[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 17 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
S. J. RES. 17

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 3, 2007

  Mr. Stevens (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Snowe, Ms. 
   Murkowski, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Kerry, Ms. Collins, Mrs. 
Murray, and Mrs. Boxer) submitted the following joint resolution; which 
   was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                            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.
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