20 nations agree on new fishing limits - AP

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Source: Associated Press

20 nations agree on new fishing limits

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 4, 7:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON - More than 20 nations agreed Friday to discourage unregulated
and destructive bottom trawling on the South Pacific high seas, a victory for
environmental groups.

The agreement, which takes effect Sept. 30, is intended to protect about a
quarter of the world's high seas, a vast area extending roughly from the
Equator to the Antarctic Circle and from Australia and New Zealand to the
west coast of South America.

Observers and ship locator monitoring systems are to be used, and vessels
must remain at least five nautical miles from deep-water corals and other
vulnerable marine ecosystems.

The agreement reached in Renaca, Chile, follows a United Nations General
Assembly resolution in December aimed at getting tough on high seas bottom
trawling, which involves fishing boats that drag giant nets along the sea
floor.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_go_ot/oceans_bottom_trawling