April 22, 2019 — Times are tight for state budgets these days. It’s easy to forget the crucial role government agencies play in sustaining our economy. Fisheries are a prime example. Most Alaskans don’t know that Alaska is world-famous for its management of fisheries through a system based on science.
Even those of us familiar with highly political “fish wars” over allocations of salmon between sport and commercial fishers sometimes forget that.
To be able to fight over fish we need healthy fisheries, however. Thanks to the commitment of Alaskans over the years to science-based fisheries management — in fact, since we became a state in 1959 — we’ve been blessed with a huge natural resource that employs thousands and feeds millions.
The sustainability of that depends on science-based management. For that, Alaskans can give themselves a pat on the back.
Interestingly, Alaska was the first place where the scientific principles of sustained-yield fisheries management were put in place on a broad scale, first with salmon and now with all the fisheries we manage in both state and federal waters, including cod, crab, herring and pollock.
Before Alaska became a state, our salmon fisheries were overfished and depleted. There had been decades of mismanagement by the federal government.