Sustainable Fisheries, Including Through the 1995 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, and Related Instruments

A/RES/60/31No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 75bSustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instruments, published in 2006.

What other versions does this mandate have?

23 versions · 2004–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/109

2025A/RES/80/109Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instrumentsLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/145Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instrumentsCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/68Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instrumentsCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/118Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instrumentsCompare with previous version
2021A/RES/76/71Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instrumentsCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2006.

2006A/61/154Impacts of fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems actions taken by States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to give effect to paragraphs 66 to 69 of General Assembly resolution 59/25 on sustainable fisheries, regarding the impact of fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems : report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

94 operative paragraphs

I.Achieving sustainable fisheries

Reaffirms the importance it attaches to the long-term conservation, management and sustainable use of the marine living resources of the world’s oceans and seas and the obligations of States to cooperate to this end, in accordance with international law, as reflected in the relevant provisions of the Convention,2 in particular the provisions on cooperation set out in Part V and Part VII, section 2, of the Convention, and where applicable, the Agreement;1

Emphasizes the obligations of flag States to discharge their responsibilities, in accordance with the Convention and the Agreement, to ensure compliance by vessels flying their flag with the conservation and management measures adopted and in force with respect to fisheries resources on the high seas;

Calls upon all States that have not done so, in order to achieve the goal of universal participation, to become parties to the Convention, which sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, taking into account the relationship between the Convention and the Agreement;

Calls upon all States, directly or through regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, to apply, in accordance with international law, the precautionary approach and an ecosystem approach widely to the conservation, management and exploitation of fish stocks, including straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, and also calls upon States parties to the Agreement to implement fully the provisions of article 6 of the Agreement as a matter of priority;

Welcomes and encourages the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and its Committee on Fisheries, in particular the recent call to effectively implement the various instruments already developed to ensure responsible fisheries;

Urges States to eliminate barriers to trade, including tariff peaks, high tariffs and non-tariff barriers and measures which are not consistent with their obligations under the World Trade Organization agreements, taking into account the importance of the trade of fisheries products, particularly for developing countries;

Welcomes the 2005 International Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, acknowledges the role of certification and ecolabelling schemes, which are to be consistent with international law, including relevant World Trade Organization agreements, and notes ongoing discussions in the World Trade Organization on such schemes;

Urges States and relevant international and national organizations to provide for participation of small-scale fishery stakeholders in related policy development and fisheries management strategies in order to achieve long-term sustainability for such fisheries, consistent with the duty to ensure the proper conservation and management of fisheries resources;

II.Implementation of the 1995 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

Calls upon all States, and entities referred to in the Convention and in article 1, paragraph 2 (b), of the Agreement, that have not done so to ratify or accede to the Agreement and in the interim to consider applying it provisionally;

Calls upon States parties to the Agreement to harmonize, as a matter of priority, their national legislation with the provisions of the Agreement, and to ensure that the provisions of the Agreement are effectively implemented into regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements of which they are a member;

Emphasizes the importance of those provisions of the Agreement relating to bilateral, regional and subregional cooperation in enforcement, and urges continued efforts in this regard;

Encourages States, as appropriate, to recognize that the general principles of the Agreement should also apply to discrete fish stocks in the high seas;

Calls upon all States to ensure that their vessels comply with the conservation and management measures that have been adopted by subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements in accordance with relevant provisions of the Convention and of the Agreement;

Urges States parties to the Agreement, in accordance with article 21, paragraph 4, thereof to inform, either directly or through the relevant regional or subregional fisheries management organization or arrangement, all States whose vessels fish on the high seas in the same region or subregion of the form of identification issued by those States parties to officials duly authorized to carry out boarding and inspection functions in accordance with articles 21 and 22 of the Agreement;

Also urges States parties to the Agreement, in accordance with article 21, paragraph 4, to designate an appropriate authority to receive notifications pursuant to article 21 and to give due publicity to such designation through the relevant subregional or regional fisheries management organization or arrangement;

Invites States and international financial institutions and organizations of the United Nations system to provide assistance according to Part VII of the Agreement, including, if appropriate, the development of special financial mechanisms or instruments to assist developing States, in particular the least developed among them and small island developing States, to enable them to develop their national capacity to exploit fishery resources, including developing their domestically flagged fishing fleet, value-added processing and the expansion of their economic base in the fishing industry, consistent with the duty to ensure the proper conservation and management of fishery resources;

