88 



2 



Whereas the Donut Hole and surrounding areas have been 

 part of one of the world's most productive regions of fish- 

 ing for important commercial species; 



Whereas one of the most highly valued fisheries is the Aleu- 

 tian Basin pollock stock which straddles the United 

 States and Russian exclusive economic zones and the 

 Donut Hole but spawns only inside the exclusive eco- 

 nomic zones; 



Whereas fishing in the Donut Hole for the Aleutian Basin 

 pollock stock began only in the mid-1 980's and does not 

 constitute a traditional high seas fishery; 



Whereas the past productivity of these fishery resources has 

 resulted in their overuse and their subsequent dramatic 

 dechnes exemplified by the harvest of Aleutian Basin pol- 

 lock by fishermen from distant-water fishing nations 

 which has recently plummeted from a peak of approxi- 

 mately one million four hundred thousand metric tons in 

 1989 to a low of appoximately ten thousand metric tons 

 in 1992; 



Whereas in an effort to prevent the commercial extinction of 

 the Aleutian Basin pollock stock, the Russian Federation 

 and the United States substantially reduced, then sus- 

 pended, domestic fisheries inside their respective exclusive 

 economic zones; 



Whereas conservation of the fishery resources in the exclusive 

 economic zones has little success if similar conservation 

 measures are not achieved in the Donut Hole; 



Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation have 

 made significant efforts with the distant-water fishing 

 nations to negotiate effective conservation and manage- 

 ment arrangements for the Donut Hole; 



HCON 136 IH 



