Given how little is known about the Arctic Ocean’s ecology and dynamics, this is a vital and appropriate step.
Here’s her note about an important meeting in Washington in early December, which will likely be obscured as the climate treaty negotiations in Paris enter their final week at the same time:
The United States is hosting negotiations for an international Arctic fisheries agreement to protect the Central Arctic Ocean in Washington, D.C., on December 1 to 3. The five Arctic countries will meet for the first time with non-Arctic fishing nations to work on a binding international accord. This follows the declaration of intent signed in July by the Arctic countries.
The big question for this meeting is whether China, Japan, Korea and the European Union will attend and cooperate on a precautionary agreement to prevent overfishing given the dramatic impact of climate change in the Arctic.
Let’s hope they do. The challenges in managing commerce in the far north* are already being exploited in other ways related to the fate of marine life.
Just before President Obama visited the Arctic in August, an Icelandic seafood company quietly sent 1,800 tons of frozen meat hacked from slaughtered endangered fin whales through the Arctic to Japan.
Environmental groups ran ads in Alaskan newspapers during the Obama administration’s Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic in Anchorage to draw attention to the issue.
Given that the president in 2014 publicly castigated Iceland for its continuing slaughter of fin whales despite their international status as an endangered species, it’s hard to interpret the shipment as anything other than thumbing the nose at the United States. Here’s what Obama said in a memorandum to Congress in 2014:
“Iceland’s actions jeopardize the survival of the fin whale, which is listed in CITES among the species most threatened with extinction, and they undermine multilateral efforts to ensure greater worldwide protection for whales.”
Here’s a conversation I had about the Iceland whalemeat shipment in August with Kate O’Connell, a marine wildlife consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute:
* At the asterisk, I originally wrote "lack of governance." On Twitter and elsewhere, this was appropriately criticized. The far north is remarkably well governed, but managing waterways there will be a challenge. The whale-meat shipments are legal because Iceland and Japan chose not to be bound by aspects of the whaling convention. That doesn't make them good for an endangered species.