November 29, 2019 — The North Pacific Marine Fisheries Council is reviewing the state of the Pacific cod population in the Gulf of Alaska and most likely will announce that the fishery is being shut down in just a few weeks, advises Alaska Public Media in a recent article.
The cod, a major driver of Kodiak, Alaska’s winter economy, are now below the federal threshold that protects cod as a food source for endangered Stellar sea lions, and don’t look ready to bounce back any time soon.
From their last peak in 2014, at 113,830 metric tons, the level of mature, spawning cod have lost more than half their number in the gulf, according to stock assessment data noted by the news service. The fishery had 46,080t in 2017.
The article blames the beginning of the decline heavily on the emergence of “the blob,” a massive marine heatwave across the Pacific that caused surface ocean temperatures to rise 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit between 2014 and 2016.