Without meaning to judge, the US as a whole seems happy to overexploit itself at the expense of its citizens.

Fisheries would be one example, agriculture which a sibling comment mentioned, another. But it's also pollution, labour laws, access to housing.

It's tricky because the US is literally the most powerful economy ever, so it must be doing something right, equally it seems other countries care more about their citizens. Not China or North Korea ofc but Europe or Canada etc.

I worked summers in Homer, Alaska at the cannery (four decades ago, before it burned down).

Herring season was interesting since all the herring roe went, apparently, to Japan. A Japanese inspector would arrive and test the herring that the cannery had stored in large brine vats, stacked around the facility. Only when he said it was "ripe" would we begin processing (separating) the roe from the herring.

The non-egg part of the processing was, I was told, to become crab bait or cat food.

Indeed, this is happening:

https://www.statista.com/chart/2280/the-global-fish-farming-...

China's being smart about it too - they are farming fish which are ubiquitous and easy to farm (Carp and Tilapia):

https://thechinaguys.com/aquaculture-in-china/

China could do a much better job at regulating their fishing industry though...

In the West we eat Tilapia, but we probably should learn to eat Carp. Unfortunately as a family of fish, it gets a bad rap for a few reasons (Americans don't like bones, Carp has a low-class association, Carp can be "muddy" if not raised and prepared right).

It's more complicated than that, because there is a substantial trade in fish export to China, where processing happens, followed by re-export back to the US.

2019 figures:

* U.S. commercial fishermen landed 9.3 billion pounds of seafood * Americans consumed 6.3 billion pounds of seafood

Given imports are more processed than exports, a part of that difference is presumably waste & less desirable byproducts. So it seems fair to conclude that the US eats pretty close to the amount of seafood that it produces.

In $ terms (because of the value add of processing), US seafood imports are roughly 4x exports.

Source: https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2021-05/fus-2019-fact-sheet...

Haven't the Faroe Islands managed to develop a highly profitable and sustainable salmon aquaculture? Let's hope it's not too much to ask Alaskans to learn from what has been done successfully in other parts of the world.

Very similar to tree nut exports in California and the corresponding water crisis.

"and a cap on exports would be the quickest fix."

One complexity with this plan is that the vast majority of the seafood processing occurs overseas. We export fish to China to be processed, then ship it back.

> We're destroying our local ecosystems for a quick buck

Sadly, that happens all over the world. 'We' prefer to not see long term effects for having a 'better' life now.

Capping may be good, but what will people do for their livelihood that depend on this?