Myth Buster: The Myths of Overfishing

Overfishing. It’s a buzz word here in Alaska; a controversial concept. When some people say “overfishing” they may mean the purposeful long term over-harvesting of a fish population, leading to the devastation of that resource. This is not happening in Alaska’s salmon fisheries. Often these arguments are tied up in Alaskans’ feelings about salmon and their fears about salmon disappearing. Today we’ll work on breaking down the myth of overfishing salmon here in Alaska.

In order to understand if “over” fishing of Alaska’s salmon is occurring it must be determined how many fish can be sustainably harvested by all user groups. This number is studied and decided upon by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) fisheries biologists. According to fisheries biologist Stormy Haught, “Alaska Department of Fish and Game sets and manages escapement goals in order to allow sustainable numbers of spawners into rivers and streams.” They work to ensure that enough salmon that are ready to spawn, also known as “spawners,” get up stream prior to allowing fishermen to fish. The number of spawners in the river is determined using “recent information from escapement monitoring projects such as sonar, weirs, and aerial surveys, combined with recent harvest information, and stock of origin information to compare with historical timing of harvests and escapements to determine when harvestable surpluses of fish are present in an area.”

According to Bert Lewis, fisheries biologist and regional manager for AGF&G, “Alaska fisheries management is … held up as the gold standard globally. And if you look at the fisheries across the world many are depleted, overfished and in poor status … in Alaska, we have been lucky to maintain healthy stocks—especially salmon.”

Once it is clear that enough fish are in the river system to maintain a future healthy population, commercial fishermen are presented with a specific time and area in which they are allowed to fish. In any salmon run in Alaska, all user groups are only allowed to harvest when it is clear there is an abundance of salmon resources. When this is not the case, all fishermen, subsistence, personal use, sport and commercial, see a reduction in their access to the fishery. It is not possible for commercial fishermen to catch anywhere near the number of returning salmon during a typical 12-24 hour fishing opportunity. In the given 168 hours in a week, there are 144 hours when commercial fishermen may not be fishing, giving salmon ample opportunity to make their way into the river. Many salmon are still making their way upstream to spawn even during an opener which helps to maintain a healthy surplus population. 

Commercial fishermen are committed to following the rules and regulations that make this all possible. James Honkola, a commercial salmon fisherman in Cordova, Alaska says, “If you’re not passionate about sustainability [commercial fishing is] the wrong career to be in because if there’s no sustainability my career will not be here very long.” No one in the state of Alaska wants to see salmon disappear, especially those whose livelihoods depend on the sustainability of the resource.

Commercial fishing is a family industry. So many children spend their summers on fishing boats that in some towns the school schedule accommodates the commercial fishing season. Many fishermen learned to fish from their parents and want to pass it on to their children. Commercial fishermen want to ensure salmon stocks continue returning as much as any other Alaskan. Nobody wants to catch the last fish.