Recommendation 188

In 2018, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, the United States, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the EU signed the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean (also known as the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement). This has introduced a 16-year commercial fishing moratorium, with a mechanism to extend the agreement in five-year increments from 2037 unless one or more Parties object to the extension. The UK ceased to be a party to the agreement when it left the European Union in January 2020. The FCDO told us that the UK Government is committed to joining the Agreement “at the earliest opportunity”. 216 In order to accede the UK must be invited by existing Parties to the Agreement, however this process has not yet been “fully elaborated”. The FCDO explained that the Government is continuing to engage with the Parties to the Agreement on the UK’s ambition to join. 217