Scientists Recommend Arctic Ocean Fishing Moratorium

Raw Story, via nc links:

“A commercial fishery in the central Arctic Ocean is now possible and feasible,” said more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries in an open letter released by the Pew Environment Group to Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States.
But not enough is known about “the presence, abundance, structure, movements, and health of fish stocks and the role they play in the broader ecosystem” of these international waters as large as the Mediterranean Sea.
The international community must “take action now to protect these waters until we have the science and governance in place to ensure sustainable development of fisheries,” the scientists wrote in the letter.
The main barrier to fishing in the Arctic waters is quickly disappearing, as the ice cap melts. Since the summer of 2007, 40 percent of the central Arctic Ocean has been open water.
Soon trawlers from major fishing nations could begin to appear in the far north.

I would guess there will be a lot of pressure to fish those waters in the near future.