North Pacific Fisheries Commission Takes Steps to Improve Fisheries Management, Labor Standards, and Illegal Fishing

The United States continued to advance its objectives to improve international fisheries management through a successful 8th meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission. The meeting concluded April 18, 2024, in Osaka, Japan. U.S. proposals and influence over other adopted measures led to progress on:

• Addressing labor abuses in the fishing industry
• Combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing
• Rebuilding overfished stocks
• Enhancing transparency

The North Pacific Fisheries Commission is a regional fisheries management organization composed of nine member governments and authorities. They are responsible for managing certain fisheries resources-including pelagic species, squid, and deep-sea stocks-and related ecosystems on the high seas of the North Pacific. NPFC meets annually to obtain scientific advice, negotiate binding measures that members implement to manage and monitor fishing vessels operating in the area, and hold each other accountable for implementing such measures through compliance processes.

"NPFC has made huge strides the last couple years in terms of the development of its conservation and management measures, scientific advice, compliance framework, and transparency of decision-making," said Michael Brakke, U.S. Commissioner to the NPFC. "Multilateral cooperation is not easy and takes time, but is one of the best tools we have to address stakeholder concerns about sustainability and illegal fishing because these binding decisions influence how a wide range of countries manage fisheries and how vessels operate on the high seas."

NPFC adopted a U.S.-led resolution to highlight the importance of addressing labor abuses in fisheries and improving labor standards. This action is consistent with U.S. leadership on this issue across a range of regional fisheries management organizations. Another U.S.-sponsored resolution adopted at NPFC in 2023 focused on climate change. NPFC has already taken steps to more proactively incorporate climate change scenarios into its scientific advice and to consider climate impacts in its decision making.

Improved Management of Bottom Fisheries

The United States and Canada introduced a proposal to improve the management of bottom fisheries in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The Commission adopted a revised version of the proposal that:

• Clarified the obligations in the measure and overall bottom fishing management framework
• Established more clearly binding limits on North Pacific armorhead (an overfished stock also found in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone)
• Extended the closure on bottom fishing from 1-month closure

The United States looks forward to working with other members on other aspects of the original proposal in future meetings. They include considering precautionary area closures to bottom trawling to prevent potential significant adverse impacts on deep-sea vulnerable marine ecosystems along the Emperor Seamount chain.

Improved Management of Priority Species on the High Seas

NPFC prioritized efforts to improve the management of priority species such as Pacific saury and chub mackerel. Both are important food sources harvested on the high seas and in waters under the jurisdiction of coastal states such as Japan. Members adopted an interim harvest control rule designed to rebuild the Pacific saury stock to sustainable levels within 5 years. The rule meets the basic management objective. The United States looks forward to NPFC's future work to adopt a full management procedure and be as responsive as necessary to changes in the short-lived stock's status. A revised measure to manage chub mackerel will also include slight reductions in allowable catch on the high seas and improve monitoring and controls on the fishery.

Conservation Efforts for Salmon

NPFC adopted a measure, led by Canada and cosponsored by the United States and Korea, to prohibit the retention of salmon on the high seas, enhancing conservation efforts. This follows a similar measure adopted last year to improve conservation of sharks. It also ensured that fishing vessels operating under NPFC are not targeting unregulated species or undermining other agreements that manage highly migratory species.

Regional fisheries management organizations are important multilateral venues to advance U.S. interests to counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. NPFC adopted a revised compliance monitoring scheme to significantly advance the organization's ability to assess compliance. This will ensure that members implement binding management measures, foreign-flagged vessels follow the rules, and that flag states hold them accountable when they do not.

The United States also advanced a measure to update the IUU vessel listing process. It would ensure the list of vessels identified as engaged in IUU fishing is as useful as possible for surveillance and enforcement purposes. The United States does not have fishing vessels targeting NPFC fisheries in the Convention Area. The U.S Coast Guard maintains an active inspection presence. It conducts high seas boardings and inspections of foreign-flagged fishing vessels to ensure they are complying with measures and help combat IUU fishing.

The United States has also prioritized increasing the transparency of NPFC operations. After decisions made over the last 2 years, NPFC has significantly improved the level of observer participation in its meetings and public access to its documents. It now meets or exceeds the level expected of comparable international organizations.

NOAA Fisheries appreciates the improvements in cooperation among members and governance of NPFC in recent years. There is much more work to be done and some of the progress is gradual, but NPFC's recent accomplishments help advance U.S. interests in ensuring sustainable fisheries management and creating stronger commitments among countries to combat illegal fishing and forced labor.

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