[110th Congress Public Law 243]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[DOCID: f:publ243.110]
[[Page 122 STAT. 1569]]
Public Law 110-243
110th Congress
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. <<NOTE: June 3, 2008 - [S.J. Res. 17]>>
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;
[[Page 122 STAT. 1570]]
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
[[Page 122 STAT. 1571]]
expansion of commercial fishing activities in the high seas of
the Arctic Ocean.
Approved June 3, 2008.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S.J. Res. 17:
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD:
Vol. 153 (2007):
Oct. 4 considered and passed Senate.
Vol. 154 (2008):
May 19, 21, considered and passed
House.
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