Unalaska, AK – Crab rationalization has harmed coastal communities and the environment, and left publicly owned resources almost exclusively in the hands of a few large companies, according to a report issued today by a consumer watchdog group.

The report by Washington, DC-based Food & Water Watch slams the individual fishing quotas instituted last year by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. It argues that rationalization amounts to privatizing the public resource of the fisheries, and calls on Congress to place a moratorium on new IFQs, including the one under consideration for Alaska's groundfish fisheries.

Food & Water Watch's Andrianna Natsoulas said that while there were plenty of problems with the old derby days of the king crab fishery, the IFQ system isn't the solution.

On its website, Food & Water Watch describes its goal as stopping "corporate control of our food and water." Representatives of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council said that they were aware of the report but hadn't read it yet, and declined to comment on it.

The report can be viewed at: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fish/oceans-for-sale-1/irrational-approach/pdf