The tightly managed Alaskan pollock fishery has been a rare success story in the U.S., which has seen the collapse of species such as New England cod and now imports 80% of its seafood, writes Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times writer.
Yet the careful management that helped make Alaskan pollock a billion-dollar industry could unravel as the planet warms. Pollock and other fish in the Bering Sea are moving to higher latitudes as winter ice retreats and water temperatures rise.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Alaskan pollock are becoming Russian pollock, swimming across an international boundary in search of food and setting off what could become a geopolitical dispute.
Andrew Rosenberg, former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, expects the pollock to be a test case in an emerging pattern of fish driven by climate change across jurisdictional boundaries.
"It will be a food security issue and has an enormous potential for political upheaval," Rosenberg, now a professor at the University of New Hampshire, told Los Angeles Times. "We aren't getting along that well with the Russians now."
Migrating Industry: Alaskan Pollock Alaskan No More
US - Alaskan pollock appear to be migrating into colder Russian waters and with them may go a billion dollar industry.