UN report shows more needed to protect deep seas - Greenpeace

The report concluded that States are still falling short of their commitments.

“It is outrageous that nearly three years after the UN agreed to put measures in place to protect our deep seas from destructive fishing practices, countries have still done very little - if anything - to actually stop unregulated bottom fishing on the high seas,” said Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner.

The 2006 UNGA resolution called on member states to implement specific measures to protect deep sea life in international waters by 31 December 2008 or to stop destructive bottom fishing altogether. Requirements included conducting environmental impact assessments, identifying vulnerable deep sea habitats, and ensuring that no bottom fishing takes place where these are known to exist or are likely to occur.

In June 2009, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition published its own review, which concluded that across all oceans, member States and regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) have fallen far short of living up to the commitments agreed to in 2006. Even in the few places where impact assessments have been conducted, they have only been partially completed and have been inconclusive at best. Many areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known or likely to occur remain open to bottom fishing with few or no constraints. Finally, where measures have been taken, these are often weak and provide little, if any, protection to deep sea life.

“If bottom fishing continues at the current rate of destruction, in just a few decades our planet’s deepest and most mysterious habitats will disappear forever. If fishing States can't or won't comply they simply must stop fishing” concluded Ms Obaidullah.

Greenpeace is calling on the United Nations General Assembly due to meet in November to call for an immediate end to bottom fishing by fleets whose flag States have failed to fully implement the very clear criteria adopted by the UNGA in 2006.