Arctic Science Journeys
Radio Script
1997

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Where the Fish Are
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STORY: It's early spring down on the docks in the bustling fishing town of Kodiak, Alaska. The shrieks of seagulls that hover overhead go unnoticed by fishermen hard at work on their boats. Soon, these fishermen--and others from ports across Alaska--will head out to sea in search of huge schools of cod and pollock. Last year, fishermen hauled nearly four billion pounds of pollock and cod from the icy waters of the North Pacific Ocean.

But it's what fishermen catch and don't bring back that has created controversy on the fishing grounds. Dorothy Childers is executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council in Anchorage.

CHILDERS: "In the course of fishing, and in particularly the large scale factory trawl fleet, the trawl nets are huge and they're towed through the water or along the bottom of the seafloor and they catch everything that the fishermen are targeting on and everything that might be in the way. All the species that are not going to make it to market get thrown overboard dead."

Last year, fishermen tossed 750 million pounds of fish overboard. The fish were either the wrong species, were too small, or had no market. The problem, quite simply, is that trawlers don't know what they've caught until the net comes to the surface. Allison Barns is a graduate student researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She says there may be a way to avoid catching unwanted fish in the first place.

BARNS: "This research is attempting to identify where certain species of fish live according to ranges of temperature, depth or light. If we can better identify where fish they want to catch live, that would aid them in catching the fish they want to catch and hopefully not catch as many bycatch species."

Barns arranged for more than 30 fishing trawlers to carry tiny computerized sensors on their nets. The devices track the net's location in the water while simultaneously recording the surrounding sea temperature, depth, and light. Barns compares the information with what kind of fish are caught, looking for trends that will help fishing crews target their efforts. She says fishermen realize her research is going to help them stay in business.

BARNS: "A lot of them have been very enthusiastic and very interested. This project has the potential to aid them to continue fishing without damaging the environment."

OUTRO: For Arctic Science Journeys, this is Debra Damron reporting from Fairbanks, Alaska.