IV

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 135

Calling for the United States to take further steps to establish an international fishery agreement for conservation and management of living

marine resources in international waters of the Bering Sea known as

the Donut Hole.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 5, 1993

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself, Mr. STUDDS, Mr. MANTON, Mr. FIELDS

of Texas, and Mr. SAXTON) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Calling for the United States to take further steps to establish an international fishery agreement for conservation

and management of living marine resources in international waters of the Bering Sea known as the Donut

Hole.

Whereas there exists a small, central enclave in the Bering

Sea known as the Donut Hole that is more than two

hundred nautical miles seaward of the baselines from

which the breadth of the territorial seas of the United

States and the Russian Federation are measured and

that encompasses less than 10 percent of the Bering Sea;
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HCON 135 IH

Whereas the Donut Hole and surrounding areas have been

part of one of the world’s most productive regions of fishing for important commercial species;

Whereas one of the most highly valued fisheries is the Aleutian Basin pollock stock which straddles the United

States and Russian exclusive economic zones and the

Donut Hole but spawns only inside the exclusive economic zones;

Whereas fishing in the Donut Hole for the Aleutian Basin

pollock stock began only in the mid-1980’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

declines exemplified by the harvest of Aleutian Basin pollock by fishermen from distant-water fishing nations

which has recently plummeted from a peak of approximately 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 suspended, 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 management arrangements for the Donut Hole;
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HCON 135 IH

Whereas the distant-water fishing nations refused to suspend

operations until the fishery collapsed and was no longer

economically viable;

Whereas international law attempts to balance freedom of

fishing in international waters with the interests of the

coastal states in conserving and developing fish stocks

within their own exclusive economic zones and the interests of all nations in conserving the living marine resources, but these efforts may not succeed due to the inherent difficulty associated with establishing effective

conservation, management, and enforcement controls in

international waters;

Whereas international negotiations have not yet succeeded in

reaching a permanent means to control fishing in the

Donut Hole despite continuing attempts to resolve the issues since the 1980’s;

Whereas on April 4, 1993, at the Vancouver Summit, the

Presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation agreed, inter alia, ‘‘to develop bilateral fisheries cooperation in the Bering Sea, the North Pacific, and the

Sea of Okhotsk for the purpose of preservation and reproduction of living marine resources and of monitoring

the ecosystem of the North Pacific Ocean’’;

Whereas the Congress of the United States has passed the

Central Bering Sea Fisheries Enforcement Act of 1992

(Public Law 102–582) which denies port privileges to

those vessels that violate international agreements concerning Central Bering Sea fishery resources;

Whereas the collaborative conservation efforts of the United

States, Russian Federation, and distant-water fishing nations will provide enhanced fishery resources;
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HCON 135 IH

Whereas delegates from the People’s Republic of China,

Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Poland,

the Russian Federation, and the United States signed a

joint resolution at the Fifth Conference on the Conservation and Management of the Living Marine Resources of

the Central Bering Sea on August 14, 1992, which provided for a temporary suspension of all commercial fishing in the Donut Hole during 1993 and 1994;

Whereas these delegations met most recently in Tokyo in

June, 1993, to negotiate a long-term management agreement for the Donut Hole and were not able to finalize

such an agreement;

Whereas delegates from each of these nations have expressed

their consensus concerns for the long-term conservation

and management of the fishery resources of the Donut

Hole: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) the United States should take appropriate

4 measures to conserve the resources of the Donut

5 Hole;

6 (2) the United States should continue its pur7 suit of an international agreement, consistent with

8 its rights as a coastal state, to ensure proper man9 agement for future commercial viability of these nat10 ural resources;

11 (3) the United States, working closely with the

12 Russian Federation should, in accordance with inter-
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HCON 135 IH

1 national law and through multilateral consultations

2 or through other means, promote effective inter3 national programs for the implementation and en4 forcement of regulations of the fisheries by those na5 tions that fish in the Donut Hole;

6 (4) the United States nonetheless should be

7 mindful of its management responsibility in this re8 gard and of its rights in accordance with inter9 national law to fully utilize the stock within its own

10 exclusive economic zone;

11 (5) the United States should accept as an ur12 gent duty the need to conserve for future genera13 tions the Aleutian Basin pollock stock and should

14 carry out that duty by taking all necessary meas15 ures, in accordance with international law; and

16 (6) the United States should foster further mul17 tilateral cooperation leading to international consen18 sus on management of the Donut Hole resources

19 through the fullest use of diplomatic channels and

20 appropriate domestic and international law and

21 should explore all other available options and means

22 for conservation and management of these living ma23 rine resources.

Æ