September 20, 2024
By Linda Behnken
Letter to the Editor in response to August 22, 2024 Winding Glass column.
John Sackton’s op-ed about climate change and fisheries, Winding Glass: Climate Change Turns Fisheries Sustainability on its Head, hit me hard, as I expect it did most fishermen. With these words: "the reality is that many fisheries are vulnerable to climate-induced collapse over the next decade,” he summarized the latest science on the collapse of Bering Sea crab fisheries and gave all of us in the industry fair warning. The oceans are changing in unprecedented ways; we can no longer expect future trends to reflect the past nor what was once “sustainable” management to save our fisheries.
What John did not address is the role fishermen can play in limiting and slowing climate change to stabilize our fisheries and ocean ecosystems. We need not be passive victims of these changes. Our jobs and livelihoods depend on healthy fisheries; we are an industry that can call for climate action to protect our jobs, communities, and way of life. Scientists and at least some politicians know what needs to be done to stabilize the climate— what they need is political cover to do it. Now is the time for fishermen to find their voice and provide that cover. We need strong leadership and meaningful action, and we need it now.
What would that look like?
3500 economists, including 28 Nobel laureates and a host of other scientists have identified a fee on carbon as our most effective climate action. If coupled with a dividend paid to middle- and low-income families, socio-economic impacts are minimal. We also need a network of nature-based climate resilience areas to safeguard biodiversity and buffer ocean systems against the climate change already set in motion, but these areas can include fisheries— with the fisheries managed to preserve biodiversity and productivity. Finally, we need a global transition to zero carbon fuels, with that transition designed to achieve climate and social equity goals.
As Johan Rockstrom says in this podcast — none of this is a mystery; we know how to stop global warming. What we lack is leadership, and what our leaders lack is strong voices calling for effective climate action. Fishermen can raise that voice. There is a healthy, lovely future out there if we slow and eventually stop global warming. If we don’t, we are headed off the charts and into perilous waters. Let’s change course before it is too late.
Linda Behnken, a longliner since 1982, is the Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and recipient of the 25th Heinz Award for the Environment. In recent years she established the Fishery Conservation Network, the Young Fisherman’s Initiative, and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust.