TL: GREENPEACE POSITION PAPER ON UN FISHERIES CONF. SO: Greenpeace International, (GP) DT: September 2, 1994 Keywords: environment fisheries oceans conferences agreements / Matthew Gianni GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL POSITION PAPER for the Third Substantive Session of the UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE on STRADDLING FISH STOCKS AND HIGHLY MIGRATORY FISH STOCKS 15 - 26 AUGUST 1994 INTRODUCTION: It is becoming increasingly clear that the crisis in global fisheries is worsening. In all regions of the world's oceans fish stocks, including stocks of straddling and highly migratory fish species, are under increasing and excess pressure. Many distant water nations and fishing fleets continue irresponsible, excessive and uncontrolled fishing on the high seas. Some coastal nations are taking aggressive actions in adjacent high seas areas that imply unilateral extension of their authority or jurisdiction beyond their 200 mile limits. Tensions amongst fleets from different nations both on the high seas and within 200 mile limits are on the rise. The Conference to date has made some progress on some issues as reflected in the Revised Negotiating Text of 30 March, 1994, although it is far from certain that progress made in previous sessions will be maintained. Even so, at this point in the negotiations, such basic issues as excess fleet capacity, overcapitalization, the widespread use of destructive fishing technology, the migration of fleets from northern to southern waters, fish as an issue of global food security, the rights of fishworkers, and fisheries conservation through sound fishing practices and the protection of marine and coastal environments have been addressed superficially at best and in most cases altogether ignored. Until now, the Conference has been focussed largely on the relative rights of States, and their responsibilities to one another, in terms of jurisdiction over fisheries conducted in both national and international waters. While it is imperative that jurisdictional issues be clarified and resolved, the Conference can and must go further. Though the Conference is technically limited to the issue of fisheries for straddling and highly migratory fish stocks, governments must begin to seriously address some of the more fundamental and pressing problems underlying world fisheries, at a minimum, as they relate to the fisheries on straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. Not only does this Conference offer an important opportunity to deal with these fisheries in a substantive and comprehensive manner but, as well, this Conference can, and ultimately will for better or for worse, set significant precedents in international law for the conservation and management of fisheries generally, wherever they may occur. This document is intended to inform governments of the key principles and obligations that Greenpeace views as the necessary components of any agreement arising from this Conference. Two prior NGO documents -- the "NGO Alternative Fisheries Treaty," negotiated during the 1992 Earth Summit, and the "NGO Statement: A Call for Global Fisheries Reform" presented to the July 1993 session of the Conference -- serve as a basis for the recommendations outlined below. These NGO documents have been endorsed by nearly 140 environmental, fishworker, development and women's organizations around the world. The recommendations outlined in this document also incorporate relevant provisions of Agenda 21, adopted by 172 governments at the 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. I. LEGALLY BINDING OUTCOME: In order to ensure the effective implementation of the fisheries provisions of UNCLOS and ensure effective fisheries conservation, the Conference must conclude with a legally binding agreement. However, a treaty alone will not accomplish much if it does not contain sufficient substance. A treaty must include measures and obligations to ensure, at a minimum: * stringent conservation and management standards applied throughout the range of the stocks; * a significant reduction in fishing capacity; * a rapid phase-out of non-selective fishing gear and practices, thereby resulting in major reductions in bycatch, waste and discards; * establish the obligation to protect the marine environment from the adverse impacts of non-fishing activities (e.g., marine pollution, habitat degradation) as integral to fisheries conservation; * a precautionary and ecosystem approach to fisheries management; * effective mechanisms for the monitoring, control and surveillance of distant water fleets and vessels fishing on the high seas; * commitments by coastal states, via "coherence, compatibility" or "consistency" provisions to adopt and implement strengthened conservation standards within the EEZs; * effective mechanisms for transparency and public participation; * respect for the rights and special interests of small- scale, artisanal, indigenous and women fishworkers and communities traditionally and culturally dependant on fisheries for food and livelihood; * effective dispute settlement procedures and obligations. The specific language that appears in quotation marks throughout the remainder of this document is intended for inclusion in a legally binding agreement. These recommendations are by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of needed reforms but rather a set of key principles and obligations that Greenpeace believes must be given the force of international law. II. COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT: Legally binding measures for the management of fisheries must ensure the conservation of all impacted fish stocks, marine species, and supporting ecosystems and habitats. Governments must establish, in clear and unambiguous terms, a firm obligation under international law to ensure conservation in the management of fisheries. To this end, the following language should be agreed and adopted: * "States shall adopt all measures necessary