In 2003, the second year of the experiment, the University of Alaska's Institute of Social and Economic Research studied the effect of the co-op on both participants and non-participants. They surveyed all 100 Chignik permit holders and found that 55 percent of co-op members who fished claimed they were better off financially under the new system, while 73 percent of co-op members who let someone else do the fishing said they were better off. That contrasts with the claims of 90 percent of the people who did not join the co-op that they were worse off financially since the co-op was instituted. Eighty-nine of the 100 permit holders responded to the survey.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has issued its biannual report on world fisheries that warns of increased pressure on stocks since 2002 that was unsustainable amid rising consumption. Titled "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture," the report cautions that there has been a consistent downward trend since the 1950s in the proportion of marine fish stocks with potential for expanded production, coupled with an increase in the proportion classified as overexploited or depleted. According to the FAO, 3 percent of marine stocks are currently under exploited, while 21 percent are moderately exploited and could support modest increases in fishing and in harvests. Fifty-two percent are fully exploited, which means they are being fished at their maximum biological productivity. Increased fishing of these stocks would not produce any additional sustainable harvests and would reduce reproduction to dangerously low levels. The remaining 24 percent are over exploited (16 percent), depleted (7 percent), or recovering from depletion (1 percent) and need rebuilding. Some of these stocks are already under strict management schemes. Regions with fish stocks in greatest need of recovery include the Northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, followed by the Northwest Atlantic, the Southeast Atlantic, the Southeast Pacific and the Southern Ocean.
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978 and has also designed and built gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish, and gillnets salmon in Upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist.
The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that the Board of Fisheries exceeded its authority when it allowed the majority of the salmon seine fleet in Chignik to form a fishing cooperative. The co-op program was instituted by the board in 2002 at the request of the Chignik Seiner's Association to eliminate competition for the resource and improve quality. Of the 100 permit holders for the Chignik fishery, 77 voted to join the co-op, a system that allows a few boats to catch the fish and divide the profits. Those 77 boats were given 69 percent of the quota, and used 18 to 20 boats to actually catch the fish, cutting expenses and boosting profits. The 23 permit holders who chose not to join the co-op fished competitively for the remainder of the quota. Two of those fishermen objected strongly enough to the new system to file a lawsuit to stop it, claiming it was unconstitutional and cost hundreds of jobs for deckhands and processing jobs for the Chignik community. That suit was denied by the Alaska Superior Court, and one fisherman, Michael Grunert, followed up with an appeal to the Supreme Court. That court handed down a 4-to-1 decision that the board did not have the authority to allow the formation of the co-op. Judge Carpeneti dissented, disagreeing with the opinion's premise that the "cooperative fishery" and the "competitive fishery" cannot constitute separate fisheries. The ruling comes as a blow to members of the co-op who did not actually fish, as many of them had either sold or mothballed their boats, making it unlikely they would be able to get back in action by the start of this year's fishery.
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