According to the environmentalists this deal will help protect 16.1 million square miles (25.9 square kilometers) of ocean floor from a destructive technique called bottom trawl fishing. As per the agreement the nations are ready to create an organization to manage sea bottom fisheries in the North Pacific, and put an immediate cap on expansion of bottom trawl fishing in international waters stretching from Hawaii to Alaska.
In this deal the United States, Japan, Canada, China, South Korea, Russia and Taiwan come under one roof after nearly five years of negotiations. Environmentalists have long complained about the damage done to sensitive ecosystems and marine life on the ocean floor by boats that use weighted nets and other fishing gear that drag along the seabed.
In an UN report nations were warned that bottom trawling can damage to seamounts, or undersea mountain ranges, that attract fish and are home to cold-water corals, deep-sea sponges and a wide range of other marine life. Ben Enticknap of Oceana, said that the interim measure covering the Northeastern Pacific will allow scientists time to study fish stocks and to develop a long-term management plan. Scientists say fishing fleets have increasingly turned to the high seas, including the North Pacific, as coastal fish stocks have been depleted and technology to locate the fish has improved.
