Convention for the Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic Ocean

KEY POINTS

The convention:

• takes into account Article 66 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 on stocks of anadromous fish, those species born in fresh water who spend most of their life in the sea returning to fresh water to spawn;
• recognises issues arising from the fact that salmon originating in the rivers of different countries intermingle in parts of the North Atlantic Ocean;
• concerns itself with salmon stocks which migrate beyond areas under the fisheries jurisdiction of coastal countries north of latitude 36° N.

Salmon fishing restrictions

Salmon fishing is banned beyond 12 nautical miles (nm) from the coast, with exceptions concerning Greenland (40 nm) and the Faroe Islands (allowed in the whole jurisdiction).

North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization

The convention establishes the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) whose objectives are to contribute to:

• the conservation;
• the restoration;
• the enhancement; and
• the rational management of salmon stocks, using the best scientific evidence available.

NASCO consists of 3 Commissions covering fisheries in North America, West Greenland and the North-East Atlantic, in addition to a council and a secretariat.

The Commissions:

• are a forum for consultation and cooperation among their member countries;
• propose regulatory measures (which will become binding on member countries after 60 days where no objection is lodged) where salmon fishing impacts countries from whose rivers the salmon originate and, in the case of the North America Commission, minimise those salmon harvests where appropriate;
• make recommendations to the council about scientific research.

Member country responsibilities

Each party to the convention must:

• do everything necessary to make the convention effective and implement the binding regulatory measures, including penalties for violations;
• provide salmon stocks statistics and catch statistics as required by the council;
• provide any other available scientific and statistical information required by the council;
• provide copies (or summaries) of laws, regulations and programmes in force, on request, relating to salmon stock conservation, restoration, enhancement and rational management.

Note: NASCO has six parties: Canada, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the EU, Norway, the Russian Federation and the USA. France (in respect of St.Pierre & Miquelon) attends as an observer. Iceland, an original member, withdrew in 2009 because of financial considerations, but has indicated its intention to rejoin.

The EU is a full member of both the North-East Atlantic Commission and the West Greenland Commission.