Fishing ban timely

FISHING at the North Pole may seem ludicrous to a world raised on the notion of the top of the world as a deep-frozen wasteland, but at the rate the Arctic Ocean is melting it may not be long before fishing trawlers can operate in waters that have been inaccessible for more than 800 000 years.

So it was a good idea for the five nations that have territorial claims around the Arctic Ocean – the US, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark – to put a “No Fishing” sign on that portion of the central Arctic until scientific studies have been conducted.

The declaration to prevent unregulated fishing in the central Arctic acknowledged that fishing beyond the 320km exclusive economic zone of the coastal states is not likely to start soon. But it is not too early to take precautions: The annual “State of the Climate” report by the American Meteorological Society disclosed the highest average sea surface temperatures on record last year, with especially high temperatures in the northern Pacific.

It’s a good idea, too, because the agreement by the five nations signed in Oslo last week provides a template for the kind of co-operation that is critical as the melting ice opens vast new commercial possibilities, including shipping lanes and access to deposits of oil, gas and minerals.

The fishing moratorium does not prevent the five nations from fishing in their own territorial waters.

The US, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council that promotes co-operation around the top of the world, has made protection of the Arctic from the consequences of climate change a top priority. Given the rapid changes in that region, the fishing ban hasn’t come too soon.

Lize Schlebusch