[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 17 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]
1st Session
S. J. RES. 17
_______________________________________________________________________
JOINT RESOLUTION
Directing the United States to initiate international discussions and
take necessary steps with other Nations to negotiate an agreement for
managing migratory and transboundary fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean.
Whereas the decline of several commercially valuable fish stocks
throughout the world's oceans highlights the need for
fishing nations to conserve fish stocks and develop
management systems that promote fisheries sustainability;
Whereas fish stocks are migratory throughout their habitats, and
changing ocean conditions can restructure marine habitats
and redistribute the species dependent on those habitats;
Whereas changing global climate regimes may increase ocean water
temperature, creating suitable new habitats in areas
previously too cold to support certain fish stocks, such as
the Arctic Ocean;
Whereas habitat expansion and migration of fish stocks into the
Arctic Ocean and the potential for vessel docking and
navigation in the Arctic Ocean could create conditions
favorable for establishing and expanding commercial
fisheries in the future;
Whereas commercial fishing has occurred in several regions of the
Arctic Ocean, including the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Beaufort
Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Greenland Sea, although fisheries
scientists have only limited data on current and projected
future fish stock abundance and distribution patterns
throughout the Arctic Ocean;
Whereas remote indigenous communities in all nations that border
the Arctic Ocean engage in limited, small scale subsistence
fishing and must maintain access to and sustainability of
this fishing in order to survive;
Whereas many of these communities depend on a variety of other
marine life for social, cultural and subsistence purposes,
including marine mammals and seabirds that may be adversely
affected by climate change, and emerging fisheries in the
Arctic should take into account the social, economic,
cultural and subsistence needs of these small coastal
communities;
Whereas managing for fisheries sustainability requires that all
commercial fishing be conducted in accordance with science-
based limits on harvest, timely and accurate reporting of
catch data, equitable allocation and access systems, and
effective monitoring and enforcement systems;
Whereas migratory fish stocks traverse international boundaries
between the exclusive economic zones of fishing nations and
the high seas, and ensuring sustainability of fisheries
targeting these stocks requires management systems based on
international coordination and cooperation;
Whereas international fishing treaties and agreements provide a
framework for establishing rules to guide sustainable
fishing activities among those nations that are parties to
the agreement, and regional fisheries management
organizations provide international fora for implementing
these agreements and facilitating international cooperation
and collaboration;
Whereas under its authorities in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act, the North Pacific Fishery
Management Council has proposed that the United States
close all Federal waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas
to commercial fishing until a fisheries management plan is
fully developed; and
Whereas future commercial fishing and fisheries management
activities in the Arctic Ocean should be developed through
a coordinated international framework, as provided by
international treaties or regional fisheries management
organizations, and this framework should be implemented
before significant commercial fishing activity expands to
the high seas: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That--
(1) the United States should initiate international
discussions and take necessary steps with other Arctic nations
to negotiate an agreement or agreements for managing migratory,
transboundary, and straddling fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean
and establishing a new international fisheries management
organization or organizations for the region;
(2) the agreement or agreements negotiated pursuant to
paragraph (1) should conform to the requirements of the United
Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and contain mechanisms, inter
alia, for establishing catch and bycatch limits, harvest
allocations, observers, monitoring, data collection and
reporting, enforcement, and other elements necessary for
sustaining future Arctic fish stocks;
(3) as international fisheries agreements are negotiated
and implemented, the United States should consult with the
North Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and Alaska
Native subsistence communities of the Arctic; and
(4) until the agreement or agreements negotiated pursuant
to paragraph (1) come into force and measures consistent with
the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement are in effect, the
United States should support international efforts to halt the
expansion of commercial fishing activities in the high seas of
the Arctic Ocean.
Passed the Senate October 4, 2007.
Attest:
Secretary.
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. J. RES. 17
_______________________________________________________________________
JOINT RESOLUTION
Directing the United States to initiate international discussions and
take necessary steps with other Nations to negotiate an agreement for
managing migratory and transboundary fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean.