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nomic concerns — the conservation and long-term sustainable management of renew- 

 able marine resources throughout their biological range. 



The U.S. position in the UN Conference has been to promote regional fishery or- 

 ganizations as the appropriate fora for resolving these interests. This Conference is 

 setting the parameters for settling disputes among coastal nations and distant- 

 water harvesting nations by requiring all of them to become responsible managing 

 nations and to comply with regulations established by these regional organizations. 



There are a number of fish stocks of interest to the United States that will be 

 affected by the UN Conference. Examples include: 



Straddling Fish Stocks 



Central Bering Sea Pollock (Donut Hole) — Convention on the Conservation and 

 Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea 



Northwest Atlantic Groundfish (Grand Banks) — Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Or- 

 ganization (NAFO) 



Highly Migratory Fish Stocks 



South Pacific skipjack and yellowfin tuna — South Pacific Tuna Treaty 



South Pacific albacore (tuna) — no treaty or organization 



Western and central Pacific tuna and tuna-like fishes — domestic fisheries under 

 the jurisdiction of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council 



North Pacific albacore (tuna) — discussions for several years on scientific coopera- 

 tion 



Eastern Tropical Pacific tunas — Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission 

 (lATTC) 



Atlantic Tunas and tuna-like species — International Commission for the Con- 

 servation and Management of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 



A successful result at this Conference will have important implications for many 

 existing and future regional fisheries conservation and management organizations 

 and arrangements. But it also has critical and particular importance to our allies 

 throughout the world. 



For Canada, as well as a number of other coastal nations, the issue of straddling 

 stocks has become a key domestic and foreign policy issue. We strongly oppose Can- 

 ada's recent unilateral enforcement action in high seas areas of the Northwest At- 

 lantic. But we must work with our Canadian friends to ensure an equitable resolu- 

 tion of the issues of Northwest Atlantic groundfish. This Conference provides the 

 potential for avoiding such disputes in the future and for protecting the legitimate 

 interests of coastal fishing nations. If this Conference produces the type of result 

 we expect, Canada will not be forced to watch their Atlantic qroundfish stocks rav- 

 aged by foreign vessels which do not heed the conservation rules adopted by NAFO. 



For the European Union, Japan, China, South Korea, Poland, and Russia, this 

 Conference raises the potential of additional requirements for operating in high seas 

 fisheries. These fisheries are important to their domestic ana intemational inter- 

 ests. They seek assurances that a coastal nation cannot arbitrarily or 

 discriminatorily exclude them from fishing on adjacent high seas for a straddling 

 fish stock. 



Central to this Conference will be finding a way to balance these two sets of inter- 

 ests. We believe that the Conference's emphasis on state-of-the-art fisheries man- 

 agement, flag state responsibility and cooperation, and regional fishery conservation 

 and management organizations and agreements will enable all participants to em- 

 brace responsible management principles. 



WHAT THE RESULT WE SEEK WOULD DO 



The result we seek from this Conference would support the key elements of U.S. 

 fisheries law and practice. 



The result we seek would strongly support the Central Bering Sea Convention 

 and positions we have taken on other straddling stocks. It would ensure that high 

 seas fishing on straddling stocks would be controlled, so that it does not undermine 

 the management regimes of the adjacent coastal nations. 



The result we seek would help protect our nation's lar^ and important fisheries 

 for highly migratoiy species sucn as tuna and swordfish. These fisheries can thrive 

 only if the entire biological range of these species is considered in conservation and 

 management arrangements. 



The result we seek would support fisheries science by increasing the interchange 

 of detailed fisheries data among fishing countries. NOAA designed the strong mini- 

 mum data standards already agreed to in principle by the UN Conference and in- 



