23 



TESTIMONY OF 



AMBASSADOR DAVID A. COLSON 



DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY 



OCEANS AFFAIRS 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE 



BEFORE THE 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 



COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



SEPTEMBER 22, 19 93 



Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am pleased to 

 be here today to discuss issues related to straddling fish 

 stocks, particularly those in the central Bering Sea and in 

 the northwest Atlantic Ocean. In this regard, I wish to 

 describe the U.S. position in the ongoing United Nations 

 discussions on straddling fish stocks, review the status of 

 U.S. efforts to secure a long-term conservation and management 

 agreement for the pollock resource in the central Bering Sea, 

 and discuss the issue of fishing for straddling stocks in the 

 regulatory area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries 

 Organization (NAFO) . 



Mr. Chairman, as you are aware, under the 1982 United 

 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) , the concept 

 of coastal State jurisdiction outward to 200 nautical miles, 

 through the establishment of exclusive economic zones (EEZs), 

 was codified. The United States has not yet become a party to 

 UNCLOS, but 57 nations have done so, and the living marine 

 resource provisions of the Convention are acknowledged as 

 customary international law. Many countries, including the 

 United States, have enjoyed the benefits of exclusive 

 jurisdiction over the living marine resources in their 

 respective 200 mile zones. UNCLOS also provides the legal 

 framework within which all States have the freedom to fish in 

 areas beyond coastal State jurisdiction, that is, on the high 

 seas. UNCLOS conditions this freedom to reguire conservation 

 and management of the living marine resources of the high seas 

 and cooperation with coastal states. 



These provisions of UNCLOS have served the international 

 community well. However, as world fishery conditions have 

 changed, today, more than ever, there is a need to reconcile 

 the rights of States to fish on the high seas with the rights 

 of coastal States to manage fishery resources within their 

 EEZs. The main problem that has arisen relates to straddling 

 fish stocks, or stocks of fish found both within the EEZ of 

 one or more coastal States and in high seas areas adjacent to 

 the EEZ. In addition to other factors, fishing vessels 

 recently excluded from the EEZs of coastal States have 

 transferred their effort to the high seas, fishing on the same 

 stocks previously fished in the EEZ. For coastal States, 

 unrestricted fishing on the high seas portion of a straddling 

 stock can have a negative impact on conservation and 

 management measures taken within the EEZ for the same stock, 

 and derogate from that State's rights to utilize fully that 

 stock within its zone. On the other hand,- distant water 

 fishing States view attempts by coastal States to exert 

 management, either directly or indirectly, on straddling 

 stocks outside their EEZs as an extension of jurisdiction 

 inconsistent with UNCLOS. 



