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| Bering Sea Agreement | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bering Sea Agreement |
| Date signed | 1990 |
| Location signed | Washington, D.C. |
| Parties | United States; Soviet Union |
| Effective date | 1990 |
| Language | English; Russian |
Bering Sea Agreement The Bering Sea Agreement was a bilateral accord concluded in 1990 between the United States and the Soviet Union addressing maritime delimitation, fisheries management, and conservation in the Bering Sea region. It followed decades of interaction among actors such as the Alaska Natives, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and international organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Maritime Organization. The Agreement intersected with prior instruments including the Treaty of Portsmouth, the Treaty of San Francisco (1951), and later regimes such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Negotiations drew on precedents like the Anglo-Russian Convention (1825), the Alaska Purchase, and disputes involving the Pribilof Islands and the Commander Islands, while engaging stakeholders such as the State of Alaska, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the U.S. Department of State, and the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Key figures included diplomats from the Reagan administration, the Gorbachev administration, negotiators from the U.S. Congress and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and advisors from institutions like the Wilson Center and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The talks referenced scientific work by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Russian Academy of Sciences while considering the precedents set by the International Court of Justice and arbitration panels such as those in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases.
The Agreement articulated delimitation principles influenced by rulings from the International Court of Justice and frameworks like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It established zones for bilateral cooperation drawing on concepts from the 1978 Cod War negotiations and terms reminiscent of the Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities approach to shared resources. The text set out jurisdictional arrangements comparable to the Canada–United States Pacific fisheries relationship and included mechanisms for dispute resolution modeled after procedures in the World Trade Organization and the London Convention.
Fisheries provisions incorporated scientific advice from entities such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency, the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, and the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES). The Agreement addressed stocks of pollock, cod, crab, halibut, and salmon, referencing management principles used by the International Pacific Halibut Commission and drawing on data from the NOAA Fisheries and the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO). It set forth joint stock assessment procedures similar to those employed by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization and cooperative measures akin to the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty.
Conservation measures reflected norms from the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Agreement aimed to protect habitats linked to the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and the Aleutian Islands, and to address impacts on species such as the Steller's sea eagle, Northern fur seal, walrus, and migratory Pacific salmon. Environmental monitoring drew on programs by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Institute of Marine Research (Russia), and international bodies including the Global Environment Facility.
Enforcement mechanisms combined coast guard and naval assets from the United States Coast Guard and the Soviet Navy with inspection regimes inspired by the Montreux Document model and cooperative patrols similar to those in the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum. Compliance relied on licensing systems comparable to the European Union Common Fisheries Policy controls and inspection cooperation akin to arrangements under the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries. Penalty and adjudication pathways referenced practice from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and national procedures in the Alaska State Court System and the Supreme Court of the USSR.
Legally, the Agreement influenced subsequent arrangements informing Russia–United States relations after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and served as precedent for trilateral and regional talks involving the Government of Japan, the People's Republic of China, and Canada. It interfaced with jurisprudence from the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and informed later instruments such as bilateral memoranda between the United States Department of Commerce and the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. The accord contributed to debates in the United Nations General Assembly about high seas governance and regional fisheries management organizations.
Implementation involved agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service and successor Russian institutions, cooperative research by the Arctic Research Commission (United States) and the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, and stakeholder engagement with the Aleut Corporation, the Bering Sea Fishermen's Association, and indigenous organizations represented in the Alaska Federation of Natives. Outcomes included improved joint stock assessments, reduced instances of unregulated fishing modeled after successes in the North Pacific cooperative regimes, and a framework that facilitated later agreements such as bilateral understandings on seabed mapping with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Russian counterparts. The Agreement's legacy persists in regional cooperation mechanisms that engage the Arctic Council, the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, and transboundary science partnerships involving the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Category:Treaties of the United States Category:Treaties of the Soviet Union Category:Bering Sea