United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement Review Conference to Resume, 22 to 26 May
NEW YORK, 22 May (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― The Review Conference on 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 will be resumed from 22 to 26 May at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The Conference has a mandate to assess the effectiveness of the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and the adequacy of its provisions, and to propose ways and means for strengthening its implementation. The Agreement provides a framework for cooperation to ensure the long-term sustainability of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks – two important categories of fish stocks which occur both in areas within national jurisdiction and on the high seas.
In particular, the Review Conference will consider the implementation of recommendations adopted at its previous session in 2016. These recommendations have had a considerable impact on sustainable fisheries management and provided the impetus for numerous international efforts. However, according to the Report of the Secretary-General prepared for the Conference (document A/Conf.210/2023/1), they have been implemented unevenly in different regions of the world.
The Conference will also consider recent developments in the field of international fisheries, including the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, the adoption of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies of the World Trade Organization (WTO), two United Nations Ocean Conferences and the review by the General Assembly of actions taken to address the impacts of bottom fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems and the long-term sustainability of deep-sea fish stocks.
At this timely moment for the future health of the world’s fishery resources and the ecosystems of which they form an integral part, delegations will review and supplement previous recommendations in relation to conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks and set out new recommendations for States and regional fisheries management organizations going forward.