Chapter IV — International 



least 90 net retrievals. The results of these efforts are 

 to be summarized and made available by mid- 1992. 



Enforcement efforts during the 1991 fishing season 

 verified that significant numbers of driftnet vessels 

 from Taiwan and the Republic of Korea were fishing 

 in closed areas of the northern North Pacific Ocean in 

 June and July. Some observations were made as a 

 result of aerial and shipboard surveillance carried out 

 as part of the cooperative U.S. -Canadian driftnet 

 enforcement program. Other observed infi-actions, 

 involving at least 21 vessels, resulted ft'om data 

 gathered from the satellite-linked radio transmitters 

 required under the agreements with Korea and Tai- 

 wan. Although a Taiwanese enforcement vessel was 

 seen near boats fishing illegally, there was no indica- 

 tion of any efforts being made on its part to stop the 

 illegal fishing operations. The location of the illegal 

 fishing and the number of vessels involved make it 

 likely that significant numbers of U.S. marine re- 

 sources, particularly salmon, were taken. Although 

 protests were filed with Taiwan and Korea, they did 

 not recall the vessels and the boats continued to fish. 



In response to these developments, the Secretary of 

 Commerce wrote to the President on 13 August 1991 

 certifying, pursuant to the provisions of the Magnuson 

 Fishery Conservation and Management Act, that the 

 Govenmients of Taiwan and the Republic of Korea 

 had allowed their nationals to conduct driftnet fishing 

 in a manner inconsistent with their scientific monitor- 

 ing and enforcement agreements with the United 

 States. Such certification is deemed to be a certifica- 

 tion for purposes of the Pelly Amendment to the 

 Fishermen's Protective Act and authorizes the Presi- 

 dent to restrict imports of fish and fish products from 

 the certified nation. On 18 October 1991, the Presi- 

 dent advised Congress that he was deferring the 

 imposition of sanctions against the two countries for 

 90 days pending an evaluation of their efforts to 

 penalize the offending vessels and prevent further 

 incidents. At the end of 1991, sanctions against those 

 nations remained under review, and the President's 

 report to Congress on the matter will be submitted 

 early in 1992. Because of these actions, the monitor- 

 ing programs with each country were temporarily 

 suspended and observations of some fishing trips were 

 canceled. 



On 18 and 20 September 1991, 17 other driftnet 

 fishing vessels and two support ships were observed 

 fishing illegally southeast of the Kamchatka Peninsula 

 in waters of the former Soviet Union. The vessels 

 were observed and photographed during joint U.S.- 

 Canadian surveillance flights and the Government of 

 the Soviet Union was advised. Some vessels carried 

 markings of the People's Republic of China and others 

 were unidentified. On being presented with the 

 findings, the Chinese Government, which had previ- 

 ously advised the United States that its fisherman did 

 not engage in driftnet fishing, reaffirmed that they had 

 authorized no driftnet fishing, and said that they 

 would investigate the matter. At the end of 1991, the 

 Chinese had ordered the boats to withdraw and were 

 continuing their investigation of the incident. The 

 Commission looks forward to learning the response to 

 the U.S. inquiry. 



The 1992 Driftnet Fishing Seasons 



As noted above, the driftnet monitoring and 

 enforcement agreements with Japan, Taiwan, and the 

 Republic of Korea expire on 30 June 1992. United 

 Nations General Assembly Resolution 44/225 calls 

 upon all nations to end large-scale high seas driftnet 

 fishing after that date unless jointly agreed conserva- 

 tion measures have been developed that ensure that 

 unacceptable impacts are avoided. Given provisions 

 of this resolution and the seasons during which North 

 Pacific Ocean driftnet fishing occurs, efforts to 

 monitor driftnet fishing in 1992 were not contemplat- 

 ed early in 1991. 



However, as noted below, the United Nations 

 General Assembly adopted a new resolution in De- 

 cember 1991 calling for a global moratorium on all 

 large-scale high seas driftnet fishing effective after 31 

 December 1992, rather than 30 June 1992. There- 

 fore, at the end of 1991, the Secretary of Commerce 

 was considering what steps, if any, should be taken to 

 extend and implement monitoring and enforcement 

 agreements with each of the three driftnet fishing 

 nations through 1992. 



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