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Status and Reform of International Arctic Fisheries Law

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Abstract

Marine capture fisheries are among the maritime uses that are expected to expand and intensify in the marine Arctic. Fishing could intensify in existing fishing areas and expand into areas where marine capture fisheries have never taken place. This chapter assesses the adequacy of the current international legal and policy framework for Arctic fisheries conservation and management in light of the current and expected impacts of global climate change on the marine Arctic. It provides an overview of the international legal and policy framework as well as national regulation and policy, identifies the main gaps therein, and suggests options for addressing them. These options include increased efforts in the sphere of research and data gathering, national regulation aimed at avoiding unregulated fishing, fisheries arrangements between Arctic Ocean coastal states, and a new regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) or Arrangement for part of the (Central) Arctic Ocean. Separate attention is devoted to the potential for cooperation between the European Union and the United States in this regard.

Writing this chapter was facilitated by funding from the Netherlands Polar Programme. The author is grateful for comments by Ted McDorman and others on an earlier version of the chapter. This chapter builds on Molenaar EJ, Corell R (2009) Background Paper. Arctic Fisheries. Arctic TRANSFORM.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term ‘Arrangement’ is derived from the term ‘arrangement’ as defined in Article 1(1)(d) of the Fish Stocks Agreement (1995). The main differences between an RFMO’s constitutive instrument and an Arrangement are that the latter (a) does not establish an international organization, (b) does not have to be legally binding, and (c) can be bilateral.

  2. 2.

    See also information at <arcticportal.org/fishing-portlet>.

  3. 3.

    For additional information see <www.arcodiv.org>.

  4. 4.

    See, inter alia, UNGA Res. 46/215 (1991) and UNGA Res. 61/105 (2006), paras 80–89.

  5. 5.

    The Yukon River Panel was established by means of the Yukon River Salmon Agreement of 4 Dec 2002, which added Chap. 8 to the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

  6. 6.

    The other three are Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the EU, and Iceland.

  7. 7.

    These ratios would change if, for instance, Iceland becomes an EU Member State or Greenland becomes fully independent.

  8. 8.

    One took place in June 2010, in Oslo, Norway (see the Chair’s summary at <www.regjeringen.no/upload/UD/Vedlegg/Folkerett/chair_summary100622.pdf>. Accessed 27 Nov 2012).

  9. 9.

    This Agreement is complemented by two Protocols between Iceland and Norway and Iceland and the Russian Federation respectively, which are currently in force.

  10. 10.

    Passed by the Senate on 4 Oct 2007. The House of Representatives voted in favor of S.J. Res. No. 17 in May 2008 and President George W. Bush signed it on 4 June 2008.

  11. 11.

    These written comments on Sect. 4.1 are on file with the author.

  12. 12.

    The New and Emerging Fisheries Policy is one of Canada’s Fisheries Management Policies and is available at <www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca>. Accessed 8 Jan 2013.

  13. 13.

    Note also the May 2010 Report of Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on ‘The Management of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada’s Western Arctic’ (available at <www.parl.gc.ca>), which recommends Canada to adopt an approach for the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea that is similar to the United States’ Arctic FMP (Recommendation No. 12).

  14. 14.

    Particularly relevant seem to be the ‘Policy for Managing the Impacts of Fishing on Sensitive Benthic Areas’ and the ‘Policy on New Fisheries for Forage Species’ (both available at <www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca>, accessed 8 Jan 2013).

  15. 15.

    See supra note 1.

  16. 16.

    Namely France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

  17. 17.

    Other non-Arctic state applicants are India (application submitted on 6 Nov 2012; information provided by N. Buvang to the author by email on 7 Feb 2013), Italy, and Singapore.

  18. 18.

    For instance the Pew Environment Group’s ‘Oceans North’ campaign, which also led to the submission of a letter signed by a large number of scientists to the International Polar Year Conference in Montréal, Canada (22–27 Apr 2012) (info at <oceansnorth.org/international>).

  19. 19.

    Reference can in this context be made to the controversial ‘Galapagos Agreement’ (Framework Agreement for the Conservation of the Living Marine Resources on the High Seas of the Southeast Pacific, Santiago, 14 Aug 2000. Not in force, Law of the Sea Bulletin, 70–78, No. 45 (2001)), which never entered into force and has now essentially been replaced by the SPRFMO Convention (2009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherland

    Erik J. Molenaar

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

    Erik J. Molenaar

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  1. Erik J. Molenaar
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Correspondence to Erik J. Molenaar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ecologic Institute EIUS, Washington D.C., Washington D.C., USA

    Elizabeth Tedsen

  2. Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany

    Sandra Cavalieri

  3. Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany

    R. Andreas Kraemer

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Molenaar, E.J. (2014). Status and Reform of International Arctic Fisheries Law. In: Tedsen, E., Cavalieri, S., Kraemer, R. (eds) Arctic Marine Governance. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38595-7_5

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