公海深海底层渔业国际管理进展

以底拖网为代表的深海底层渔业对深海脆弱海洋生态系统的危害受到国际社会的热切关注。2003年以来联合国大会多次通过决议,呼吁各国各自并通过RFMO/As采取行动,根据预防性原则,采用基于生态系统的管理方法,评估深海底层渔业对脆弱海洋生态系统的影响,若评估表明确有重大不利影响,则应采取有效措施限制深海底层渔业以降低这种影响;FAO主要从技术角度制定了《公海深海渔业管理国际指南》,为管理公海深海渔业和保护脆弱海洋生态系统提出了技术标准和管理框架;RFMO承担着具体执行深海底层渔业管理措施和监督管理的责任,在北大西洋、地中海、南太平洋的公海和南极水域,相关RFMO已采取了暂停部分区域底拖网渔业活动、收集数据、评估底拖网对脆弱海洋生态系统的影响等措施,在北太平洋,新成立的北太平洋渔业管理委员会将公海底层渔业管理作为首要目标。环保非政府组织和部分科学家呼吁禁止公海深海底层渔业,但各国对此的立场尚不一致,产业界大多持反对立场。近期来看,尚难以全面禁止公海的深海底层渔业。中国正在发展公海大洋渔业,需对此密切关注,加强跟踪研究以支撑决策,并应发展和使用选择性渔具和对生态环境无害的作业方式,防止对脆弱海洋生态系统产生损害性影响。

Review of the international management of deep sea bottom fisheries in the high seas

The deep sea is increasingly recognized as a major global reservoir of the earth's biodiversity.The deep sea bottom fisheries represented by bottom trawl and their impact on the vulnerable deep sea ecosystems,including seamounts,hydrothermal vents and cold water corals,are fervently concerned by international community in the past ten years.General Assembly of the United Nations has approved a series of resolutions about biodiversity protection of the vulnerable marine ecosystems since 2002,and called upon all countries since 2004,individually or through regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements,to take actions immediately,and to be consistent with the precautionary approach and ecosystem approaches,to assess whether individual bottom fishing activities would have significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems,and to ensure that these activities which would have significant adverse impacts,are managed to prevent such impacts,or not to be authorized to proceed.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations provided international technical management standards and policy framework to regulate deep sea bottom fisheries and to protect the vulnerable marine ecosystems in high seas in 2008 International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-sea Fisheries in the high seas.Regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements are implementing and enforcing the rules as above to manage the bottom fishing activities.New regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements with the competence to regulate bottom fisheries and the impacts of fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems are being established.In North Atlantic,Mediterranean,South Pacific and Antarctic,measures such as the interim prohibition of bottom trawling in some waters,fisheries and ecosystem data collection for assessment of vulnerable deep sea ecosystems and the impact by deep sea bottom fisheries,have been taken by the relevant fisheries management organizations.In North Pacific,a group of nations have agreed to a treaty that establishes conservation strategies for the most vulnerable ecosystems in international waters of the North Pacific Ocean.The NGOs such as the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and some scientist are calling on a ban on the deep sea bottom trawl fishing in high seas,while various countries take different positions on that and the commercial fishing industry opposes to closing of the bottom trawl fishing.In the opinion of this paper,the deep sea bottom fisheries would not be closed completely in high seas in the short run,but would be closed in more and more waters in high seas.In the future development of China's oceanic fisheries,the status of the management of bottom trawling should be concerned closely to support decision-making,and for prevention of significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems,selective fishing gear and ecologically sound fishing methods should be developed and used.