Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean: accession of the European Union

The Committee on Fisheries adopted the report by Bert-Jan RUISSEN (ECR, NL) on the draft Council decision on the draft Council decision concerning the accession of the European Union to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament give its consent to the draft Council decision.

The Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the North Pacific Ocean was signed on 24 February 2012 and entered into force on 19 July 2015. Its aim is to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources in the Convention Area while protecting the North Pacific marine ecosystems in which those resources occur.

By acceding to the Convention, the Union intends to give the Member States and Union vessels concerned access to the fishery resources in the Convention area. Accession to the North Pacific Ocean Convention creates new opportunities for EU vessels. It would promote consistency in the EU's approach to conservation across the world’s oceans and reinforce its commitment to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources globally.

With a view to reaching its objectives, the Convention provides for the following actions to be taken:

- promoting the optimum utilization and ensuring the long-term sustainability of fisheries resources;

- adopting measures, based on the best scientific information available, to ensure that fisheries resources are maintained at or restored to levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield;

- adopting and implementing measures in accordance with the precautionary approach and an ecosystem approach to fisheries, and in accordance with the relevant rules of international law;

- assessing the impacts of fishing activities on species belonging to the same ecosystem or dependent upon or associated with the target stocks and adopting, where necessary, conservation and management measures for such species;

- protecting biodiversity in the marine environment;

- preventing or eliminating overfishing and excess fishing capacity;

- ensuring that complete and accurate data concerning fishing activities are collected and shared in a timely and appropriate manner;

- ensuring that any expansion of fishing effort, development of new or exploratory fisheries, or change in the gear used for existing fisheries, does not proceed without prior assessment of the impacts of those fishing activities on the long-term sustainability of fisheries resources;

- ensuring compliance with conservation and management measures and that sanctions applicable in respect of violations are adequate in severity to be effective in securing compliance, to discourage violations wherever they occur and to deprive offenders of the benefits accruing from their illegal activities;

-  minimising pollution and waste originating from fishing vessels, discards, catch by lost or abandoned gear, and impacts on other species and marine ecosystems.