Canada joins bans on High Arctic fishing

Canada is to join more than a dozen countries Wednesday in signing a deal that would block commercial fishing in the High Arctic for 16 years and begin unravelling ecological mysteries at the top of the world.

Experts say it’s a rare example of the globe uniting to prevent environmental problems before they start.

“There’s an agreement before the problem exists,” said Peter Harrison, a professor of Arctic policy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and a former top federal bureaucrat.

“It’s a major step in the right direction.”

The deal is to be signed in Ilulissat, Greenland, by the five nations with Arctic coastlines. Others signing on will be China, Iceland, Japan, South Korea and the European Union. Inuit from three countries are also involved.

The agreement, which was negotiated last year, applies to northern waters at least 200 nautical miles away from the shores of any coastal states. That amounts to 2.8 million square kilometres of ocean — about the size of the Mediterranean Sea.

As well as a commercial fishing ban, the agreement commits the countries to major scientific work on the entire ecosystem of a region that climate change is making increasingly accessible. Once frozen year-round, about 40 per cent of those waters are now open during the summer.

“This agreement’s just in time,” said Scott Highleyman of the group Ocean Conservancy, who has been following the talks and is a former member of the U.S. delegation.

“It’s a good example of precautionary action.”