Chapter V — International 



The report concluded that the high seas driftnet 

 fisheries in the North Pacific lacked any management 

 based on the biology of the target stocks and that the 

 lack of management was due largely to (1) a tradition 

 of managing fishing fleets rather than the targeted 

 fishery resource, and (2) the lack of an appropriate 

 management authority for this high seas region. It 

 recommended that environmental impact assessments, 

 including species inventories, be done early in the 

 process of fisheries development and that monitoring 

 of both target and a representative set of non-target 

 species accompany fishery development. With regard 

 to the latter point, it noted that fisheries should not be 

 allowed to develop faster than the information base 

 necessary to assess both the direct and indirect effects 

 of the fishery. It also noted that successful conserva- 

 tion of marine living resources will be contingent on 

 the establishment, among other things, of management 

 authorities empowered to make and enforce appropri- 

 ate conservation measures. 



Fisheries Bycatch 



The incidental bycatch of marine mammals, sea 

 turtles, seabirds, and non-target fish species in some 

 commercial fisheries may have serious economic as 

 well as biological and ecological impacts. The 

 magnitude and possible consequences of the bycatch 

 problem worldwide has not been fully assessed. 

 Therefore in 1993 the Marine Mammal Commission, 

 along with a number of other organizations and 

 businesses, provided support for a global assessment 

 of fisheries bycatch and discards. 



A report describing the results of this study was 

 published in 1994 by the Food and Agriculture 

 Organization of the United Nations (see Appendix C, 

 Alverson et. al. 1994). The report, based upon a 

 review of over 800 papers, estimated that between 

 17.9 and 39.5 million tons (average 27.0 million tons) 

 of fish are discarded each year in commercial fisheries 

 worldwide. Total landings of marine living resources 

 worldwide are approximately 90 million tons. There- 

 fore, on the average, approximately 30 percent of 

 total catches are discarded. 



Tropical shrimp trawl fisheries have the highest 

 proportion of discards, accounting for one-third of the 

 global total. Bottom trawl, long-line, and pot fisher- 



ies as a group rank second in terms of total bycatch. 

 The lowest levels of bycatch are in pelagic trawl 

 fisheries, small pelagic purse seine fisheries, and some 

 high seas driftnet fisheries. The available data were 

 insufficient to accurately estimate the biological, 

 ecological, economic, and cultural impacts of the 

 bycatch problem. Economic losses were judged likely 

 to be in the billions of dollars. 



The report identified a number of possible means 

 for reducing bycatch. Effort reduction, incentive 

 programs, and individual transferrable quotas (that 

 make vessel operators responsible for bycatch reduc- 

 tion) were seen as the most promising long-term 

 possibilities. The report cautioned that much more 

 information is needed and that quick solutions to the 

 problem are unlikely. 



Conservation of Straddling and 

 Highly Migratory Fish Stocks 



Straddling fish stocks are stocks whose normal 

 ranges include areas both within and beyond the 

 exclusive economic zones of individual coastal na- 

 tions. Migratory fish stocks are stocks of fish that 

 migrate annually through areas within and beyond the 

 exclusive economic zones of individual coastal na- 

 tions. Effective conservation of such stocks requires 

 cooperative management by two or more nations. 



Recognizing the need for cooperative management, 

 the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment 

 and Development called for an intergovernmental 

 conference to consider means for elaborating and 

 implementing the provisions of the 1982 Convention 

 on the Law of the Sea regarding straddling and highly 

 migratory fish stocks. In response the United Nations 

 General Assembly adopted a resolution on 22 Decem- 

 ber 1992 establishing the Conference on Straddling 

 Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. 

 Beginning in July 1993 the United Nations sponsored 

 a series of five negotiating sessions to develop an 

 international consensus on how to conserve straddling 

 and highly migratory fish stocks. The United States 

 was an active participant in these negotiations and at 

 the third session supported negotiation of a legally 

 binding agreement. 



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