Chile, U.S. sign marine agreements in Juneau

Chile fisheries talks wrapped up in Juneau on Thursday with new bilateral agreements on marine management, research and enforcement.

The Chilean and U.S. delegation leaders signed a renewed memorandum of understanding on Thursday morning at the Federal Building that will guide their consultations for the next 10 years.

"In certain areas, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service agreed to send scientists to Chile to research (marine) issues further," said Ron Berg, deputy regional administrator for NMFS' Alaska regional office.

Among the agreements:

• NMFS will send a scientist to Chile to discuss the possibility of joint research on cetaceans, especially regarding humpback and blue whales and dolphins.

• Cooperative research will continue on anchovy and sardine fisheries.

• Additional research will be done on leatherback and loggerhead stocks, which have been impacted by the swordfish longline fishery in Chile; the nations will implement and research methods to prevent and reduce turtle mortality in longline operations.

Regarding aquaculture, the delegations made several agreements. They agreed to work with industry representatives of both countries to examine farmed fish health, environmental impacts, technology developments and socio-economic impacts.

The delegations also agreed to bring aquaculture issues needing multilateral agreements before the aquaculture subcommittee of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

The delegations also agreed to jointly develop a database on harmful algal blooms and improve models for predicting the blooms.

Source:Juneau empire online