to ensure the continuous and long-term conservation of fish stocks, associated, dependant and ecologically related species and supporting ecosystems." Fisheries conservation and management measures must be based upon a strong foundation -- a precautionary and ecosystem approach. Outmoded concepts and "reference points" for the management of fisheries such as "Maximum Sustainable Yield" and "Optimum Yield" must be replaced by an approach which sets conservation as the overriding objective. An effective approach to fisheries conservation requires the application of caution where the impact of fishing on targeted species and the environment generally are uncertain or unknown. Governments must agree that, particularly in the management of large-scale fisheries (as is the case with the majority of fishing on straddling and highly migratory stocks): * "Scientifically-based management plans must be capable of demonstrating that conservation objectives can be met and ensure: - "sustainability with high probability under a wide range of possible scenarios with respect to the dynamics of the stocks and ecological interactions, the levels and distribution of fishing mortality, the impact of fishing activities on the stocks, and variations in other relevant factors, including climatic, oceanic and environmental changes." - "that the intensity of fishing should not be such as to substantially distort the character of the ecosystem. This objective shall be determined operationally to require that each management procedure shall be such as to ensure, with high probability, that the biomass of both target and non-target species remains at a high level relative to the expected average biomass in the absence of fishing." * "no fishery shall be established or expanded in the absence of a reliable estimate of the minimum size of the target species biomass." * "no new fishing method, or method new to an area, shall be deployed on a commercial scale until it has been shown that it will not result in either substantial disturbance to the habitat or adverse effects on target or non target species of fish." * "States shall give precedence to the conservation, protection or restoration of populations of associated, dependant and ecologically related species and ecosystems over the objective of maximizing targeted catches." III. BYCATCH: The use of non-selective fishing gears and practices is widespread and bycatch, waste and discards are rampant in world fisheries. Governments must agree to: * "elaborate and ensure the implementation of global standards for the elimination of bycatch and discards." * "Promote and provide incentives for the timely development and international use of environmentally safe and selective fishing techniques in order to minimize and ultimately eliminate pollution, waste, discards and the catch of non-target species..." IV. CAPACITY: The fact that the capacity of the world's fishing fleets is, generally speaking, far in excess of the amount of fish that can be harvested on a sustainable basis is widely acknowledged. Efforts to assess or measure capacity have largely focussed only on the structural nature of fleets operating specific gear types in specific fisheries (vessel tonnage, length, horsepower etc). The ability of vessels, particularly large-scale vessels, to adapt and move rapidly into different fisheries, the evolving sophistication and catching efficiency of fishing technology, the economics of fishing in response to changes in market conditions, and the ability of vessels, fleets or fishing communities to adapt to fluctuations in the abundance of fish stocks are all directly relevant to any assessment of fishing capacity. Much remains to be done to refine the ability to effectively assess the fishing capacity of vessels and fleets for the purpose of bringing fishing capacity into to line with conservation in fisheries. At a minimum, for the purpose of this Conference, governments must agree in principle that the reduction of fishing capacity must be made a priority: * "States shall reliably assess and take urgent measures to reduce and eliminate excess fishing capacity in a manner consistent with ecologically sound and socially appropriate objectives for the conservation and management of the fisheries." V. MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: The protection of the marine environment is integral to fisheries conservation. If important fisheries habitat, such as coastal mangrove forests, sea grass beds and wetlands areas, are degraded or if populations of fish are threatened by land based or other sources of marine pollution then, no matter how well managed a fishery may be, conservation cannot be ensured. Governments must acknowledge this and establish the obligation to maintain the health and integrity of the oceans as fundamental to the conservation of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks: * "States shall continuously assess the impacts of any activities (i.e. coastal development, marine pollution) with the potential for having a significant adverse effect on the conservation of stocks or supporting ecosystems and take measures to limit, reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of such activities." * "States shall promote scientific research on human induced environmental changes, including, but not limited to, the impacts of fishing gears and practices on marine and coastal habitats." VI. SOCIALLY EQUITABLE FISHERIES: International efforts to solve the global fisheries crisis must include a recognition of fundamental realities such as the role of communities in fisheries and the nutritional needs of human populations. This can be achieved, in part, by incorporating traditional knowledge and by recognizing the rights and special interests of small-scale, artisanal, indigenous, and women fishworkers traditionally and culturally dependent on fishing for food and livelihood. Where there are substantial inshore, coastal or artisanal fisheries on straddling and highly