some steps have been taken, including establishing no-trawl zones in sea lion areas. But federal officials said more needs to be done.

Their proposals include:

* Continue the annual Nov. 1-Jan. 19 pollock trawling ban in the Bering Sea and extend it to the Gulf of Alaska.

* More evenly distribute the pollock harvest into at least four seasons throughout the year, and over a wider area.

* Increase protection areas to include important locations where the sea lions rest, feed and breed.