Bordered by Alaska, Russia, the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea covers two million square kilometers that is home to great biodiversity, a complex food chain driven by the area's constant production of phytoplankton. Among its residents are polar bears, walrus, Orcas, Northern Fur Seals and several species of whale, including the world's rarest whale, the North Pacific Right Whale, of which less than 50 individuals remain.One fish that is critical to this food chain is on the verge of collapse. The pollock fishery of the Bering Sea is the world's largest, but due to overfishing, it has experienced almost a 50 percent drop in population is just one year.
The human demand for pollock is huge. It is America's most common seafood product, found in frozen fish sticks, fish and chips and imitation crab meat. Worldwide, it supplies McDonald's with its main ingredient for fish sandwiches.
This month, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet to set catch limits for 2009. Greenpeace has called for cutting the catch in half.
GET INFORMED
- Read "Pollock fishery on brink of collapse, Greenpeace says" (Vancouver Sun, October 11, 2008)
- Sign a Greenpeace petition urging the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to regulate factory trawlers and mandate that amount of pollock caught in 2009 must be cut in half and marine reserves must be established to protect critical habitats
- Download the Environmental Defense Fund's "Pocket Eco-Friendly Fish Selector" to make choices that help prevent overfishing
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment