PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
WORLD OCEANS DAY (7 June 2010)

That this House welcomes the Marine Ecosystems Recovery Strategy agreed on World Oceans Day in the House of Commons by international parliamentarians attending the GLOBE Commission on Land Use Change and Ecosystems; notes its assessment that our oceans are in crisis through a combination of coastal pollution, over fishing and climate change and that more than one billion people worldwide are at risk from the loss of ecosystem services and food security; further welcomes the Recovery Strategy's call to reduce fleet overcapacity by phasing out the $22 billion per year global subsidy, allocate fishing rights to individuals or communities to incentivise resource conservation and avoid an economically wasteful race to fish, establish a new Global Framework Agreement for marine spatial planning in areas beyond national jurisdiction, progressively increase the network of Marine Protected Areas with effective monitoring and control to 25 per cent. of the world's oceans, mandate the United Nations to undertake a review of the effectiveness of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), introduce financial and other penalties upon those trading in illegal fish to address the problem of illegal unregulated and unreported catch, implement the UN Fish Stocks Agreement to move RFMOs to a precautionary, ecosystem-based approach to fish stock management; and considers that these measures are not only essential to ensure the recovery of a healthy marine ecosystem but are also vital to ensure the continued profitability of a sustainable fishing industry in the UK that contributes to employment and economic well being.

Sponsored by:
Barry Gardiner (Labour)