Recommendation 190

Although a signatory to the Agreement, we heard concerns that China could allow the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement to lapse once the ice cap over the central Arctic Ocean has receded, enabling its fishing vessels to operate in the international waters of the Arctic. China has the largest distance-water fishing fleet in the world and consumes more than a third of the world’s fish. 219 Dr Dalee Sambo Dorough, Arctic Region member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, told us she was concerned that China regarded the Arctic as a frontier for resource extraction: “We worry that China and their research program are geared toward waiting out the current moratorium on fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean and its expiration, seeking to actively exploit the resources for their own food security and benefit.” 220 Box 3: Management of fish stocks Arctic states are responsible for managing fish stocks in their EEZs, but co-operate with each other to manage straddling fish stocks and those in the high seas. UNCLOS provides the legal framework for doing this. Under the Straddling Stocks Agreement 221 (the second implementing agreement to UNCLOS), fisheries that straddle EEZs and those in the high seas are managed by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs). 222 In the Arctic, the three main RFMOs are: the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), which has a mandate over the North-East Atlantic sector; the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which covers areas in the north western parts of the Atlantic Ocean; and the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), covering the North Pacific area. The UK is a member of both NEAFC and NAFO.