两百多年前，俄罗斯探险者和皮毛狩猎者抵达阿留申群岛(位于北太平洋的一个火山群岛)，发现了位于北部远方的一块大陆。岛上的原住民把这块大陆称为阿留斯卡，意为“伟大的土地”。如今，我们叫它阿拉斯加。

More than two hundred years ago, Russian explorers and fur hunters landed on the Aleutian Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the North Pacific, and learned of a land mass that lay farther to the north. The islands' native inhabitants called this land mass Aleyska, the 'Great Land'; today, we know it as Alaska.

1959年，阿拉斯加加入美利坚合众国，成为美国的第49个州，其面积相当于美国其他48个州总面积的五分之一。它与加拿大共用北美大陆第二长水系，拥有美国一半以上的海岸线。多条河流注入白令海峡和阿拉斯加湾——冰冷而富含养分的水域是成千上万海鸟赖以生存的家园。此外，这片水域中还生活着400多种鱼类、贝类，虾蟹和软体动物。阿拉斯加的商业渔场充分利用了大自然的馈赠，已经发展成为世界上规模最大的渔业聚集地之一。

据阿拉斯加渔业与捕捞局称，在2000年，阿拉斯加商业渔场出产了成百上千吨的贝类和鳕鱼，还有一百多万吨底柄鱼(包括鳕鱼、鳎鱼、鲈鱼和青鳕)。阿拉斯加渔业真正的文化心脏和灵魂却是大马哈鱼。随笔作家苏珊·尤因在她的著作《伟大的阿拉斯加自然概况》一书中指出， 大马哈鱼从阿拉斯加游过，就像血液流经心脏一样，为这片土地、动物和人们带来独具韵律、循环通畅的给养。可预见的丰富的大马哈鱼产量使本土文化得以繁荣发展，垂死的产卵鱼为熊、鹰和其他动物提供食物，最终为这片土地挺供养科。5种太平洋大马哈鱼都在阿拉斯加水域产卵：奇努克大马哈鱼(王鲑)，马苏大马哈鱼(狗鲑)、银大马哈鱼(银鲑)、红大马哈鱼(红鲑)、粉大马哈鱼(驼背大马哈鱼)。北美90％的商业太平洋大马哈鱼都产自阿拉斯加。如果阿拉斯加是一个独立国家的话，它将是全世界最大的野生大马哈鱼产地。2000年，阿拉斯加商业大马哈鱼产量超过320,000吨，船边交易额超过2.6亿美元。

The forty-ninth state to join the United States of America (in 1959), Alaska is fully one-fifth the size of the mainland 48 states combined. It shares, with Canada, the second longest river system in North America and has over half the coastline of the United States. The rivers feed into the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska - cold, nutrient-rich waters which support tens of millions of seabirds, and over 400 species of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and molluscs. Taking advantage of this rich bounty, Alaska's commercial fisheries have developed into some of the largest in the world.

然而，捕鱼业并非一直这么风调雨顺。1940到1959年间，过度捕捞使得大马哈鱼的数量急剧减少，1953年，阿拉斯加成为“联邦受灾渔区”。不过，州政府通过抗争夺回了渔业自主管理权，在州法院的指导下开展渔业活动。而州法院负责确保阿拉斯加的自然资源在可持续发展的基础上进行开发利用。那时候，全国范围内的大马哈鱼产量大约为2500万条。在可持续捕捞政策的管理下，接下来的几十年里，大马哈鱼的产量平稳上升。20世纪90年代，大马哈鱼的年产量超过1亿条，个别年份甚至超过了2亿条。

产量提高的首要原因是实施了被称作“当季捕捞盈余为本”的管理方法。全州范围内的生物学家负责持续监测将要产卵的成年大马哈鱼。生物学家们坐在河滨的观测计算塔里，研究声纳系统，从飞机上进行观察，并与渔民交谈。大马哈鱼捕捞季节不是预先设定好的某一时刻。渔民们知道一年中政府允许捕捞的大概时间段。但是在某些特定的日子，某个地区的一个或多个领域的生物学家有权要求停止捕鱼活动。甚至连体育比赛性的钓鱼活动也会被禁止。正是这样的管理机制使得阿拉斯加的大马哈鱼储量得到保证，并使阿拉斯加的捕鱼业得以持续发展。而同时，美国其他地区的大马哈鱼数量却日益令人担忧，处在备受威胁、甚至是危险的状态中。

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Alaska's commercial fisheries landed hundreds of thousands of tonnes of shellfish and herring, and well over a million tonnes of groundfish (cod, sole, perch and pollock) in 2000. The true cultural heart and soul of Alaska's fisheries, however, is salmon. 'Salmon,' notes writer Susan Ewing in The Great Alaska Nature Factbook, 'pump through Alaska like blood through a heart, bringing rhythmic, circulating nourishment to land, animals and people.' The 'predictable abundance of salmon allowed some native cultures to flourish,' and 'dying spawners* feed bears, eagles, other animals, and ultimately the soil itself.' All five species of Pacific salmon - chinook, or king; chum, or dog; coho, or silver; sockeye, or red; and pink, or humpback - spawn** in Alaskan waters, and 90% of all Pacific salmon commercially caught in North America are produced there. Indeed, if Alaska was an independent nation, it would be the largest producer of wild salmon in the world. During 2000, commercial catches of Pacific salmon in Alaska exceeded 320,000 tonnes, with an ex-vessel value of over $US260 million.

