US, China and Russia plan joint research aimed at regulating Arctic fishing

The efforts will support a treaty that went into effect earlier this year placing a moratorium on fishing in the High Arctic's international waters.

The United States, China, Japan, and Russia are among the countries planning to conduct joint research on fishing in the Arctic Ocean, in an effort to establish international rules.

Representatives from nine countries and the European Union are planning to meet in South Korea early next year to discuss fishing quotas based on similar treaties covering other regions, according to Nikkei.

Starting with the quotas, which could take effect as early as 2022, the group intends to gradually expand guidelines to enforce sustainable fishing.

Their efforts are based on an international agreement to ban unregulated fishing in the Arctic that came into force in June.

[A long-awaited Central Arctic Ocean commercial fishing ban takes effect]

The joint research aims to track the types of fish in the Arctic and their current catch levels. If a fish stock is deemed sufficient, an regulation will be issued to allow commercial fishing within set quotas.

The members of the research project, which also include Canada, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and South Korea, will discuss setting up a body to manage resources to enable monitoring for unchecked fishing and settle fishing disputes. The goal is to establish such international rules by 2023-2024.