The report was released by Deep Sea Conservation Coalition at the United Nations which describes major shortcomings in the implementation of UN General Assembly resolutions designed to protect the deep-ocean from the destructive impact of fishing. Dr Alex Rogers of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) is the lead author. He said that “RFMOs are failing to manage deep-sea bottom fisheries on the high seas sustainably with respect to target and by-catch species.
According to him in most cases there is absolute no information about the catch or the status of the stocks. The report, the first comprehensive scientific review of the management of deep-sea fishing on the high seas globally, examines the data available from Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), the bodies tasked with implementing the United Nations resolutions.
The report says that in spite of ban of bottom fishing in some areas of high seas most of the areas remain open to continued bottom fishing with few constraints. Deep-sea gillnet fishing has been prohibited in the Northeast and Southeast Atlantic, the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean but bottom trawl fishing, the most destructive fishing gear to deep-sea ecosystems, has only been banned in the waters around Antarctica.
The General Assembly called on all RFMOs and fishing nations to conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of deep-sea fisheries prior to allowing them to proceed – a first in the history of high seas fisheries management. The report highlights that EIAs have not been properly conducted for the majority of deep-sea fisheries, including in the heavily fished North Atlantic region.
Dr Rogers said that the lack of any action to protect species that are threatened with regional extirpation or even global extinction is a particular concern in terms of marine biodiversity. Matthew Gianni of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition told that the UN General Assembly resolutions represent a commitment by the high seas fishing nations to the international community to manage these fisheries sustainably or else prohibit their vessels from fishing the deep-sea.
