The UNGA also requested that FAO develop “Guidelines for the management of deep-seas fisheries on the high seas.” These Guidelines, adopted in August 2008, call for rigorous management of deep-sea fisheries throughout all stages of their development, and for keeping catch rates low until knowledge, management capacity and measures for monitoring, control and surveillance increase [143]. A review

of progress in implementing the UNGA resolution in late 2009 revealed that, while a number of RFMOs had adopted measures such as closed areas to reduce the impact of fishing on deep-sea habitats, few RFMOs had taken steps to ensure the sustainability of deep-sea fisheries [144]. As a result, the UNGA

adopted a new resolution with clear language calling for States and RFMOs not to authorize deep-sea fisheries unless an impact assessment had been performed and LY294002 in vitro measures adopted to prevent significant impacts on deep-sea ecosystems. It then explicitly called for States and RFMOs, where scientific information is uncertain, unreliable or inadequate, to “adopt precautionary management measures to ensure that fishing effort, capacity and catch levels did not exceed levels consistent with the sustainability of the fish stocks and non-target species.” [UNGA resolution 64/72, paragraph 119(d) (emphasis added) [142]. Improved adherence to the 2006 and 2009 UNGA resolutions and FAO Guidelines could help towards achieving sustainability of deep-sea

fisheries. GPX6 KRX-0401 in vitro However, until states fully implement their obligations, including through better flag state and RFMO performance, and better data, the preconditions for sustainability for deep-sea fisheries on the high seas will not be met. And as unlikely as that is in deep-sea portions of countries’ EEZs, it is even less likely on the high seas under current conditions. A UNGA review of progress by States and RFMOs in implementing the 2006 and 2009 resolutions in late 2011 provides an opportunity for all States to insist that deep-sea fisheries on the high seas be managed on a sustainable basis, or not allowed to proceed. After briefly reviewing key aspects of the biology of deep-sea fishes, the authors of this paper conclude that sustainable exploitation is feasible for very few of them under prevailing economic conditions and governance arrangements. The authors do note that catches of a handful of species can be or can give the appearance of being sustained, primarily ones that (a) can occur shallower than 200 m, (b) have relatively high population resilience and (c) are fished with low-tech, non-trawl methods. The surplus production of deep-sea fishes is generally low, but their biomass can be attractively high.