International Affairs Events Archive
June - December 2008
- The 60th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met June 23-27th in Santiago, Chile. Dr. Bill Hogarth, U.S. IWC Commissioner, presided as Chair of the meeting and Dr. Doug DeMaster, U.S. Deputy Commissioner, led the U.S. Delegation. The Commission agreed to establish a small working group to discuss the future of the organization given the impasse reached on the Revised Management Scheme and the number of issues for which polarization rather than consensus appear to be the norm. The United States is a member of this working group, along with 24 other member nations. The Commission also tasked the working group to look at ways to improve the practice and procedures of the IWC. The results of the working group will be discussed by the full Commission at a March intersessional meeting and then again at the 61st annual meeting in Madeira, Portugal. The only schedule amendment proposed at IWC60 was by Denmark, on behalf of West Greenland, for an aboriginal subsistence quota of 10 humpback whales annually for the period 2008-2012. The Commission was deeply divided over this matter, which was put to a vote and the proposal was defeated. For more information, please visit http://www.iwcoffice.org/ or contact: Shannon Dionne.
- NOAA OIA will be attending the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group meeting at the end of October in Helsinki, Finland. PAME is one of six working groups of the Arctic Council. Importantly, this meeting will try to reach consensus on the following products: an updated Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-based Activities; revised Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines; and Best Practices in Ecosystem-Based Ocean Management in the Arctic. The meeting will also discuss future steps for the Large Marine Ecosystem project in the Arctic and the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment draft findings and recommendations.
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IUCN World Conservation Congress
From October 5-14, NOAA attended and actively participated the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain. NOAA representation included NOAA’s Office of International Affairs, several offices in the National Ocean Service (NOS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). During the first half of the meeting NOAA showcased its technical expertise and leadership in advancing marine and coastal management. NOS representatives led several workshops related to marine protected areas and also launched several publications including guidelines for Socioeconomic Monitoring for South Asia, a brochure by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network on the Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2008 and aguidebook titled Establishing Resilient Marine Protected Area Networks – Making it Happen. NOAA Fisheries led a Workshop on Large Marine Ecosystems and other place-based management approaches and NOAA International led a GEO Knowledge Café, presented a USGEO Video and staffed an informational GEO Booth jointly with the Environmental Protection Agency. Further, the second half of the meeting featured a Business Assembly for IUCN Members, of which NOAA is one. NOAA International and NOAA Fisheries participated on an interagency delegation to assist with the approximately 40 Resolutions that are related to coastal and marine subject matter which were tabled for discussion and decision. For more information, please go to: http://www.iucn.org/news_events/events/congress/index.cfm or contact shannon.dionne@noaa.gov
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United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Fisheries Resolution
The annual negotiations on the United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Fisheries Resolution took place September 17-19th and November 10-14th at UN Headquarters in New York, New York. The resolution calls upon States to adopt and implement fisheries management policies in accordance with the UN Fish Stock Agreement and other principles of international law, including strengthening port and flag State measures on IUU fishing, reducing bycatch and discards from fishing vessels, and reducing capacity in global fleets. The resolution language calls for, among other things, establishing limits on shark catches, international fora to study the causes and contributing factors to illegal fishing and the possible connection to organized crime, regional fisheries management organizations to insure the adequate conservation of non-target species taken incidentally, and States to apply recommendations from completed performance reviews to which they participate. The consensus-based text was approved by the full General Assembly this week. The US strongly supports this Resolution. For more information, please visit http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm or contact shannon.dionne@noaa.gov or cheri.mccarty@noaa.gov.