Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ocean-related Ministerial Meeting
(Overview and Evaluation)
April 26, 2002
1.Overview
(1) Date: 25 to 26 April 2002 (Working-level meeting held 22 to 25 April)
Venue: Seoul, Republic of Korea
(2) Participants: Representatives of the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies attended the meeting. From Japan, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi acted as the head of the delegation, and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Fisheries Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport attended. Parliamentary Secretary Miyakoshi delivered a speech at the meeting.
(3) This meeting was the first occasion for ministers from the APEC economies concerned with ocean-related affairs to gather together. The ministers exchanged views mainly on activities in recent years in APEC concerning the sustaining of ocean and coastal resources and compiled the "Seoul Ocean Declaration" (ministerial declaration) concerning domestic measures and regional cooperation in various areas.
(4) The next APEC Ocean-related Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to be held in the Republic of Indonesia in 2004.
2.Evaluation and Challenges
(1) All of the major countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean are APEC members (all APEC members are countries with a sea border) and APEC members alone account for approximately 75% of the world's capture fisheries, with more than 90% of world aquaculture production being accounted for within APEC. Given these facts, cooperation among APEC in ocean-related areas, is of significance not only for the APEC region, but also for the world as a whole.
(2) The Seoul Ocean Declaration represents an APEC stance on ocean-related areas towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) (the Johannesburg Summit)(Venue: Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa) that is scheduled to be held in August and September 2002. The Declaration is an important document in that it will reflect the Asia-Pacific perspective in global discussions. However, concerning the discussion point in (3)(a) below, it is expected that discussion will be taken on by the WSSD and at other fora in the future.
(3) Based on the request by Japan, that the following points were highlighted in the Seoul Ocean Declaration was of particular importance.
- The importance of the preservation and management of living marine resources. (Japan emphasized the perspective of the importance of sustainable use of not only fish, but also a wide variety of living marine resources. In response, countries such as Australia and New Zealand strongly emphasized that this concept would not be acceptable if it were to include the use of marine mammals.)
- Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fisheries should be eliminated. (Japan called for the necessity of strengthening measures also in the APEC region, concerning examples of unregulated fisheries.)
- The establishment of "marine protection areas" should be limited to the waters within coastal economies' jurisdiction. (Japan emphasized that given the situation that the concept of "marine protection areas" is indefinite, it would like to deepen the discussion on the establishment of such areas in international waters at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other related regional fisheries management organizations, founded on an appropriate scientific basis and also taking into consideration consistency with international laws. It will be necessary to pay due attention to the handling of this issue in the future.)
- The promotion of regional cooperation in a global-scale ocean observation system, in order to promote understanding concerning marine issues and to investigate climate change mechanisms, etc. (In addition to the current cooperation, Japan is calling for the promotion of new cooperation (including the Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography (ARGO) project).
- To strengthen cooperation for the promotion of responsible trade in marine products. (Japan emphasized that the liberalization of trade that is not in accordance with the implementation of appropriate resource preservation management measures can have an adverse affect on the preservation and sustainable use of resources.)
- The promotion of international cooperation to respond to invasions by harmful marine pests. (The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is currently compiling a draft international convention on this issue, and Japan strongly supports this work.)
- The improvement of the preservation and sustainable management of coastal and marine ecosystems. (Japan emphasized the importance of strengthening efforts to preserve coral reefs, etc.)
(4) To date, cooperation in the area of fisheries has been discussed in such fora as the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the FAO, and the International Whaling Commission (IWC), as well as at the working-level within APEC. This meeting was significant in that APEC member economies had a ministerial-level opportunity to hear and understand about each country's views and to confirm points of common recognition, which will strengthen future regional cooperation.
(5) The Seoul Ocean Declaration makes clear that ocean-related activities within APEC (with working groups on marine resources conservation, fisheries, transportation, tourism, industrial science and technology, and energy) should be further enhanced in the future. The Government of Japan will cooperate with a wide range of related ministries and agencies to proceed with cooperation in ocean-related areas and in order to activate cross-sectoral activities in APEC.
(Reference) Related Website
Information about the APEC Ocean-related Ministerial Meeting can be found on the Website of the APEC 
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