MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



Other International Actions 



The monitoring and enforcement agreements with 

 Japan, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea are only a 

 part of the international picture as it relates to high 

 seas driftnet fisheries. Actions being taken within the 

 United Nations and other fora and by U.S. agencies, 

 including the Marine Mammal Commission, to more 

 broadly address the driftnet issue are discussed below. 



Actions by the United Nations in 1989 and 1990 



— In December 1989, the United Nations General 

 Assembly passed Resolution 44/225 sponsored by the 

 United States and ten other nations. The resolution 

 acknowledged potential impacts of the high seas 

 driftnet fisheries and called upon the international 

 community to, among other things: (1) review, 

 through international organizations, data on large-scale 

 high seas driftnets and agree on further regulations 

 and monitoring measures needed to protect living 

 marine resources by 30 June 1991; (2) suspend high 

 seas driftnet fishing by 30 June 1992 unless effective 

 conservation and management measures, jointly 

 agreed by concerned international parties and support- 

 ed by scientifically sound analyses, are developed to 

 ensure that unacceptable impacts will be prevented; 

 (3) progressively reduce and, by 1 July 1991, cease 

 high seas driftnet fishing in the South Pacific Ocean as 

 an interim measure pending the development of 

 appropriate conservation and management agreements; 

 and (4) immediately cease further expansion of such 

 fishing pending the results of the regional review. 



The resolution also called upon the United Nations 

 Office of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea to prepare 

 a report on the effects of driftnet fisheries and efforts 

 to implement Resolution 44/225 for consideration at 

 the 45th session of the United Nations General As- 

 sembly session late in 1990. To help prepare its 

 report, the Office asked members and international 

 organizations for views and relevant information on 

 these fisheries. In response, in mid-1990 the Govern- 

 ment of Japan submitted a paper expressing support 

 for continuing high seas driftnet fishing after 30 June 

 1992. The Japanese expressed the view that driftnet 

 fisheries could be managed to minimize the bycatch of 

 non-target species through additional research aimed 

 at modifying gear and through regulations to control 



fishing effort, length of fishing seasons, areas fished, 

 and species taken. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service, in consul- 

 tation with the Department of State, the Marine Mam- 

 mal Commission, and other Federal agencies, subse- 

 quently developed a paper submitted by the State 

 Department on behalf of the United States. The paper 

 expressed strong support for the provisions of the 

 United Nations resolution and noted that conservation 

 measures relative to high seas driftnet fisheries were 

 entirely inadequate and that suspending driftnet 

 fisheries by 30 June 1992 was likely to be justified. 

 The paper clearly set forth the view of the United 

 States tiiat the burden of proof in determining the 

 acceptability of driftnet fishing lies with the fishing 

 nation. 



The United Nations Office of Ocean Affairs and 

 Law of the Sea considered these and other submis- 

 sions and completed its report, which was submitted 

 to the United Nations General Assembly on 26 

 October 1990. On 21 December 1990, the United 

 Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 45/197 

 reaffirming the points in the resolution adopted on the 

 matter in December 1989. The new resolution also 

 requested the that United Nations prepare a report 

 summarizing results of the regional review and other 

 new information for consideration at the General 

 Assembly's 46th session late in 1991. 



Marine Mammal Commission Actions in 1$>90 

 and 1991 — Continuing its efforts begun in the late 

 1980s to ensure an aggressive, coordinated U.S. role 

 in pursuing international actions to end driftnet 

 fishing, the Marine Mammal Commission made a 

 series of recommendations to the Department of State 

 (26 October and 14 December 1990) and the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service (7 and 21 December 1990 

 and 21 February 1991). Among other things, the 

 Commission noted that details of monitoring agree- 

 ments with Japan, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea 

 needed to be reviewed and that the United States 

 needed to prepare for a regional review of driftnet 

 fisheries in the North Pacific pursuant to United 

 Nations General Assembly Resolution 44/225. 



In its letters, the Commission recommended that 

 the Department of State and the National Marine 



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