March 22, 2019 — A federal judge cut the line Thursday on the government’s effort to promote sustainable cod-processing operations in a pair of Alaskan fishing villages.
Unveiled in 2016, the new scheme carved out a portion of the Pacific cod fishery off the coast of the Aleutian Islands to be used exclusively each year by vessels that planned to process their catch onshore rather than at sea.
Pacific cod, in contrast to the much-suffering Atlantic cod, is one of the most abundant and lucrative species of groundfish harvested in the region.
Without government intervention, however, the National Marine Fishery Service argued that the Aleutian fishing communities of Adak and Atka would catch less and less cod, and struggle to compete as centers for fish processing.