Permanent Mission of Palau to the United Nations PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2006 THE PACIFIC TAKES A STAND ON BOTTOM TRAWLING Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Jointly Back Bottom Trawling Bans NEW YORK, NY—The Heads of State and Government of the sixteen Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) countries took an unmistakably decisive stand today against destructive bottom trawling at the thirty-sixth annual leaders meeting in Nadi, Fiji. The Nadi Declaration commits the PIF countries to advocate for prohibitions on bottom trawling and other destructive fishing practices in international waters until appropriate conservation and management measures are in place. All eyes are now on the crucial negotiations next month with distant-water countries over proposed regional fisheries management organizations for the Pacific and over a proposed United Nations moratorium on unregulated deep sea bottom trawling. "Bottom trawling is a very destructive practice which exposes our fish stocks and our biodiversity as a whole to serious risk,” said Palau’s President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., who first raised the issue at last year’s PIF leaders meeting. “Unregulated deep sea bottom trawling must be stopped before irreversible damage is done.” The UN Secretary-General reported recently that it is believed that bottom trawling causes 95% percent of worldwide damage to seamount ecosystems. For the deep seas, large factory trawlers raze the bottom by dragging weighted nets and beams across it to catch the fish swimming just above. Bottom trawlers tend to target areas with vulnerable coral habitat and ecosystems since deep water fish aggregate around coral-rich seamounts to feed and breed. This deep sea destruction may have impacts across all the marine food web since pelagic stocks, such as tuna, also rely on seamount “oases” to rest and recharge as they make their way across the open ocean. Given the importance of seamount habitats to both benthic and pelagic fish stocks, bottom trawling poses an acute threat to the livelihoods of many countries. And while many of these— including Palau, Japan, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and the European Union—ban bottom trawling completely or throughout significant portions of their own waters, the Secretary-General’s report noted also that international waters still go largely unregulated and are thus “extremely vulnerable and require protection.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 866 UN Plaza, Suite 575, New York, NY 10017 Ph: (212) 813-0310 Fax: (212) 813-0317 The PIF position is finding growing support around the world. In early October, U.S. President Bush called for an interim prohibition on destructive fishing practices in unregulated waters until effective conservation and management measures are in place. He further pledged that the United States would work with all other nations to “end destructive fishing practices, such as unregulated bottom trawling on the high seas.” “The Nadi Declaration puts the world on notice that our Pacific leaders will act decisively to protect our oceans from this existential threat,” said Palau’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Stuart Beck. “Not since the PIF leaders called upon the world in Tarawa in 1989 to end driftnet fishing have we been so strongly united. We have no choice but to fight hard in the months ahead.” The PIF includes: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Press Contact: Joan Yang, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Palau to the United Nations, +1.212.813.0310 ### ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 866 UN Plaza, Suite 575, New York, NY 10017 Ph: (212) 813-0310 Fax: (212) 813-0317 .