The annual meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which took place in Vigo, Spain September 22-26 2008, failed to take the necessary steps to fully implement the 2006 UNGA resolution on the protection of deep-sea ecosystems on the high seas.
Continue reading European Union Backtracks on Deep-sea Protection
At its 30th Annual Meeting held in Vigo, Spain this past week, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) addressed several issues important to long-term conservation of the marine environment, but failed to agree to protect areas of the deep-sea, which scientists had identified as vulnerable to the impact of bottom fishing.
Continue reading NAFO stalls on protecting the high seas from bottom trawling
As the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) prepares to begin its meeting in Vigo next week (21 September) it faces a major challenge to achieve implementation of UN resolution 61/105.
Continue reading NAFO under pressure to meet marine protection obligations
Since our last update in April, there is much to report with regard to protection of biodiversity in deep-sea ecosystems on the high seas. To name a few highlights: NAFO agreed on measures to implement provisions in the UNGA Sustainable Fisheries Resolution (61/105) on high seas bottom fishing; the 9th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity endorsed scientific criteria that will be important for establishing marine protected areas in the high seas; the FAO has published an updated draft of the international guidelines for managing deep-sea fisheries and the high seas (to be finalized in August); and countries are beginning to implement interim measures in the South Pacific. The DSCC is encouraged by progress in some areas towards meeting the obligations set out in 61/105, though the devil will be in the implementation details.
The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) adopted a comprehensive agreement to manage high seas bottom fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic at its meeting which ended May 7th. NAFO members include Canada, the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Russia and the US.
(Montreal, PQ) Conservation organizations from across Canada and Europe have called on the European Union, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Norway, Japan, the United States and the other member nations of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) to urgently agree to protect deep-sea species in the Northwest Atlantic. A special session of NAFO meets this week in Montreal to decide on regulations to protect cold-water corals and other vulnerable deep-sea species from deep-sea bottom fisheries on the high seas.
Continue reading TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR NAFO TO PROTECT DEEP-SEA SPECIES
High seas fishing nations failed to agree to comprehensive protection of cold-water corals and other vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems on the high seas of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean at the annual meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which concluded in Lisbon today. In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) called on NAFO and other regional fisheries management bodies to urgently protect highly vulnerable and unique deep-sea ecosystems such as seamounts, cold-water corals and hydrothermal vents from the destructive impact of bottom fishing.
Continue reading Deep sea conservation deep sixed in the Northwest Atlantic
As major fishing nations gather to determine the future of the Northwest Atlantic, members of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition called upon states to implement the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) mandate for deep ocean protection.
The Southern Pacific ocean was today one step closer to the protection of its deep-sea ecosystems as the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) meeting in New Caledonia ended. With the world’s major fishing nations striving to protect the South Pacific by implementing the 2006 UN General Assembly Resolution on deep-sea ecosystems, the spotlight now turns to the North West Atlantic. NAFO, the RFMO responsible for the North West Atlantic, meets in Portugal from 24 – 28 September.
Continue reading Deep Sea Protection – Stage Set For The North To Follow Suit
Download this press release (pdf) The long awaited UN Report of measures to protect the vulnerable deep oceans of the high seas has confirmed that these areas receive about as much protection as the dodo did in seventeenth century Mauritius. The Report was ordered by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2004 and was conducted by the UN Oceans Division known by its acronym DOALOS.
