Negative Human Impacts

SOME NEGATIVE HUMAN IMPACTS...

...On Fishing

• "Overfishing"- When a certain species of wild ocean life is caught to extremes that exceed the rate at which that certain species can effectively and successfully replenish it's population.

• There is fishing on an industrial scale in the Gulf of Alaska. The trawlers (fish catching boats) in the gulf continue to harvest untargeted species, some of which are not recovering from Overfishing. 

SOURCE: http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153188/

• Pollock are carefully managed due to concerns about the impact of fisheries on endangered Steller sea lions for which pollock is a major prey.

SOURCE:M.C. Aquarone and S. Adams

Overfishing has endangered the Steller Sea Lions

SOURCE: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Steller_sea_lions_%28Eumetopias_jubatus%29_on_rocks.jpg

...On Pollution

• One of the greatest proboems affecting the Gulf of Alaska LME includes predation of the land and its life by "Invasive Species". To clarify, invasive species are non-native plants or animals that travel to the gulf by some mode of transportation and with their presence, they disrupt the ecosystem by altering either the food chain or productivity. 

SOURCE:  http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153189/

...On Ecosystem Health

The 1989 Exxon Oil Spill

SOURCE: http://marineinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/oil-spill2.jpg

• In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil off the Port of Valdez, the terminal of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline after striking the bottom of the cargo area on the reefs of Prince William Sound. This was the largest tanker oil spill in U.S. history (50,000,000 gallons) and it contaminated over 2,000 km of the Gulf of Alaska’s coastline. The livelihood of 70,000 full-time residents living in the area was directly affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They had to overcome the effects of the oil-related fish mortalities. Others using the area seasonally for work or recreation were also seriously affected. There remain concerns about the lingering effects of the oil spill and the pockets of residual oil in the environment, especially in the Western portion of Prince William Sound. The effects of the oil spill interact with the effects of other kinds of changes and perturbations in the marine ecosystem. More common than spills, however, are smaller discharges of refined oil products, crude oil and hazardous substances.

• Because salmon are anadromous (swim up rivers from sea to spawn) and spend a portion of their lives in freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes, the health of salmon populations in this LME is directly influenced by land management practices in both countries and by the loss of freshwater spawning and rearing habitats. Competing uses for the salmon habitat include logging, mining, oil and gas development, and industrial and urban development.

SOURCE: M.C. Aquarone and S. Adams

What Benefits Do We Get From the Alaskan Gulf?

What Benefits Do We Get From the Alaskan Gulf?

FISH. FISH. AND MORE FISH.

• This LME supports a number of commercially important fisheries for crab, shrimp, scallops, walleye pollock, Pacific cod, rockfishes, sockeye salmon, pink salmon and halibut.
• The largest fisheries for sockeye salmon, the salmon species of highest commercial value in the US portion of the LME, occur in Cook Inlet, Kodiak Island, and Prince William Sound. Chum salmon hatcheries produce a significant portion of the catch.
• SOURCE:  M.C. Aquarone and S. Adams

So Let's SEE the SEAFOOD!

Crab

Shrimp

Halibut

Scallops

Walleye Pollock

Pacific Cod

Sockeye Salmon

Rockfish

SOURCES:

http://sercblog.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Common_shore_crab_Arthro.jpg

http://nutritionhealthnet.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/shrimp_small.jpg

http://www.thescallopshack.com/images/scallop-top-pic.jpg

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/species/images/walpolpile.jpg

http://www.elasmodiver.com/Fish%20Pictures/Pacific_Cod_008.jpg

http://www.mexfish.com/fish/bluerock/bluerocksnow341.jpg

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/spawning-sockeye-salmon-don-mann.jpg

http://www.fishmountstore.com/images/D/Halibut-33-half-mount-6-1000.jpg

It's a pretty BIG business

§  Fish and crustacean catch composition in the Gulf of Alaska large marine ecosystem is characterized by a strong prevalence of the freshwater and diadromous group, and rich salmon fishery. The Gulf of Alaska supports a diverse ecosystem that includes several commercially important fisheries such as Alaska pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), Pacific cod, mackerel, Alaska salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon and halibut. Production was 650,000 metric tons in 1990 and remained relatively stable over the ensuing decade. Crustacean species landed are king crab, tanner crab, and shrimp. There is fishing on an industrial scale in the Gulf of Alaska. The trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska continue to harvest untargeted species, some of which are not recovering from resultant overfishing.

SOURCES: http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153188/

Our Living Oceans—Report on the Status of U.S. Living Marine Resources, 1999. NOAA. 301 pages. 

·       Figure: Value of reported landings in the Gulf of Alaska LME by commercial groups (Sea Around Us 2007)

SOURCE: Sea Around Us (2007). A Global Database on Marine Fisheries and Ecosystems. Fisheries Centre, University British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. www.seaaroundus.org/lme/SummaryInfo.aspx?LME=2

·       Figure: Total reported landings in the Gulf of Alaska Sea LME by species (Sea Around Us 2007)

SOURCE: Sea Around Us (2007). A Global Database on Marine Fisheries and Ecosystems. Fisheries Centre, University British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. www.seaaroundus.org/lme/SummaryInfo.aspx?LME=2

Socioeconomics

Several native communities rely for their subsistence on the harvesting of marine resources (fish, shellfish, marine mammals, birds). The economy of the coastal communities is based on commercial fishing of pink and red salmon, fish processing, timber, minerals, agriculture and tourism. Shellfish fisheries developed in the 1960s in the Gulf of Alaska (Our Living Oceans, 1999). Conflicts have emerged between coastal and offshore interests. In 1998, there was an increase of visitors to over 1 million a year. The livelihood of 70,000 full-time residents living in the area was directly affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They had to overcome the effects of the oil-related fish mortalities. Others using the area seasonally for work or recreation were also affected.

SOURCES: §  http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153189/

§  Our Living Oceans—Report on the Status of U.S. Living Marine Resources, 1999. NOAA. 301 pages. 

Natives

§  The Aleutian Islands are still home to the Aleut people's seafaring society, although they were the first Native Alaskans to be exploited by Russians. Western and Southwestern Alaska are home to the Yup'ik, while their cousins the Alutiiq lived in what is now South central Alaska. The Gwich'in people of the northern Interior region are primarily known today for their dependence on the caribou within the much-contested Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The North Slope and Little Diomede Island are occupied by the widespread Inuit people.

SOURCE: Brian C. Hosmer, American Indians in the Marketplace: Persistence and Innovation among the Menominees and Metlakatlans, 1870–1920 (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1999), pp. 129–131, 200.