The Council of Ministers of the EU will shortly adopt the legal acts allowing the EU to sign the agreement to prevent unregulated high seas fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean (see EUROPE 12039, 11917).
At the end of November 2017, the Commission held negotiations with Canada, China, Denmark (Faroe Islands and Greenland), Iceland, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States to conclude a binding agreement to stop unregulated high seas fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean. On Friday 14 September, Coreper, (the committee of member states’ permanent representatives to the EU) endorsed the legal acts approving the accord.
This agreement seeks to prevent unregulated high seas fishing in the waters of the Central Artic Ocean through the application of precautionary conservation and management measures “as part of a long-term strategy to safeguard healthy marine ecosystems and to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of fish stocks”. Each party shall authorise vessels entitled to fly its flag to conduct commercial fishing in the agreement area only in compliance with conservation and management measures for the sustainable management of fish stocks adopted by one or more existing or future regional or sub-regional fisheries management organisations.
No commercial fishing has yet been reported in this area and it is unlikely that there will be any in the near future. Nonetheless, given the changing conditions in the Arctic Ocean, the governments of the above countries concluded this agreement in line with the precautionary principle. With global warming, the water temperatures in the Arctic are rising, making them more attractive for fishing. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)