Arctic Governance in an era of Geopolitical Rupture: Amb. David Balton on the CAO Fisheries Agreement, relations with Russia, and how to revitalize the Arctic Council

Thanks very much, Eric.

It's not actually all that clear why the Arctic Fisheries Agreement is proceeding successfully, as you say, when other Arctic regimes, including the Arctic Council, are faltering at the moment.

The fisheries agreement did arise many years ago.

Initial discussions toward it began before Russia's invasion of Crimea, even.

And the negotiations to produce it concluded certainly before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

It continues probably because the 10 parties to the agreement, nine nations plus the European Union, have a mutual interest in it continuing.

Another possible reason is because it exists below the political radar screen and has not gotten caught up in the geopolitical problems the Arctic currently faces.

The agreement is unusual in a number of respects.

There is, in the center of the Arctic Ocean, an area that international lawyers refer to as high seas.

And in areas of the high seas, which cover roughly half the planet, in principle, fishing vessels from any nation can engage in fishing operations limited only by agreements to constrain or regulate fishing.

Well, in the high seas area of the Central Arctic Ocean, there has never been commercial fishing, and that is because the area has been covered by ice since recorded history began until now.

Starting only a decade or more ago, significant portions of this high seas area, and it's not a small area, it's about the size of the Mediterranean Sea, have been uncovered by ice for at least part of the year, which raised the prospect that vessels from any number of nations might venture up into the Arctic and begin fishing operations without any kind of regulation required.

and without any awareness of what environmental consequences would follow from such fisheries.

And so a group of nations came together and decided to postpone the advent of any such fishing until science could be undertaken to understand the consequences of starting fishing in this area.

Another interesting aspect of the agreement is that it incorporates or requires the incorporation of indigenous knowledge into the study of what's going on in these ecosystems.

And it provides for the participation of representatives of Arctic indigenous communities in the implementation of the agreement.

So the agreement has a lot going for it.

And as I say, it is continuing successfully despite the geopolitics of the time.