PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the European
Union, the Agreement to prevent unregulated high seas fisheries in
the central Arctic Ocean.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may
adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: on 31 March 2016, the Council adopted negotiating
directives which authorised the Commission to open negotiations on
behalf of the European Union, an international agreement to prevent
unregulated high seas fisheries in the central Arctic
Ocean.
On the basis of the relevant negotiating
directives, the Commission conducted negotiations with the
delegations from Canada, China, Denmark in respect of the Faroe
Islands and Greenland, Iceland, Japan, the Republic of Korea,
Norway, Russia and the United States of America with a view to
concluding a binding Agreement to prevent unregulated high seas
fisheries in the central Arctic Ocean.
The Agreement seeks to prevent unregulated
commercial fishing in the high seas portion of the central Arctic
Ocean, an area that is roughly 2.8 million square kilometres in
size. Commercial fishing has never been known to occur in this
area, nor is it likely to occur in the near future. However, given
the changing conditions of the Arctic Ocean, the governments in
question developed this Agreement in accordance with the
precautionary approach to fisheries management.
CONTENT: the present proposal calls on the
Council to adopt the decision to approve,
on behalf of the Union, the Agreement to
prevent unregulated high seas fisheries in the central Arctic
Ocean. Becoming a Party to the
Agreement will promote consistency in the Union's conservation
approach across oceans and reinforce its commitment to the long
term conservation and sustainable use of marine biological
resources globally.
The Agreement will establish and operate a
joint programme of scientific research and monitoring with the aim
of improving the understanding of the ecosystem(s) of this area
and, in particular, of determining whether fish stocks might exist
in this area that could be harvested on a sustainable
basis.
Once entered into force, the Agreement will
close an important regulatory gap in the current
International ocean governance framework.