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2008
Ocean and the Law of the Sea, 17-21 Nov, the UN
Sustainable Fisheries, 10-14 Nov, the UN
NEAFC Annual Meeting, 10-14 Nov
London (Dumping) Convention, Nov, London, UK
2009
ICES symposium, 27-30 Apr, Azores, Portugal |
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A
Moratorium I Momentum I Recent
Action I Enforcement I Duration I RFMOs I Six
Reasons
Political momentum in 2004 and 2005
Demonstrators calling for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling outside the Canadian High Seas
Governance Conference.
Pioneering undersea explorer, Sylvia Earle met with Spanish government officials and scientists in April 2005.
She is one of the scientists participating in the European tour to bring scientists concerns about the devastating impacts of
high seas bottom trawling direct to decision-makers.
Image courtesy Sylvia Earle.
Greenpeace crew member onboard mv Esperanza, holding a large spider crab that caught and killed by EU bottom trawler Playa de
Menduiña, fishing in the Hatton Bank, NE Atlantic, 24/10/2004.
© Greenpeace/Kate Davison
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Momentum in favour of a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling built steadily over the course of 2004 and 2005.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) issued Oceans and Law of the Sea Resolutions calling on the international community to take urgent measures to manage the risks to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems.
Its 2003 resolution urged relevant global and regional organizations "to investigate urgently how to better address, on a scientific basis, including the application of precaution, the threats and risks to vulnerable and threatened marine ecosystems and biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction..." (1)
In February 2004, the Conference of the Parties of the CBD (COP-7 CBD) urged the UNGA to stop destructive practices harming deep-sea ecosystems. Referring to marine areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction that have seamounts, hydrothermal vents, cold-water corals and other vulnerable ecosystems and features, the Parties called on the UNGA to: "urgently take the necessary short-term, medium-term and long-term measures to eliminate/avoid destructive practices, consistent with international law, on a scientific basis, including the application of precaution", through, for example, on a case by case basis, the "interim prohibition of destructive practices adversely impacting the marine biological diversity associated with [these] areas...". (2)
The United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS), set up in 1999 by the UN Secretary General to inform discussions towards the annual UN Resolution on Oceans and the Law of the Sea in its June 2004 report to the General Assembly explicitly acknowledged the threat to deep-sea ecosystems by bottom trawling.
At the UNGA September-November 2004, Palau called on the world to join them in declaring a moratorium. The call was reiterated at the meeting by the Federated States of Micronesia and Costa Rica submitted proposed amendments to the draft Oceans and Law of the Sea and Sustainable Fisheries Resolutions to include the adoption of a moratorium on high seas bottom trawl fishing.
During the formal debate on these resolutions, many governments called for the protection of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction from destructive fishing practices, some specifically calling for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. (3)
The resolutions agreed by the General Assembly in November 2004 called on States either individually or through regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) to take action and establishes an Ad-hoc, Open-ended, Informal Working Group to "study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction." (4)
A week after the UNGA finalized its resolutions, the IUCN World Conservation Congress adopted a resolution (5) calling for more specific and urgent action than that recently agreed by the UNGA. More than 100 government and 300 NGOs (including several DSCC members) that are member of IUCN participated in the World Conservation Congress in Bangkok. The resolution specifically called on States, RFMOs and the UNGA to protect seamounts, deep sea corals and other vulnerable deep sea habitats from destructive fishing practices, including bottom trawling, on the high seas, particularly through immediate prohibitions on bottom trawling in areas where there is no RFMO and by 2006 in other areas unless effective conservation measures are in place.
At the Small Island Developing States Meeting, January 2005 UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, recognized the great pressures on the high seas' valuable resources and called for "high-level political commitment for marine conservation and protection areas". (6)
The UN Task Force on Environmental Sustainability (part of the UN Millennium Project, an independent advisory body commissioned by the UN Secretary-General to advise the UN on strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals), recommended in its January 2005 report that "Global fisheries authorities must agree to eliminate bottom trawling on the high seas by 2006 to protect seamounts and other ecologically sensitive habitats…"... [An] immediate moratorium would prevent irreversible destruction on the high seas and provide more time to fully assess deep sea biodiversity, fisheries, and ecosystems; determine their vulnerability to deep sea fishing on the high seas; and adopt and implement protection laws." (7)
At its meeting in Rome, the Committee on Fisheries (COFI), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), March 2005 expressed concern over the vulnerability of deep-water fish species and the conservation of biodiversity in deep-sea habitats, and mandated the FAO to: a) collect and collate information on past and present deep-water fishing activities; b) undertake an inventory of deep-water fish stocks and an "assessment of the effects of fishing on deepwater fish populations and their ecosystems"; c) convene technical meetings to develop a code of practice/technical guidelines; d) review the legal framework needed to support governance of deep-water fisheries. (8)
Notes:
(1) UNGA Resolution passed in 2003: A/RES/58/240, paragraph 52.
Available online.
(2) Decision VII/5 of the Seventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity on Marine and coastal biological diversity,
paragraph 61. See also paragraphs 57-62. February 2004.
Available online.
(3) At the UNGA, September-November 2004, the following governments also called for protection of biodiversity in areas beyond
national jurisdiction from destructive fishing practices:
- Chile on behalf of the Rio Group (consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Guyana on behalf of the countries of the
Caribbean);14. Resolution adopted by the UNGA 2004. A/RES/59/25 Sustainable fisheries, paragraphs 66-69.
Available online
- Barbados on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (consisting of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica,
Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
- Samoa on behalf of the Pacific Island Forum (consisting of Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru,
New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu).
- Uganda supported the moratorium call
- Norway and New Zealand called for urgent action to be taken by regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs).
(4) UNGA Resolution passed in 2004: A/RES/59/24 on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, paragraph 73.
(5) Report ref. RESWCC3.066. Congress ref. CGR3.RES051_Rev1.
(6) Side event at the Small Island Developing States Meeting
(7) Element 4 of Chapter 4 Report of the Task Force on Environmental Sustainability of the Millennium Project (Jeffrey Sachs).
Download pdf.
(8) Draft report COFI/2005. From the 26th session in Rome, Italy, 7-11 March 2005.
Available online (FTP)
Deep Sea discussion in 26th meeting (FTP)
More information:
April 2005
Political Momentum Is Building Rapidly
(pdf)
English | French | German | Spanish
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