Notes with satisfaction that the Assistance Fund under Part VII of the Agreement has begun to operate and consider applications for assistance by developing States parties to the Agreement, and encourages States, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, national institutions, non-governmental organizations and natural and juridical persons to make voluntary financial contributions to the Fund;

Welcomes the inaugural meeting at Windhoek, from 28 to 30 September 2005 of the Scientific Committee of the South-East Atlantic Fisheries Organization and its Commission’s subsequent adoption of new conservation measures for the resources that fall under its responsibility within the area of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South-East Atlantic Ocean, and urges signatory States and other States whose vessels fish in that Convention area for fishery resources covered by that Convention to become parties to that Convention as a matter of priority and, in the interim, to apply it and the measures adopted thereunder provisionally, to ensure that vessels entitled to fly their flags apply such measures;

Also welcomes the inaugural meeting in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, on 9 and 10 December 2004 of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, and further encourages relevant States to become parties to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean and, in the interim, to apply that Convention and the measures adopted thereunder to vessels entitled to fly their flags;

Reaffirms paragraph 16 of resolution 59/25 concerning the convening by the Secretary-General, pursuant to article 36 of the Agreement, of a review conference (“the review conference”), to be held in New York from 22 to 26 May 2006;

Takes note of the report of the fourth round of informal consultations of States parties to the Agreement, requests that the Secretary-General, in preparing, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the comprehensive report referred to in paragraph 17 of resolution 59/25, take into account the specific guidance proposed by the fourth round of informal consultations regarding the comprehensive report, and also requests that an advance unedited version of such a report be made available in accordance with past practice via the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs of the Secretariat (“the Division”) as of 16 January 2006;

Invites States parties, as well as States and entities entitled to become parties, subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to submit information and views to the review conference on matters relevant to the mandate of the conference and which would inform its work;

Recalls paragraph 6 of resolution 56/13, and requests the Secretary-General to convene in March 2006 a fifth round of informal consultations of States parties to the Agreement, to serve as preparation for the review conference;

Requests the Secretary-General to prepare a draft provisional agenda and draft rules of procedure for the review conference, and to circulate them at the same time as the provisional agenda, proposed by the fourth round of informal consultations of States parties to the Agreement, for the fifth round of informal consultations, sixty days in advance of these consultations;

Also requests the Secretary-General to invite States, and entities referred to in the Convention and in article 1, paragraph 2 (b), of the Agreement, which are not parties to the Agreement, to participate fully in the fifth round of informal consultations of States parties to the Agreement on an equal footing with those States parties, except without voting rights, and reaffirms that, in accordance with past practice, every effort will be made to adopt recommendations on the basis of consensus;

Further requests the Secretary-General to invite the United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other specialized agencies, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility and other relevant international financial institutions, subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, other fisheries bodies, other relevant inter-governmental bodies and relevant non-governmental organizations to attend the fifth round of informal consultations of States parties to the Agreement as observers;

Encourages wide participation in the review conference, in accordance with article 36 of the Agreement, and calls upon those States that are able to do so to become parties to the Agreement prior to the conference;

III.Related fisheries instruments

Emphasizes the importance of the effective implementation of the provisions of the Compliance Agreement,9 and urges continued efforts in this regard;

Calls upon all States and other entities referred to in article X, paragraph 1, of the Compliance Agreement that have not yet become parties to that Agreement to do so as a matter of priority and, in the interim, to consider applying it provisionally;

Urges States and subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to implement and promote the application of the Code3 within their areas of competence;

Urges States to develop and implement, as a matter of priority, national and, as appropriate, regional plans of action to put into effect the international plans of action of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;

Welcomes the adoption of the Code of Safety for Fishermen and Fishing Vessels as revised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the International Maritime Organization and encourages its effective application, and urges States to become parties to the 1993 Protocol to the Torremolinos International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels;

IV.llegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

Emphasizes once again its serious concern that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing remains one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems and continues to have serious and major implications for the conservation and management of ocean resources, and renews its call upon States to comply fully with all existing obligations and to combat such fishing and urgently to take all necessary steps to implement the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;

Calls upon States not to permit vessels flying their flag to engage in fishing on the high seas or in areas under the national jurisdiction of other States, unless duly authorized by the authorities of the States concerned and in accordance with the conditions set out in the authorization, without having effective control over their activities, and to take specific measures, including deterring the reflagging of vessels by their nationals, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, the Agreement and the Compliance Agreement, to control fishing operations by vessels flying their flag;

