Arctic fishing ban

Photo: Contributed

Talks are set to get underway about imposing a fishing moratorium in the Arctic until more is known about the waters at the top of the world.

Canada and other Arctic coast countries are meeting in Washington today with non-Arctic nations.

The discussions are the first step in extending a ban that Canada, the U.S., Russia, Denmark and Norway agreed to last July.

The ban covers waters in the central Arctic Ocean that are beyond the territorial limits of any country.

There is no commercial fishing in the area, but the possibility exists as climate change opens those seas.

In recent years, 40 per cent of the central Arctic Ocean has been ice-free in the summer.

The Washington talks bring China, Korea, Japan, Iceland and the European Union to the table.