A Greenpeace activist protests against the EU deep sea bottom trawler Playa de Menduina, fishing in the North Atlantic.
What happened at the UNGA meeting?
While we didn't quite achieve what we would have liked, it's not
all doom and gloom. On the issue of bottom trawling, the actions
agreed by the General Assembly are far better than those
recommended by the
June meeting of the UN Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and
the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS). Amongst other things, UNGA has
for the first time explicitly recognized that bottom trawling can
have destructive impacts on seamounts, cold water corals and other
vulnerable deep sea ecosystems. In doing so, the UNGA has called on
member states to 'take action urgently', based on science and the
precautionary approach, and consider interim prohibitions or
moratoria on bottom trawl fishing on the high seas (that is, beyond
areas of national jurisdiction, not where all the swashbuckling
pirates are).
What UNGA said
And there's more! The UNGA established an 'Open-ended Informal
Working Group' to study issues related to the conservation and
sustainable use of marine diversity on the high seas. The working
group is likely to meet in early 2006.
Nonetheless, the UNGA resolutions still fall well short of an
agreement for a global moratorium on bottom trawl fishing on the
high seas to protect deep-water corals and biodiversity. It still
leaves it up to countries individually and through regional
fisheries management organizations (RFMOS) to take action to
protect deep sea life from bottom trawl fishing.
Is leaving it up to individual countries really so bad?
So what's so bad using regional management, we hear you ask.
Well for starters the evidence isn't encouraging: existing RFMOs,
with the exception of the one for Antarctica, have done little to
protect deep sea life from high seas bottom trawling.
There is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel: for example,
the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) recently held
its annual meeting and agreed, for the first time ever, to close
several small deep sea areas in international waters to bottom
trawl fishing. A good start, but not nearly enough to protect
deep-water corals, which are widespread throughout the region.
Also, it appeared that the EU was successful in preventing an
agreement to close a sensitive deep sea area which is of interest
to Spanish fleets fishing on the high seas.
Bottom trawl fishing is completely unregulated in many
international waters. Other types of fishing are strongly regulated
- so why not bottom trawling? But the UNGA resolution is quite weak
on these areas and calls on states to either establish new RFMOs or
expand the mandate of existing RFMOs to cover these high seas areas
- a process that will take many years at best and in some cases
ultimately may not be effective in the long term.
Who are still the bad guys?
Costa Rica, Norway, Chile and New Zealand have all shown
leadership during the UN General Assembly negotiations this year.
Iceland and the European Union, on the other hand, appeared to be
the major obstacles to comprehensive protection of deep sea
biodiversity.
But don't worry, we're not going to let them get away with
it!
Check
out the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition's website for more updates
and links
View the webcast of Greenpeace Policy Advisor Karen Sack's
challenge to the UNGA (REAL MEDIA)
Read the weblog straight from our ship battling
bottom trawling on the high seas
Want to help?
We will be continuing our battle against the destruction of
bottom trawling. Meanwhile...
Keep an eye on the Cybercentre for the latest
online actions
become a
cyberactivist
Join Greenpeace!