to restore the territory's devastated fish stocks and marine ecosystem. The ban came into effect on 31 December 2012. The government paid HK$1.72 billion to affected trawlers in a buyout scheme. Persons who contravene the ban can be fined or imprisoned under the Fisheries Protection Ordinance (Cap 171). Lack of regulation Beyond national jurisdictions, most bottom trawling is unregulated either because there is no Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) with competence to regulate, or else what RFMOs that do exist have not actually regulated. The major exception to this is in the Antarctic region, where the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources regime has instituted extensive bottom trawling restrictions. The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) also recently closed four seamounts and part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge from all fishing, including bottom trawling, for three years. This still leaves most of international waters completely without bottom trawl regulation. As of May 2007 the area managed under the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) has gained a new level of protection. All countries fishing in the region (accounting for about 25 percent of the global ocean) agreed to exclude bottom trawling on high seas areas where vulnerable ecosystems are likely or known to occur until a specific impact assessment is undertaken and precautionary measures have been implemented. Observers will also be required on all high seas bottom trawlers to ensure enforcement of the regulations. Failed United Nations ban Palau President Tommy Remengesau has called for a ban on destructive and unregulated bottom trawling beyond national jurisdictions. Palau has led the effort at the United Nations and in the Pacific to achieve a consensus by countries to take this action at an international level. Palau has been joined by the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu in supporting an interim bottom trawling ban at the United Nations. The proposal for this ban did not result in any actual legislation and was blocked. In 2006, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton promised to support a global ban on bottom trawling if there was sufficient support to make that a practical option. Bottom trawling has been banned in a third of New Zealand's waters (although a large percentage of these areas were not viable for bottom trawling in the first place) See also (DSCC) , a historic sidewinder trawler References National Research Council (US)