S. J. Res. 17

One Hundred Tenth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,

the third day of January, two thousand and eight

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;
S. J. Res. 17—2

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
S. J. Res. 17—3

expansion of commercial fishing activities in the high seas

of the Arctic Ocean.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.