Commercial fishing has occurred in the Glacier Bay area since before the turn of the century. Despite regulatory and statutory prohibitions as early as 1966, commercial fishing has continued throughout most of the park’s 601,600 acres of marine waters. Disputes over control of the park’s marine waters, economic importance of the fishery, political clout of the commercial fishing industry, and the lack of an equitable solution have thwarted efforts to resolve this issue.
The future of commercial fishing in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve was finally decided by federal legislation after years of consideration and contentious debate. The new legislation, which is included within the FY 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act, reflects much work and many years of public discussion and information gathering. The Glacier Bay provision responds to public comments received by the National Park Service that oppose commercial fishing in park waters, and advances the park’s fundamental purpose of natural resource preservation. Equally important, it responds to issues of equity raised by longtime fishers and the State of Alaska.
The Appropriations Act provision will help to protect park resources by immediately closing all five wilderness waters, Geickie Inlet, and the upper east and west arms of Glacier Bay to commercial fishing activities. The act will also immediately prohibit Dungeness crab, king crab, and groundfish fisheries within all parts of the bay, and establish a phaseout of halibut, salmon, and Tanner crab fisheries. Only fishers meeting historical participation criteria will be allowed to continue fishing for the remainder of their lifetime. When these fishers retire, all commercial fishing within the bay proper will be prohibited.
The act helps protect the livelihood of commercial fishers dependent on fishing within Glacier Bay proper by:
- authorizing continued commercial fisheries in the park’s nonwilderness waters outside of Glacier Bay proper, where more than 80% of the biomass has been harvested in the past;
- allowing halibut, salmon, and Tanner crab fishers with a documented history of fishing in Glacier Bay the opportunity to continue fishing in this area for their lifetime, and allowing “grandfathered” king salmon trollers continued access to historically fished areas in the upper east and west arms during winter openings; and
- providing financial compensation to Dungeness crab fishers who have fished for at least 6 of the last 10 years in designated wilderness waters, but must immediately cease fishing within those waters.
Although the Glacier Bay provision is a reasonable solution to a very complex and contentious issue, many details remain. The National Park Service expects to complete final regulations implementing the requirements of the act during 1999. The National Park Service and the State of Alaska will jointly develop a fisheries management plan to cooperatively manage the outer waters of the park where commercial fishing will continue.
Photo Credit: Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Rick Perkins
jim_tilmant@nps.gov
Fisheries Program Leader, Water Resources Division; Natural Resources Program Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
chad_soiseth@nps.gov
Aquatic Biologist, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve; Gustavus, Alaska
Award-Winner Profile
SUPERINTENDENT
HONORED FOR PARK PROTECTION
In April 1998 the National Park Service named Mark Woods the recipient of the Director’s Award for Superintendent of the Year for Natural Resource Stewardship. Mark is superintendent of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park (Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee) and led the 1997 challenge against the State of Kentucky’s issuance of a surface coal-mining permit outside Cumberland Gap. Although state proceedings continue, the challenge to the state permit decision set a precedent for the National Park Service in protecting park resources and values from coal mining outside park boundaries. This precedent highlights the need for park managers to be proactive with respect to protecting parks from external development.
Mark Woods
Back to Chapter 1: A Spectrum of Challenges
Mining and power generation along the Natchez Trace Parkway
by Kerry Moss and Mark VanMouwerik
Personal watercraft use to be regulated in the parks
by Chip Davis
The politics of prescribed fire at devils tower
by Chas Cartwright and Kurt Pindel
Blackstone River protects nature in a changing cultural landscape
by Nancy Brittain
Agencies search for reasons for amphibian decline
by Kathy A. Tonnessen and Gary Williams