ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Saying that North Pacific fisheries and wildlife are at risk of irrevocable damage, the Alaska Oceans Network (AON) -- an alliance of conservation groups, fishing groups, Alaska native organizations, groundfish observers and other concerned individuals -- today launched a campaign to end 20-year-old federal policies that are systematically destroying the world's most productive ecosystems.

"Each year in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, over 3O0 million pounds of fish -- enough to provide well over one-billion meals -- and other marine life are caught and thrown overboard by large scale industrial fishing operations," said AON Coordinator Francine Bennis. "That is a typical yearly 'wasted catch' in the North Pacific, and this occurs in what federal officials tout as America's best managed marine fisheries."

The start of AON's "Healthy Oceans" campaign coincides with the first National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) environmental evaluation of groundfish fisheries in twenty years. The AON plan calls for more conservative fishing quotas, recognition of the ties between a healthy ocean and coastal communities, restrictions on bottom trawling and establishing regeneration zones.

AON is urging the public to take advantage of a unique chance to press for adoption of its ideas. NMFS is soliciting comments on its own 3300-page document, giving the public its first-ever opportunity to have a say in how North Pacific fisheries -- the world's largest and most productive -- are managed. AON participants say that the NMFS fails to offer any feasible integrated alternatives to stop over-fishing, protect habitat and minimize bycatch and that crafting a revised Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) is essential to safeguarding the North Pacific.

Public hearings are scheduled in Juneau (March 27), Portland, OR (March 28), Seattle, WA (March 29), Kodiak (April 3) and Anchorage (April 11).

"It's time to stop destructive fishing practices and protect marine mammals, birds and fish. We shouldn't have to choose between fisheries and a healthy ocean," Bennis said.

A growing body of evidence suggests that bottom trawling -- a method of indiscriminate fishing where nets with heavy chains and roller gear are dragged across the ocean floor -- is damaging the web of life in Alaska's oceans and coastal environment.

"There is growing evidence that the environment is seriously out of balance in the waters off Alaska," said Barry Bracken, a retired marine fisheries biologist with seventeen years experience in Alaska's groundfish fisheries. "The connection between massive removal of fish and observed dramatic decreases in the populations of marine mammals, seabirds, and some other species is too strong to ignore. The government must implement a more balanced approach to managing our fisheries, one which protects fish, wildlife, and the entire marine ecosystem.

Alaska's tourism industry is also worried. "My clients come to Alaska to see wildlife and a healthy natural system," said Bracken, who now operates a marine eco-tour company out of Petersburg. "When populations of whales, sea lions, seals, and seabirds decline or disappear, our businesses suffer, not to mention the fact that this violates the trust the public has placed in our resource managers."

"What happens in Alaska is likely to set a precedent for the nation's other fisheries," said Bracken. "The outcome of this SEIS process will either help establish a model for true ecosystem-based management or allow continuation of the existing system of over-exploitation, which has caused the collapse of fish populations in other areas of the country and throughout the world."

MORE ON ALASKA OCEANS NETWORK

The Alaska Oceans Network (AON) is a voluntary association of conservation groups, fishing groups, Alaska native organizations and Alaska groundfish fishery observers whose goal is to restore and maintain healthy marine ecosystems in Alaska and in particular the North Pacific.

The following groups are members of the Alaska Oceans Network:

Alaska Longline Fishermens' Association

Alaska Marine Conservation Council
www.akmarine.org

Audubon Alaska
www.home.gci.net/~akaudubon/

American Oceans Campaign
www.americanoceans.org

Association of Professional Observers

Bering Sea Council of Elders

Center for Marine Conservation
www.cmc-ocean.org

Earthjustice Legal Defense
www.earthjustice.org

National Environmental Trust
www.environet.org

Trustees for Alaska
www.trustees.org

World Wildlife Fund
www.worldwildlife.org

Each member group utilizes a distinct approach in attempting to achieve Alaska Oceans Network common objectives.

For more information about the Alaska Oceans Network, please call 907-929-3553 or visit our website: www.alaskaoceans.net.

CONTACT: Jim Zelinski of Zelinski Public Relations, 415-882-7787, or [email protected], for Alaska Oceans Network; or Francine Bennis, Coordinator of Alaska Oceans Network, 907-929-3553, or [email protected].