The new landmark agreement reached by UN members to protect the high seas in areas beyond national jurisdiction has been lauded by EU fishing sector representative body Europêche.
In a statement, Europêche said the international treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), agreed at the end of two weeks’ negotiations at the UN headquarters in New York, will play a fundamental role in protecting and sustainably using marine areas not sufficiently regulated while respecting and building on the success of fisheries management.
The long-awaited agreement – the culmination of two decades of work – will implement area-based management tools, including marine protected areas (MPAs), and will regulate human activities in international waters.
Clarification of the administrative competences of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) is appreciated, said Europêche, particularly the text that specifies their mandate for ensuring conservation and sustainability in area-based management tools and the scope of environmental impact assessments that will be strengthened in the implementation process.
The statement said the sector values the “recognition of the great work” that the RFMOs have been doing for decades in terms of fisheries management and environmental protection and advised that the BBNJ’s provisions on marine genetic resources will not apply to fishing regulated under relevant international law.
“This is exactly what we have been advocating and I think it makes perfect sense. Fishing is the most regulated activity on the high seas and gives a good example of how marine ecosystems can be well-managed and protected. If we have sound data about marine ecosystems in the high seas, it is mainly due to the data reported by our fishers. No other marine activity operates under a framework as transparent and effective as we do,” Europêche President Javier Garat said.
Europêche believes the effective and successful regulation of fisheries on the high seas will serve as an example of collaboration on governance in the BBNJ implementation process.
“We do not mean by this that fisheries governance is perfect, but rather that the data and rules that already exist for the management and protection of marine ecosystems under fisheries governance can be used to better regulate other activities and protect vulnerable areas. Equally, we need the governments to continue strengthening the work of RFMOs to optimise their performance,” Garat said.
The EU fishing sector will help develop science-based solutions, Garat explained.
“We ask the international community, relevant stakeholders, and environmental NGOs to focus on the challenges identified by the treaty, namely unregulated marine activities and unregulated marine areas. Wasting energy and effort in reinterpreting or distorting the BBNJ agreement to try to overrule a robust fisheries management regime, developed over decades by RFMOs, would only serve as a deterrent and an excuse for its non-ratification,” he said.
While two-thirds of the world’s oceans are currently considered high seas, until the treaty only about 1% of these waters have been protected.
