Informal Consultations of States Parties to United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement to Be Held at United Nations Headquarters, 16-17 March
NEW YORK, 13 March (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The eleventh round of Informal Consultations of States Parties to the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement will be held at the United Nations on 16 and 17 March. The meeting will primarily serve as a preparatory meeting for the resumed Review Conference on the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, which will be held at the United Nations for one week in the first part of 2016.
As 2015 marks the twentieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Agreement, the meeting will also include a round-table discussion to commemorate the twentieth anniversary. The round table will consist of two segments that will reflect on, inter alia, the development of the Agreement and its implementation by discussing what has been achieved to date, and what should be done in the future to improve the governance of fisheries.
With three quarters of the world’s fisheries nearing depletion, there is an urgent need for the international community to increase efforts to halt the decline of fish stocks. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) it is estimated that the majority of straddling fish stocks, highly migratory species and other high seas fish stocks are considered to be either fully exploited or overexploited. This means that fisheries are operating close to or above the optimal effort that is sustainable in the long term, and there is no expected room or potential room for further expansion. For overexploited species there is a risk of stock depletion. This would have serious socioeconomic implications. FAO estimates that, overall, fisheries and aquaculture assure the livelihoods of 10–12 per cent of the world’s population.
The Agreement is considered to be the most important legally binding global instrument for the conservation and management of fishery resources since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 (UNCLOS). The Agreement established a comprehensive legal regime for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of both straddling stocks that occur both within the exclusive economic zone of one State — up to 200 nautical miles offshore — and areas beyond and adjacent to that zone, including cod, halibut, pollock, jack mackerel and squid, and highly migratory fish stocks, such as tuna, swordfish and oceanic sharks. It sets out principles on which conservation and management of the stocks must be based and introduces modern approaches such as precautionary and ecosystem approaches to fisheries management.
In the 20 years since its opening for signature, participation in the Agreement has continued to grow. As of 12 March 2015, there are 82 parties to the Agreement, including the European Union. The Agreement has already had a considerable impact on the practice of States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, and provided the impetus for many international efforts.
The effectiveness of the Agreement was first considered by the Review Conference in 2006, convened four years after the entry into force of the Agreement. The meeting adopted a comprehensive set of recommendations to improve the conservation and management of high seas fisheries (document A/CONF.210/2006/15). Many of the recommendations were later endorsed by the General Assembly and included in its annual resolution on sustainable fisheries.
In 2010, the Review Conference resumed to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of the Review Conference in 2006, and to make further recommendations to strengthen the Agreement’s implementation.
The Review Conference will resume again in 2016. States Parties and those States and entities which are entitled to become parties to this Agreement, as well as those intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations entitled to participate as observers, can participate in the Conference. The Conference will, inter alia, review and assess the adequacy of provisions of the Agreement. It may also propose means of strengthening the substance and methods of implementation of the Agreement in order to better address the conservation and management of relevant stocks. At the request of the General Assembly, an updated report of the Secretary-General will be prepared for the resumed Review Conference to provide information and analysis on relevant technical and scientific issues, to assist the Conference in discharging its mandate under article 36, paragraph 2, of the Agreement.
Another important aspect of the resumed Review Conference will be addressing the special requirements of developing States in relation to the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, as well as the development of their own fisheries and participation in high seas fisheries for such stocks.
Finally, there is a need for continued efforts to increase participation in the Agreement by addressing obstacles that may prevent States from becoming parties in order to achieve the goal of universal participation.
Background
The Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks sets out principles for the conservation and management of those stocks and establishes that such management must be based on the precautionary approach and the best available scientific information.
The Agreement elaborates on the fundamental principle, established in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that States should cooperate to ensure conservation and promote the optimum utilization of fisheries resources both within and beyond the exclusive economic zone. The exclusive economic zone is the area up to 200 nautical miles offshore where coastal States have sovereign rights for the conservation and management of marine living resources.
The Agreement provides the framework for cooperation in the conservation and management of those resources. It promotes the effective management and conservation by establishing, among other things, detailed minimum international standards for the conservation and management of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks; conservation and management measures in areas under national jurisdiction and in the adjacent high seas are compatible and coherent; effective mechanisms for compliance and enforcement of those measures on the high seas; and recognition of the special requirements of developing countries in relation to conservation and management, as well as the development and participation in fisheries.
The Agreement was adopted on 4 August 1995 by the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and opened for signature on 4 December 1995. It entered into force on 11 December 2001.
At present, the parties to the Agreement are Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Union, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay.
The Agreement (article 36) stipulates that a Review Conference would be convened by the Secretary-General four years after the entry into force of the Agreement with a view to assessing the effectiveness of the Agreement in securing the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks and, if necessary, propose means of strengthening the substance and methods of implementation of the Agreement to better address any continuing problems in the conservation and management of those stocks.
Informal Consultations of States Parties have been held since 2002 to consider the implementation of the Agreement and prepare for the Review Conference.
For further information, please visit www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm or contact United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, tel.: +1 212 963 3962, e-mail: doalos@un.org.