103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 135
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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;
Whereas the Donut Hole and surrounding areas have been
part of one of the world’s most productive regions of fish-
ing for important commercial species;
Whereas one of the most highly valued fisheries is the Aleu-
tian Basin pollock stock which straddles the United
States and Russian exclusive economic zones and the
Donut Hole but spawns only inside the exclusive eco-
nomic 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 pol-
lock by fishermen from distant-water fishing nations
which has recently plummeted from a peak of approxi-
mately one million four hundred thousand metric tons in
HCON 135 EH
1989 to a low of approximately 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 sus-
pended, 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 manage-
ment arrangements for the Donut Hole;
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 inter-
ests of all nations in conserving the living marine re-
sources, but these efforts may not succeed due to the in-
herent 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 is-
sues since the 1980’s;
HCON 135 EH
Whereas on April 4, 1993, at the Vancouver Summit, the
Presidents of the United States and the Russian Federa-
tion agreed, inter alia, ‘‘to develop bilateral fisheries co-
operation in the Bering Sea, the North Pacific, and the
Sea of Okhotsk for the purpose of preservation and re-
production 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 con-
cerning Central Bering Sea fishery resources;
Whereas the collaborative conservation efforts of the United
States, Russian Federation, and distant-water fishing na-
tions will provide enhanced fishery resources;
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 Conserva-
tion and Management of the Living Marine Resources of
the Central Bering Sea on August 14, 1992, which pro-
vided for a temporary suspension of all commercial fish-
ing 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 agree-
ment for the Donut Hole and were not able to finalize
such an agreement; and
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
HCON 135 EH
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the United States should take appropriate
measures to conserve the resources of the Donut
Hole;
(2) the United States should continue its pur-
suit of an international agreement, consistent with
its rights as a coastal state, to ensure proper man-
agement for future commercial viability of these nat-
ural resources;
(3) the United States, working closely with the
Russian Federation should, in accordance with inter-
national law and through multilateral consultations
or through other means, promote effective inter-
national programs for the implementation and en-
forcement of regulations of the fisheries by those na-
tions that fish in the Donut Hole;
(4) the United States nonetheless should be
mindful of its management responsibility in this re-
gard and of its rights in accordance with inter-
national law to fully utilize the stock within its own
exclusive economic zone;
(5) the United States should accept as an ur-
gent duty the need to conserve for future genera-
tions the Aleutian Basin pollock stock and should
HCON 135 EH
carry out that duty by taking all necessary meas-
ures, in accordance with international law; and
(6) the United States should foster further mul-
tilateral cooperation leading to international consen-
sus on management of the Donut Hole resources
through the fullest use of diplomatic channels and
appropriate domestic and international law and
should explore all other available options and means
for conservation and management of these living ma-
rine resources.
Passed the House of Representatives November 2,
1993.
Attest:
Clerk.