[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 40 (Monday, October 9, 2006)]
[Pages 1718-1719]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Promoting Sustainable Fisheries and Ending Destructive 
Fishing Practices

October 2, 2006

Memorandum for the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce

Subject: Promoting Sustainable Fisheries and Ending Destructive Fishing 
Practices

    It shall be the policy of the United States, in advancing the 
interests of the American people, to support the maintenance and use of 
sustainable fisheries (1) as a source of nutritious food for the United 
States and the rest of the world, and (2) to meet the needs of 
commercial and recreational fishing. To implement the policy set forth 
above, the Secretary of State, after consultation with the Secretary of 
Commerce, shall:
 (1)         work with other countries and international organizations 
            to eliminate fishing practices that (a) jeopardize fish 
            stocks or the habitats that support them, or (b) provide a 
            commercial advantage to those who engage in such practices 
            that is unfair in comparison with their competitors;
 (2)         work within Regional Fishery Management Organizations 
            (RFMOs), and through other cooperative arrangements, to 
            establish rules based on sound science to enhance 
            sustainable fishing practices and to phase out destructive 
            fishing practices;
 (3)         work with other countries to establish new RFMOs, or other 
            cooperative institutional arrangements, to protect 
            ecosystems in high seas areas where no competent RFMO or 
            other arrangement exists, including calling on all nations 
            to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems by prohibiting their 
            vessels from engaging in destructive fishing practices in 
            areas of the high seas where there are no applicable 
            conservation or management measures or in areas with no 
            applicable international fishery management organization or 
            agreement, until such time as conservation and management 
            measures consistent with the goals of the Magnuson-Stevens 
            Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Public Law 94-265, 
            as amended), the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, and 
            other relevant instruments are adopted and implemented to 
            regulate such vessels and fisheries;
 (4)         work with other countries to develop and promulgate 
            criteria to guide the determination of which marine 
            ecosystems are or are not at risk of damage or loss because 
            of destructive fishing practices; and

[[Page 1719]]

 (5)         work with other countries to combat through enhanced 
            monitoring and surveillance, including through the use of 
            Vessel Monitoring Systems and other technologies, fishing 
            that is unlawful, unregulated, and unreported.
    Further, to implement the policy set forth above, the Secretary of 
State, after consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall carry 
out diplomatic activities for the purposes of (a) ending destructive 
fishing practices, and (b) promoting rules based on sound science to 
support sustainable fisheries and to end destructive fishing practices.
    As used in this memorandum, the term ``destructive fishing 
practices'' are practices that destroy the long-term natural 
productivity of fish stocks or habitats such as seamounts, corals, and 
sponge fields for short-term gain.
    This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law 
and subject to the availability of appropriations. It is intended only 
to improve the internal management of the executive branch and is not 
intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the 
United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees, 
or agents, or any other person.
                                                George W. Bush

Note: This memorandum was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on October 3. An original was not available for verification of the 
content of this memorandum.