IA 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. J. RES. 17 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 5, 2007 

Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

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; 


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SJ 17 RFH 

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 sysVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:44 Jan 22, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SJ17.RFH SJ17

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tems based on international coordination and cooperation; 

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 

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 That— 

4 (1) the United States should initiate inter5 national discussions and take necessary steps with 

6 other Arctic nations to negotiate an agreement or 

7 agreements for managing migratory, transboundary, 

8 and straddling fish stocks in the Arctic Ocean and 


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1 establishing a new international fisheries manage2 ment organization or organizations for the region; 

3 (2) the agreement or agreements negotiated 

4 pursuant to paragraph (1) should conform to the re5 quirements of the United Nations Fish Stocks 

6 Agreement and contain mechanisms, inter alia, for 

7 establishing catch and bycatch limits, harvest alloca8 tions, observers, monitoring, data collection and re9 porting, enforcement, and other elements necessary 

10 for sustaining future Arctic fish stocks; 

11 (3) as international fisheries agreements are ne12 gotiated and implemented, the United States should 

13 consult with the North Pacific Regional Fishery 

14 Management Council and Alaska Native subsistence 

15 communities of the Arctic; and 

16 (4) until the agreement or agreements nego17 tiated pursuant to paragraph (1) come into force 

18 and measures consistent with the United Nations 

19 Fish Stocks Agreement are in effect, the United 

20 States should support international efforts to halt 

21 the expansion of commercial fishing activities in the 

22 high seas of the Arctic Ocean. 

Passed the Senate October 4, 2007. 

Attest: NANCY ERICKSON, 

Secretary. 


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