PUBLIC LAW 110–243—JUNE 3, 2008 122 STAT. 1569 

Public Law 110–243 

110th Congress 

Joint Resolution 

Directing the United States to initiate international discussions and take necessary 

steps with other Nations to negotiate an agreement for managing migratory 

and transboundary fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean. 

Whereas the decline of several commercially valuable fish stocks 

throughout the world’s oceans highlights the need for fishing 

nations to conserve fish stocks and develop management systems 

that promote fisheries sustainability; 

Whereas fish stocks are migratory throughout their habitats, and 

changing ocean conditions can restructure marine habitats and 

redistribute the species dependent on those habitats; 

Whereas changing global climate regimes may increase ocean water 

temperature, creating suitable new habitats in areas previously 

too cold to support certain fish stocks, such as the Arctic Ocean; 

Whereas habitat expansion and migration of fish stocks into the 

Arctic Ocean and the potential for vessel docking and navigation 

in the Arctic Ocean could create conditions favorable for establishing and expanding commercial fisheries in the future; 

Whereas commercial fishing has occurred in several regions of 

the Arctic Ocean, including the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Beaufort 

Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Greenland Sea, although fisheries scientists have only limited data on current and projected future 

fish stock abundance and distribution patterns throughout the 

Arctic Ocean; 

Whereas remote indigenous communities in all nations that border 

the Arctic Ocean engage in limited, small scale subsistence fishing 

and must maintain access to and sustainability of this fishing 

in order to survive; 

Whereas many of these communities depend on a variety of other 

marine life for social, cultural and subsistence purposes, including 

marine mammals and seabirds that may be adversely affected 

by climate change, and emerging fisheries in the Arctic should 

take into account the social, economic, cultural and subsistence 

needs of these small coastal communities; 

Whereas managing for fisheries sustainability requires that all 

commercial fishing be conducted in accordance with science-based 

limits on harvest, timely and accurate reporting of catch data, 

equitable allocation and access systems, and effective monitoring 

and enforcement systems; 

Whereas migratory fish stocks traverse international boundaries 

between the exclusive economic zones of fishing nations and the 

high seas, and ensuring sustainability of fisheries targeting these 

stocks requires management systems based on international 

coordination and cooperation; 

June 3, 2008 

[S.J. Res. 17] 


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122 STAT. 1570 PUBLIC LAW 110–243—JUNE 3, 2008 

Whereas international fishing treaties and agreements provide a 

framework for establishing rules to guide sustainable fishing 

activities among those nations that are parties to the agreement, 

and regional fisheries management organizations provide international fora for implementing these agreements and facilitating 

international cooperation and collaboration; 

Whereas under its authorities in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act, the North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council has proposed that the United States close 

all Federal waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to commercial fishing until a fisheries management plan is fully developed; 

and 

Whereas future commercial fishing and fisheries management 

activities in the Arctic Ocean should be developed through a 

coordinated international framework, as provided by international 

treaties or regional fisheries management organizations, and this 

framework should be implemented before significant commercial 

fishing activity expands to the high seas: Now, therefore, be 

it 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

United States of America in Congress assembled, That 

(1) the United States should initiate international discussions and take necessary steps with other Arctic nations to 

negotiate an agreement or agreements for managing migratory, 

transboundary, and straddling fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean 

and establishing a new international fisheries management 

organization or organizations for the region; 

(2) the agreement or agreements negotiated pursuant to 

paragraph (1) should conform to the requirements of the United 

Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and contain mechanisms, inter 

alia, for establishing catch and bycatch limits, harvest allocations, observers, monitoring, data collection and reporting, 

enforcement, and other elements necessary for sustaining 

future Arctic fish stocks; 

(3) as international fisheries agreements are negotiated 

and implemented, the United States should consult with the 

North Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and 

Alaska Native subsistence communities of the Arctic; and 

(4) until the agreement or agreements negotiated pursuant 

to paragraph (1) come into force and measures consistent with 

the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement are in effect, the 

United States should support international efforts to halt the 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–243—JUNE 3, 2008 122 STAT. 1571 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S.J. Res. 17: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 

Vol. 153 (2007): Oct. 4 considered and passed Senate. 

Vol. 154 (2008): May 19, 21, considered and passed House. 

Æ 

expansion of commercial fishing activities in the high seas 

of the Arctic Ocean. 

Approved June 3, 2008. 


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