WWF participated in the first COP for The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement

The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement entered into force in June 2021, temporarily banning all commercial fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) while mandating its parties to collaborate on increasing understanding of CAO ecosystems and potential for fisheries.

The parties successfully completed the first Conference of the Parties (COP), meeting in Incheon, South Korea from 23-25 November 2022. The COP agreed by consensus on several key steps forward and will now officially start to implement the Agreement. One of the key elements of this work is the establishment of the Science Coordinating Group (SCG) and establishing measures for exploratory fishing.

WWF’s contribution

WWF Arctic Programme participated in the first COP as observer and plans to participate as an observer in the SCG and associated committees as they develop the science program and provisions for exploratory fishing by June 2024.  WWF intends to contribute to this work and advocate for independent science that informs all management decisions, with minimum political influence. In addition, The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement implementation should intrinsically follow an ecosystem approach to fishery management from first research to a potential CAO Regional Fisheries Management Organization. Access to data about vulnerable marine ecosystems, inter-species interactions and food webs must be ensured.

With the Arctic’s patchwork of disparate governance regimes being put under increasing stress, the need for successfully implementing the Agreement is paramount. Not only will it directly influence the ecological health of the CAO, but its implementation can also inform the next wave of Arctic governance, including engagement with non-Arctic states and full, meaningful inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge and local knowledge in management decisions. It’s also an opportunity to learn from best practices and missteps in fisheries governance to maintain the health of a vast marine wilderness before commercial activities are permitted. If done successfully, the ripples will be felt far beyond the far north.

 

Background:

The climate crisis has led to a decrease in Arctic sea ice with a likely increase in commercial activities such as fishing to follow. To avoid overfishing such as that of the pollock in the Central Aleutian Basin near Alaska in the 1980s, 10 parties (Canada, Denmark on behalf of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Norway, Russia, the United States, China, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union) signed the Agreement to prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries  (commonly referred to as the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement, or CAOFA) in October 2018 which entered into force in June 2021.

For further information:

Andrea Norgren | Sr. Manager Communications, WWF Arctic Programme | andrea.norgren@wwf.se