October 4, 2018 — As the Arctic’s mantle of protective sea ice grows smaller and sadder by the year, new waters are opening up, setting the stage for industry and tourism to take off. But a vast swath of those chilly seas will soon be off-limits to at least one human enterprise: commercial-scale fishing.
On Wednesday, nine nations and the European Union signed an agreement to place a moratorium on unregulated commercial fishing across 1.1 million square miles of the central Arctic Ocean. These waters are becoming increasingly accessible as Arctic sea ice melts, and conservationists have been pushing for more protections so that exposed and potentially fragile ecosystems can be properly studied before we screw them up beyond repair.
Apparently, Arctic nations and those looking to exploit the ocean’s riches in the future—a list that includes the U.S., Russia, Canada, China, and Japan—are listening. The moratorium, which builds off protections the U.S. put in place in 2009, will be in effect for 16 years unless a science-based management plan can be established sooner, according to a press release from Pew Charitable Trusts. There’s also the potential to extend the fishing ban for additional five year increments depending on the results of a new research and monitoring program, which will focus on how the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem is changing and how best to manage any emerging fisheries.