What happens now

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THE SCIENTISTS

Scientist Robert Stone expects to take another submarine dive next summer to inventory the seabed, and he plans to use a remote-controlled submersible to gather additional data about coral and sponge colonies in the Aleutians.

"At the end of next year, when all of our mapping and diving is done, if we're able to say that corals are found on hard rock near fault zones or uplifts, then we hope to be able to go back to existing maps of the Aleutians and say, 'Maybe these are areas where no fishing should occur,' " said Stone, with Alaska's Auke Bay Lab.

"The biggest challenge in the Aleutians is that there's so much coral, and it's so widespread, that to have fishing and complete protection of corals may never happen. There's going to have to be some give and take."

THE FISHING INDUSTRY

Many in the fishing industry contend the fight over habitat is a red herring; they think environmental groups primarily want to ban trawling and replace the regional councils that oversee fishing in U.S. waters with a regulatory body not influenced by industry.

They fear Alaskan waters are the next battleground in part because they remain the country's most productive fishing ground. The robust catches, some say, show the council process of managing the resource works, despite what environmentalists claim.

They expect to battle environmentalists in court — and in public debate — over what constitutes essential fish habitat that should be protected.

"If it plays out on the facts, I think we can come up with reasonable solutions and we'll be OK," said John Gauvin, a consultant for the industry on habitat issues. "If it plays out in PR (public relations), then I think we're going to lose."

THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS

Oceana, the National Environmental Trust and other environmental groups have lobbied Congress and gathered protest letters as part of a campaign to prevent U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, from delaying actions called for under a 1996 federal law that demands protection of essential commercial-fish habitat.

They also have researched how much coral, sponge and other invertebrate life has been scooped up in trawl nets, and hope to use that information to further their public-relations campaign.

Oceana, in particular, has hired its own scientists and invested money developing fish-habitat protection proposals, which the North Pacific Fishery Management Council rejected.

While the groups have been coy about their legal position, they are widely expected to take that decision to court.

"If we think they're violating the Magnuson Act or violating the National Environmental Policy Act, then we'll do something," said Jim Ayers, with Oceana. "It's in the public interest."

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company