Steller sea lions. Wesley Loy photo

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is meeting today and tomorrow in Anchorage on a weighty subject – the fate of the endangered western population of Steller sea lions.

You remember the sea lion. A court battle a few years ago, coupled with regulatory action, led to broad restrictions on commercial fishing in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

While those restrictions haven’t appreciably reduced the number of pollock, cod and Atka mackerel the fleet catches, they surely have made life more costly and complicated for the industry.

The council is considering the latest National Marine Fisheries Service recovery plan for the endangered sea lions.

It is a vital document, one that will help guide whether the fishing industry restrictions hold steady, abate or intensify. Fishermen and processors are keenly aware that the Steller sea lion likely will continue to hold potential as the industry’s spotted owl or snail darter.

Part of the council’s job this week will be to review critiques of the draft plan from independent experts.

There’s much debate among these experts and others about what caused the steep Steller decline since the 1970s: Was it a natural swing in the population, perhaps spurred by environmental change? Was it marauding killer whales picking off sea lion pups? Was it rampant sea lion shootings many years ago, a practice now outlawed? Or was it enormous trawl nets scooping up food fish the Stellers need to survive?

The Steller recovery plan ranks commercial fishing as a “potentially high” threat to Steller sea lion recovery, along with environmental change, while other factors such as killer whale attacks, subsistence hunting and disease are lesser threats.

The good news for all concerned, including the sea lions, is that the western Steller population may be turning around.

According to the draft recovery plan, the population increased by about 3 percent a year between 2000 and 2004, the first recorded increase since the 1970s. Based on recent counts, the western stock now numbers about 44,800 animals and may be increasing due to higher juvenile and adult survival.

To read the plan, click here. To check out the expert critiques, go here.