Five countries on Thursday announced a ban on fishing in the Arctic Ocean. These nations that that surrounds the Arctic Ocean declared the ban to help prevent the speeding melting down of polar ice and the endangerment of marine ecosystems.

Five countries that declared the ban on fishing in Arctic include United States, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark. The nations signed an accord that prohibits unregulated fisherman from their respective countries to fish in the designated area.

As per the recently signed agreement, the range of the designated area is roughly 1.1-million-square-miles. The countries decided to implement a ban following an annual global climate report that showed a drastic decline in the area of the Arctic Ocean that's covered by ice.

The State of the Climate report said in a statement that the area is going through its sixth lowest extent since 1979. The area was earlier undisturbed by human activity, but as the ice is melting at high speed, the countries fear that human interference will cause harm to the Arctic marine ecosystem.

It has been said that the declaration legalizes commercial fishing for citizens of their own countries, but it does not have control over citizens from other countries who fish in the international waters.

World Wide Fund for Nature spokesperson Britta König said that the accord has been signed for a good cause, but it can't guarantee that no commercial fishing will take place in the designated area as not every country that borders the ocean is involved in signing the accord.

"We desire to promote scientific research and to integrate scientific knowledge with traditional and local knowledge with the aim of improving the understanding of the living marine resources of the Arctic Ocean and the ecosystems in which they occur", the accord states.