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KOSUGI TAKASHI WSHtlL,-''.^ Global Legisbwn Orgsnimioo for » Balanced Environment 



Yice-Preddoil Vice-Prejidem ' Vice-Prerideni V1ee-Pre»idaB 



John Kerry Hemmo Muntingh Akiko Doraoto Nikolay Vorontsov 



VS CoaDcss Europoui P«ril»meni Jip«ne»eDlet Russian PuUamcnt 



August 31, 1993 



Mr. Takeeshl Kubota 



Director-General 



Department of Oceanic Rsheries 



Rsheries Agency of Japan 



I^lnistry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 



2-1, Kasumlgasekl 1-chrome 



Chlyado-ku, Tokyo 100 Japan 



Dear Mr. Kubota: 



We are writing as members of the Global Legislators Organization for a 

 Balanced Environment (GLOBE) to express our strong concern over the 

 conservation crisis brought about by over-fishing in the central Bering Sea. We 

 urge your government to take immediate steps to establish an international 

 fishery agreement for the conservation and management of the marine 

 resources In this region. 



The area of concern is a small enclave encircled by the 200 mile 

 exclusive economic zones of the Russian Federation and the United States, 

 commonly referred to as the Donut Hole, A stock of pollock ~ the Aleutian Basin ' ■ 

 stock ~ straddles the U.S. and Russian zones and the Donut Hole area. 



Fishing for pollock in the Donut Hole began in the mid 1 980s and quickly 

 expanded from a total harvest of about 360,000 metric tons in 1985 to a peak of 

 roughly 1.4 million metric tons in 1989. The fishery collapsed over the next two 

 years to such an extent that by 1992 only 10,000 metric tons were harvested. 



The pollock caught in the Donut Hole spawn in the coastal waters of 

 Russia and the U.S. Yet efforts by the two countries to reach a long-temi 

 agreement with the distant-water fishing nations have been unsuccessful to 

 date. Unilateral actions to reduce harvest inside U.S. and Russian waters have 

 been ineffective in conserving stocks without harvest restrictions also on distant- , 



water fishing nations. Sadly, It was not until 1992 when the fishery, was no 

 longer economically viable that fishing was voluntarily suspended by the distant 

 water fishing nations for 1993 and 1994. 



To date, there have been seven multilateral conferences and numerous 

 other meetings convened to establish an agreement for managing pollock in the 

 Donut Hole. Thesfe efforts have produced some short term progress, but only 

 after a conservation crisis had been reached. Regrettably, however, the goal of 

 establishing a meaningful and effective international conservation regime has 

 been elusive. 



Director 



LenaLindahl • . . 



Ginu Rum Bldj..7lh Floor, S-I»-4Clin».Cliuo-lra,T<*)ro,M00JAPAN TdtphoocS I •3-3545-9555 