1999年，海洋管理委员会(MSC)授权审查阿拉斯加大马哈鱼捕捞业。该委员会成立于1996年，它为符合高环保标准的渔业发放证明，允许他们使用标签，表明他们知道自己肩负的环保责任。海洋管理委员会设定了一套评定商业捕鱼业的标准。渔业公司认识到通过环保负责评定所带来的潜在利益后，纷纷要求该委员会为自己做相关评定。于是，海洋管理委员建立了一个专门的评定委员会，组建专门的渔业专家小组，从渔民、生物学家、政府官员、产业代表和非政府组织等人士那里收集相关信息和观点。

在海洋管理委员会做最后决定的那几个月里，西阿拉斯加的大马哈鱼鱼群全线崩溃，于是，一些观察家认为，阿拉斯加大马哈鱼渔业不会有任何获得官方机构认证的机会了。在育空河和卡斯科奎姆河流域，奇努克大马哈鱼和马苏大马哈鱼几乎处于建州以来最贫瘠的状态。该地区对商业捕鱼拥有优先权的可持续发展机构对此束手无策。

Catches have not always been so healthy. Between 1940 and 1959, overfishing led to crashes in salmon populations so severe that in 1953 Alaska was declared a federal disaster area. With the onset of statehood, however, the State of Alaska took over management of its own fisheries, guided by a state constitution which mandates that Alaska's natural resources be managed on a sustainable basis. At that time, statewide harvests totalled around 25 million salmon. Over the next few decades average catches steadily increased as a result of this policy of sustainable management, until, during the 1990s, annual harvests were well in excess of 100 million, and on several occasions over 200 million fish.

这场危机完全出乎人们的意料，但研究人员相信这并不是渔业发展引起的。相反，他们辩称这必定是气候变化的结果，是太平洋气候现象厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜持续作用的后果。这些气候现象造成冬天的酷寒，结果大量大马哈鱼的卵在冰冷的海水里被冻死。海洋管理委员会的评定也似乎走到了尽头。然而，阿拉斯加州迅速做出反应，关闭所有渔场，甚至包括那些为了研究可持续发展的渔场。

2000年9月，海洋管理委员会宣布阿拉斯加大马哈鱼渔业通过了资格审查。7家生产阿拉斯加大马哈鱼的渔业公司立即获准在产品上使用海洋管理委员会专用徽标。该证明的起始期限为5年。之后每年进行一次评定，以确保渔业公司仍然符合规定的标准。

The primary reason for such increases is what is known as 'In-Season Abundance-Based Management'. There are biologists throughout the state constantly monitoring adult fish as they show up to spawn. The biologists sit in streamside counting towers, study sonar, watch from aeroplanes, and talk to fishermen. The salmon season in Alaska is not pre-set. The fishermen know the approximate time of year when they will be allowed to fish, but on any given day, one or more field biologists in a particular area can put a halt to fishing. Even sport fishing can be brought to a halt. It is this management mechanism that has allowed Alaska salmon stocks - and, accordingly, Alaska salmon fisheries - to prosper, even as salmon populations in the rest of the United States are increasingly considered threatened or even endangered.

In 1999, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)*** commissioned a review of the Alaska salmon fishery. The Council, which was founded in 1996, certifies fisheries that meet high environmental standards, enabling them to use a label that recognises their environmental responsibility. The MSC has established a set of criteria by which commercial fisheries can be judged. Recognising the potential benefits of being identified as environmentally responsible, fisheries approach the Council requesting to undergo the certification process. The MSC then appoints a certification committee, composed of a panel of fisheries experts, which gathers information and opinions from fishermen, biologists, government officials, industry representatives, non-governmental organisations and others.

Some observers thought the Alaska salmon fisheries would not have any chance of certification when, in the months leading up to MSC's final decision, salmon runs throughout western Alaska completely collapsed. In the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, chinook and chum runs were probably the poorest since statehood; subsistence communities throughout the region, who normally have priority over commercial fishing, were devastated.

The crisis was completely unexpected, but researchers believe it had nothing to do with impacts of fisheries. Rather, they contend, it was almost certainly the result of climatic shifts, prompted in part by cumulative effects of the el niño / la niña phenomenon on Pacific Ocean temperatures, culminating in a harsh winter in which huge numbers of salmon eggs were frozen. It could have meant the end as far as the certification process was concerned. However, the state reacted quickly, closing down all fisheries, even those necessary for subsistence purposes.

In September 2000, MSC announced that the Alaska salmon fisheries qualified for certification. Seven companies producing Alaska salmon were immediately granted permission to display the MSC logo on their products. Certification is for an initial period of five years, with an annual review to ensure that the fishery is continuing to meet the required standards.

* spawners: fish that have released eggs

** spawn: release eggs

*** MSC: a joint venture between WWF(World Wildlife Fund) and Unilever, a Dutch-based multi-national