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WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senate Commerce Committee Chairmen Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) last week introduced a resolution (S.RES.610 ) calling on the United Nations to address and fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) foreign fishing fleets during its upcoming meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Stevens and Inouye were joined by twenty of their Senate colleagues to fight this destructive practice, and earlier this year piloted reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act through the Senate by unanimous consent. The Magnuson-Stevens Act legislation encourages healthy, sustainable fishing policies in the United States.
“The high seas comprise more than half of the planet’s surface, yet only 25% of this area is regulated by any regional fishery management organization,” said Chairman Stevens. “Management of fishing on the high seas is patchy at best. Some areas off my state of Alaska have adopted strict and effective management measures. However, too many areas have not, and without an effective management regime, destructive fishing practices will continue to be conducted by foreign fleets.”
“Overfishing is a problem not only for those who depend on marine resources for their livelihoods, but also for ocean ecosystems worldwide,” Co-chairman Inouye said. “This problem is particularly important in the Western Pacific, where other nations' expanding fleets are threatening the sustainability of our bigeye tuna stocks, and are responsible for uncontrolled bycatch of endangered sea turtles and other threatened species. Our law-abiding fishermen are unfairly tasked with paying for this wastage through closures and other regulatory requirements.”
Stevens and Inouye noted that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as well as expanding industrial foreign fleets and high bycatch levels are monumental threats to sustainable fisheries worldwide. Stevens stated that these unsustainable and destructive fishing practices on the high seas threaten the good management that takes place in U.S. waters.
“The United Nations must put an end to unregulated fishing practices on the high seas,” Chairman Stevens said. “It is my hope that the United Nations General Assembly will adopt a resolution calling on nations to stop their vessels from conducting illegal, unreported, and unregulated high seas bottom trawling until conservation and management measures to regulate this practice are adopted.”
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