migratory fish stocks, governments must agree to: * "States shall respect the rights and special interests of small-scale, artisanal, traditional, indigenous, and women fishworkers and dependant communities: "in determining allowable catch and establishing other conservation and management measures;" "through establishing exclusive zones for artisanal fisheries;" "by recognizing and respecting traditional knowledge and management practices, including customary marine tenure;" "through incorporating traditional knowledge and management of fisheries and supporting ecosystems into management systems;" "through adapting scientific and other non-indigenous or non-traditional knowledge and management practices to traditional systems." VII. DEVELOPING STATES: In addition to recognizing the special interest of small-scale fishworkers, the challenges and concerns of peoples of developing nations must be addressed. States must recognize: * "the vulnerability of developing nations to international pressure that encourages the excessive exploitation of marine living resources and ecosystems to, inter alia, meet hard currency requirements or to satisfy international demands (i.e. structural adjustment conditionalities)." * "the need by States to actively involve the fisheries sectors in developing countries in policy and decision making which establishes, as a priority, the satisfaction of the nutritional requirements of their populations or parts thereof." * "the transfer of technology, and the establishment of joint venture agreements shall be conducted in such a manner as to ensure and contribute to environmentally sound and socially sustainable development, and assist in human resource development and capacity building for, inter alia, monitoring, surveillance, control and enforcement systems." VIII. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: The issue of NGO participation has been a major concern of NGOs that have had the opportunity to attend previous sessions of the Conference. In spite of the fact that NGOs have repeatedly raised this issue and that some governments have supported, at least rhetorically, NGO concerns on this matter, NGOs were excluded from the "intersessional" meeting of the Conference which took place in June 1994. This is but one example of a far more pervasive problem that goes well beyond the issue of allowing NGOs access to international meetings as observers. The current fisheries crisis is, at least partly, a result of non-transparent decision making, policies and management bodies, which have historically excluded NGOs and interested citizens from participation. In order to contribute to solving the present challenges, mechanisms must be required, as a result of this Conference, to ensure transparency, effective NGO and citizen participation, and public accountability in fisheries decision-making processes. In addition NGOs should be allowed the ability to: * "invoke binding dispute resolution and third party settlement regarding overfishing, other harmful fishing practices, harmful impacts on communities and/or the environment, and impacts, including trade and development policies, which may be harmful to fisheries conservation and management and socially equitable fisheries development." IX. ENFORCEMENT AND COMPLIANCE: The absence, to date, of comprehensive, multilateral enforcement and compliance measures has seriously undermined the effectiveness of international fisheries agreements. Mechanisms must be established to regulate the activities of vessels, captains, and observers as well as to ensure that States enter into and comply with international fisheries agreements. Governments must agree to standardized penalty provisions, international registries and licensing systems, requirements for reporting and information dissemination, and restrictions on port access and servicing facilities, amongst other measures. X. INTERREGIONAL CONSERVATION BODY: Greenpeace has proposed that an Interregional Conservation Body be established to oversee and ensure the implementation of legally binding standards and agreements. Given the high mobility of distant water fishing fleets, the vastness of areas of the world's oceans beyond 200 mile limits, the persistent problem of reflagging, and the illegal incursion of distant water vessels into EEZs, a global infrastructure for monitoring, control and surveillance of high seas and distant water fishing would greatly assist the effective implementation of conservation and management measures. This body would have responsibility for enhanced data collection, research and transparency; international coordination of observer programs for vessels capable of fishing on the high seas; internationally organized licensing and vessel registration; and establishment of effective participation mechanisms for NGOs and small-scale fishworkers. XI. GLOBAL FISHERIES CONSERVATION FUND: The international waters or high seas of the world's oceans are a global commons. As such, all nations and peoples have a right and a direct interest in ensuring an environmentally sound and socially equitable approach to fishing the high seas. A relatively small number of States currently derive substantial benefits from fishing on the high seas but are required to contribute little, if anything, to the cost of the conservation and management fisheries on straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. Greenpeace and other NGOs have proposed a Global Fund for Fisheries Conservation based, at least in part, on the assessment of fees to nations fishing on the high seas. The fund could serve to address, in an equitable fashion, the issue of global interest in high seas fisheries. The Fund should be directed toward ensuring that developing States have the means to meet their obligations under a binding agreement and serve to promote the development and implementation of selective fishing practices, fisheries conservation and habitat protection, and support for small-scale and coastal fishworkers.