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Backgrounder
Strengthening International Fisheries Governance The modernization of international oceans and fisheries governance is the long-term solution to the problem of overfishing on the high seas around the world. Presently, there are gaps and failures in governance that must be addressed. These range from weaknesses in the global patchwork of regional fisheries management organizations to challenging debates in multilateral bodies on how to protect global oceans ecosystems and biodiversity. As a result, in order to strengthen governance in the long term, Canada must first create the conditions for change by building domestic and international public and political support. This entails generating the political will and resources to implement existing commitments and working to fill key scientific, legal and policy knowledge gaps. There are several legally binding instruments that hold parties responsible and accountable for high seas fisheries governance, These include the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 1995 United Nations Fish Agreement (UNFA) and the 2003 United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas (FAO Compliance Agreement). There are also a number of non-binding instruments that have achieved international support and increasing relevance: the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the FAO International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. UNFA provides the framework for the conservation and management of fish stocks on the high seas. The agreement obliges States to err on the side of caution when managing fish stocks and their ecosystems, and to minimize activities that are harmful to the oceans. Canada played a leading role in the development of this agreement, which elaborates on provisions under UNCLOS. Canada also supports the FAO’s efforts to create sustainable fisheries management. Canada recently tabled a National Plan of Action to prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing within its jurisdiction, and was one of the first countries to develop a national Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Both were modeled on FAO documents. In 2004, as part of a new federal strategy to combat global overfishing and improve international fisheries governance, Canada announced three key initiatives:
n October, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans joined the ministerial High Seas Task Force to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing. The goal of the task force is to prepare analytically sound, pragmatic and politically saleable recommendations on how to prevent and reduce IUU fishing, and to ensure that these recommendations are implemented at the national, regional and global levels.
- In November, preparations began for the intergovernmental Conference on the Governance of High Seas Fisheries and the United Nations Fish Agreement – Moving from Words to Action in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
- In December, the Advisory Panel on the Sustainable Management of Straddling Fish Stocks in the Northwest Atlantic was formed to provide advice to the Government of Canada on how to remedy overfishing and avoid ecological destruction of straddling stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Regulatory Area. The Panel’s report will be table in June, 2005.
The St. John’s Conference will bring together 48 fishing nations from around the world to launch an international process that will lead to strengthened high seas governance and improved fisheries management in regional fisheries management organizations. Participants will discuss the existing international framework for governing high seas fisheries to identify both the impediments to implementing existing commitments for high seas fisheries governance – and the gaps in the existing governance regime. They will also work to agree to specific actions for addressing these impediments and gaps.
