Significant amendments to the Convention establishing the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) agreed back in 2007, came into force on 18 May 2017.
NAFO said that these amendments are intended to modernise the organisation, with a focus on incorporating an ‘ecosystem approach’ to fisheries management.
This approach includes safeguarding the marine environment, conserving marine biodiversity and minimising the risk of long term adverse effects of fishing activities on the marine ecosystem.
The amendments will also streamline NAFO’s decision-making process, strengthen the obligations of Contracting Parties, Flag States and Port States, and institute a formal dispute settlement mechanism.
In practice, NAFO said that many of the obligations arising from these 2007 amendments have already been applied provisionally, allowing the organisation, for instance, to put in measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.
The full implications of the coming-into-force of these amendments will be discussed at NAFO’s next Annual Meeting scheduled for 18 to 22 September 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
