For the first time ever, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will conduct an open review of national and regional actions to protect deep-sea species and ecosystems– beyond national jurisdiction– from the harmful impacts of bottom fishing. This open review is scheduled to take place at UN headquarters in New York, on 15-16 September, 2011.
As part of a compromise, and following global concern over the destructive impacts of bottom fishing on the high seas, two resolutions calling for urgent action have already been adopted by the United Nations in 2006 and again in 2009.
After an initial review in 2009, the 2011 UNGA is looking to make further recommendations for action, which will specifically evaluate the extent to which the two previous resolutions have been implemented by high seas fishing States and regional fisheries management organizations (RMFOs). High seas bottom fishing States include, among others: Australia, China, France, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, the Russian Federation and South Korea.
