For an Example of Sustainability, Fishermen Need Only Look to Alaska
Ask anybody with the slightest bit of work experience in the fishing industry in any part of the world's oceans where the most sustainable fishing practices are enforced, and they are practically guaranteed to reply that that would have to be in the coastal waters of Alaska.
The sustainability of the Alaska seafood industry is something which has historical roots and it was a major part of the cause that drove the residents of the state to push for statehood back in the 1950s: after observing the depletion of crucial fish species stocks and the total free-reign given to commercial operations by federal "overseers" in those times, the good people of Alaska promised that such mistakes would never be repeated, not in their waters.
In fact, the state of Alaska was the first state to ever incorporate environmental protection language right into the state constitution; by obliging the Alaska seafood industry to forevermore operate on the principle of the sustainable yields, a major victory was gained for the cause of environmentalism (at a time when that word didn't form part of the popular vocabulary the way it does today).
Not only was it a major victory for the marine habitats that make Alaska's waters so biologically interesting and crucial to the world's oceans, but it was furthermore a major victory for the very people of Alaska who were thereby guaranteed the future of the principal economic activity in the state.
Then as now, the Alaska seafood industry (which comprises both the commercial boats and crews out on the water as well as the massive processing plants and their employees on land) constitutes the biggest employer in Alaska and hence if it weren't for this degree of sustainability the state's economy would tank practically overnight.
Such is the degree of seriousness with which Alaska has espoused the principle of sustainability in its seafood operations that independent scientists are actually given authority to determine if the fishing season should continue or be suspended for individual species of fish or other animals forming part of the Alaska seafood family.
Hardly anywhere else on the planet or in the nation will you ever find such serious policies stipulated in writing, and much less actually being put into action!
The sustainability of the Alaska seafood industry is something which has historical roots and it was a major part of the cause that drove the residents of the state to push for statehood back in the 1950s: after observing the depletion of crucial fish species stocks and the total free-reign given to commercial operations by federal "overseers" in those times, the good people of Alaska promised that such mistakes would never be repeated, not in their waters.
In fact, the state of Alaska was the first state to ever incorporate environmental protection language right into the state constitution; by obliging the Alaska seafood industry to forevermore operate on the principle of the sustainable yields, a major victory was gained for the cause of environmentalism (at a time when that word didn't form part of the popular vocabulary the way it does today).
Not only was it a major victory for the marine habitats that make Alaska's waters so biologically interesting and crucial to the world's oceans, but it was furthermore a major victory for the very people of Alaska who were thereby guaranteed the future of the principal economic activity in the state.
Then as now, the Alaska seafood industry (which comprises both the commercial boats and crews out on the water as well as the massive processing plants and their employees on land) constitutes the biggest employer in Alaska and hence if it weren't for this degree of sustainability the state's economy would tank practically overnight.
Such is the degree of seriousness with which Alaska has espoused the principle of sustainability in its seafood operations that independent scientists are actually given authority to determine if the fishing season should continue or be suspended for individual species of fish or other animals forming part of the Alaska seafood family.
Hardly anywhere else on the planet or in the nation will you ever find such serious policies stipulated in writing, and much less actually being put into action!
Source...