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Examples of straddling fish stocks (and resulting 

 international controversy) include cod in the northwest 

 Atlantic, jack mackerel in the southeast Pacific off the 

 coasts of Chile and Peru, squid in the south Atlantic off 

 Argentina, orange roughy off New Zealand, and pollock in the 

 Sea of Okhotsk. As a coastal State, the primary stock of 

 concern to the United States is Alaskan pollock - the Aleutian 

 Basin pollock stock, in particular - in the central Bering 

 Sea We also have had a long historical fishery for what are 

 now straddling stocks in the northwest Atlantic off the coast 

 of Canada on the Grand Banks. In this latter regard, we 

 understand and share the interests of distant water fishing 

 nations . 



Ultimately, resolution of straddling stock problems 

 requires reconciliation of the right to fish on the high seas 

 with the rights, duties, and interests of coastal States. 



Earlier this year the United Nations convened an 

 intergovernmental conference on straddling fish stocks and 

 highly migratory fish stocks, as agreed at UNCED last year in 

 Rio de Janeiro. It is important that our fishery interests in 

 the Bering Sea and northwest Atlantic Ocean be put in 

 perspective with the United Nations Conference process. 



At the first substantive session of the UN Conference held 

 in New York in July, with the support of many other countries, 

 we advocated several important points, including that the work 

 and results of the Conference must be fully consistent with 

 UNCLOS, and that a set of general principles or guidelines 

 should be agreed upon which could then be adopted by States, 

 entities and organizations on a regional basis. We emphasized 

 the importance of regional approaches and regional fishery 

 management organizations, and we particularly stressed that 

 States with vessels fishing in a region must participate in 

 regional conservation and management organizations. We 

 recognized that to be effective consistent management measures 

 should be applied throughout the entire range of the stock. 

 We emphasized that regional organizations must do a better ]0b 

 in managing such stocks, and that the conservation of marine 

 resources comes before short-term economic interests. 



What we support in the UN process, and in the north 

 Pacific and the northwest Atlantic, is the development and 

 implementation of strong regional conservation and management 

 regimes which include all the relevant countries and which are 

 effective in responding to specific regional needs of the 

 resources and the people dependent on them. 



Mr. Chairman, as you are aware, the Aleutian Basin pollock 

 stock is a very valuable resource. In 1991, the Aleutian 

 Basin pollock roe fishery in the U.S. zone alone was valued at 

 $145 million (first wholesale price). Unregulated fishing on 

 that part of the stock which /'straddles" the U.S. and Russian 

 zones, and the high seas area of the central Bering Sea known 

 as the "Donut Hole", is of great concern. 



During the past two and one-half years, the Department, 

 assisted by the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Coast Guard, 

 the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the States of 

 Alaska and Washington, advisors and Congressional 

 representatives, have engaged in negotiations to conserve, 

 rationally manage, and sustainably utilize this tremendous 

 resource. While a belated voluntary suspension of fishing on 

 this stock was achieved for 1993 and 1994, it is a matter of 

 serious concern and consequence, environmentally, 

 economically, and commercially, that a long-term conservation 

 and management agreement is not yet in place. One must be so 

 if the fishery is to resume after 1994. 



