Fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean must wait

In the third conference of parties (COP3) of the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement (CAOFA) in Incheon, Korea, parties (Canada, China, Denmark on behalf of Faroe Islands and Greenland, Iceland, Republic of Korea, Norway, Russia, United States and the European Union) could not agree on the conditions for exploratory fishing in the high seas. This is significant as only exploratory fishing could be allowed in the high seas in the near future. There is a moratorium on commercial fishing until at least 2037.

The agreement on conservation and management measures, which typically regulate fishing in different seas and oceans, was the main item of the meeting of 10 parties of the agreement.

While there is no imminent interest in starting fishing expeditions in the Arctic high seas, this could change as climate change progresses, accompanied by sea ice loss, the opening of ocean waters as well as northward movement of marine species. It is essential to put in place rules that will protect sensitive ocean ecosystems and species in the agreement area to prevent overexploitation, critical habitat degradation, and other negative impacts for both target and non-target species.

Adopted in 2018, CAOFA set a deadline of 25 June 2024 to agree to these measures. Given that a full suite of conservation and management measures will not be in place, the parties agreed to extend the deadline to the next conference, set for June 2025 in Norway. Until these rules are approved, no exploratory fishing can take place. Among the topics that still need to be defined are:

1. Whether the fishing plans will need to be approved by the Conference of Parties.
2. How compliance of the fishing vessels with the rules will be enforced.
3. Which vulnerable marine ecosystems should be protected.

On a positive note, the planning of the scientific research programme was completed, as the parties adopted the Joint Program of Scientific Research and Monitoring (JPSRM) Implementation Plan. It will advance both scientific knowledge and collection of Indigenous Knowledge to establish baseline ecological knowledge informing the development of exploratory fishing plans.

Jan Dusik who led the WWF delegation to the meeting said:

“WWF came to the meeting with two messages: first, that it is essential that the regulation defines sensitive areas where even exploratory fishing may be problematic. Second, that it is better to delay the adoption of the rules if they cannot be adopted with sufficient precautionary ambition and quality. The latter is the outcome of COP3, and we hope that parties will use the additional time to carve out the areas where fishing is not possible and make the rules truly robust. We have put concrete proposals on the table and will keep engaged in the continued negotiations. We still believe this unique instrument (the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement, CAOFA) has big potential to assure precaution in any future fishing in the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean. CAOFA is also a role model for Arctic marine governance.”