Seeking ban of commercial fishing in Arctic region

Scientists have urged Arctic countries to stop commercial fishing because little is known about stocks.

More than 2000 scientists around the world want Arctic nations to impose a moratorium on industrial fishing in the increasingly accessible waters of central Arctic Ocean. This moratorium would give more time to study the size and sustain-ability of Arctic fisheries. The researchers want Canada, the U.S., Russia, Norway and Denmark to develop an international fisheries agreement that would avoid wiping out potentially lucrative species such as Arctic cod before enough is known about their stocks.

Henry Huntington, Arctic science director of the U.S.-based Pew Environment Group, said that there's no margin for error in a region where the melting sea ice is rapidly changing the marine ecosystem. Scientists said that a lack of scientific knowledge about fish stocks has prompted bans on commercial fisheries until more research is completed.

According to many scientists most of international waters at the centre of the Arctic Ocean dubbed as the Arctic doughnut hole which could experience ice-free summers in the coming years or decades. In a statement released Sunday, Pew officials noted that ice retreats of up to 40 per cent in recent summers have made large-scale fishing in the central Arctic Ocean "viable for the first time."

Source: vancouversun.com"

WorldFishingToday d. 26-04-2012