ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland (CP) – A proposed interim ban on high-seas bottom trawling has been rejected at a United Nations meeting – a move environmentalists say is a setback for the world’s fish stocks.

The U.N. meeting concluded early Thursday with countries agreeing to continue fishing in unregulated areas under rules set by regional fisheries management organizations.

Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said the agreement applies to countries that don’t currently belong to the organizations, and will protect stocks and sensitive areas.

“We have the opportunity now collectively to clean up what’s been going on in the ocean for a number of years,” Hearn said from Ottawa. “The question now is will everyone live up to commitments made? And if not, we have all kinds of tools – force, the right of law, shame, isolation, pressure – you name it. If someone steps outside this collective agreement that we’ve made, life can be pretty miserable for them.”

But Susanna Fuller of the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax called the decision “toothless.”

She said it will allow trawlers to expand their operations and continue ravaging the ocean floor.

“Essentially, it’s the status quo,” said Fuller, who was in New York to monitor the U.N. meeting.

“One of the huge problems that we have right now is flag states that are fishing irresponsibly on the high seas, and now those states can continue to fish the same way they’ve been fishing,” Fuller said.

Canada and Iceland were opposed to a trawling ban in unregulated waters, while Australia, New Zealand and the United States supported the idea.

The agreement to continue trawling in unregulated areas under rules set by organizations such as the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization is expected to be adopted at the UN General Assembly on Dec. 7.

Hearn has said a ban would have been unenforceable and that stronger fisheries management organizations in unregulated areas would be more effective. But critics point out Ottawa has supported a ban on drift nets since 1993.