Affirms the need to strengthen, where necessary, the international legal framework for intergovernmental cooperation, in particular at the regional and subregional levels, in the management of fish stocks and in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, in a manner consistent with international law, and for States and entities referred to in the Convention and in article 1, paragraph 2 (b), of the Agreement to collaborate in efforts to address these types of fishing activities, including, inter alia, the development and implementation of vessel monitoring systems and the listing of vessels in order to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities and, where appropriate and consistent with international law, trade monitoring schemes, including to collect global catch data, through subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements;

Calls upon flag and port States to take all measures consistent with international law necessary to prevent the operation of substandard vessels and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities;

Urges States to exercise effective control over their nationals and vessels flying their flag in order to prevent and deter them from engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities;

Recalls the request to the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session on the study undertaken by the International Maritime Organization, in cooperation with other competent international organizations, following the invitation extended to it in resolution 58/14 and resolution 58/240 of 23 December 2003, to examine and clarify the role of the “genuine link” in relation to the duty of flag States to exercise effective control over ships flying their flag, including fishing vessels, and the potential consequences of non-compliance with the duties and obligations of flag States prescribed in the relevant international instruments;

Reaffirms the appeal made by the Ministers of Fisheries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in their 2005 Rome Declaration on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing,7 including for further international action to eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by vessels flying “flags of convenience” as well as to require that a “genuine link” be established between States and fishing vessels flying their flags, and calls upon States to implement the Declaration as a matter of priority;

Requests States and relevant international bodies to develop, in accordance with international law, more effective measures to trace fish and fishery products to enable importing States to identify fish or fishery products caught in a manner that undermines international conservation and management measures agreed in accordance with international law, and at the same time to recognize the importance of market access, in accordance with provisions 11.2.4, 11.2.5 and 11.2.6 of the Code, for fish and fishery products caught in a manner that is in conformity with such international measures;

Encourages further work by competent international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, to develop guidelines on flag State control of fishing vessels;

Recognizes the need for enhanced port State controls to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, urges States to cooperate, in particular at the regional level and through regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, and encourages States to apply the model scheme on port State measures endorsed by the Committee on Fisheries at its twenty-sixth session in March 20056 at the national and regional levels, to promote its application through regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements and bodies, and to consider, when appropriate, the possibility of developing a legally binding instrument;

Calls upon all States to ensure that vessels flying their flag do not engage in trans-shipments of fish caught by fishing vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and, individually or through regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements, to develop more effective enforcement and compliance measures to prevent and suppress such trans-shipments in accordance with international law;

Urges States, individually and through relevant regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, to establish mandatory vessel monitoring, control and surveillance systems for fishing vessels, including the sharing of information on fisheries enforcement matters, to join the existing voluntary International Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Network for Fisheries-Related Activities and to consider the possibility, when appropriate, of transforming the Network, in accordance with international law, into an international unit with dedicated resources that can assist fisheries enforcement agencies;

Encourages and supports the development of a comprehensive global record within the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations of fishing vessels, including refrigerated transport vessels and supply vessels, that incorporates available information on beneficial ownership, subject to confidentiality requirements in accordance with national law, and urges flag States to require that all their large-scale fishing vessels operating on the high seas be fitted with vessel monitoring systems no later than December 2008, or earlier if so decided by the flag State or any relevant regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements, as called for in the 2005 Rome Declaration on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing;

Urges States, individually and through regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, to adopt and implement internationally agreed market-related measures in accordance with international law, including principles, rights and obligations established in World Trade Organization agreements, as called for in the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing;

V.Fishing overcapacity

Calls upon States and relevant regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, as a matter of priority, to take effective measures to improve the management of fishing capacity and to implement the International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing Capacity of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, taking into account the need, through these actions, to avoid the transfer of fishing capacity to other fisheries or areas including, but not limited to, those areas where fish stocks are overexploited or in a depleted condition;

Reaffirms the 2005 Rome Declaration on Fisheries and the Tsunami,8 which emphasized, inter alia, the need for fisheries and aquaculture rehabilitation in the affected areas to be in line with the principles of the Code and stressed that rehabilitation efforts, including transfer of vessels, must proceed under the leadership and control of the affected nations and must ensure that the fishing capacity that is being rebuilt is commensurate with the productive capacity of the fisheries resources and their sustainable utilization;

Urges States to eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and to fishing overcapacity, while completing the efforts undertaken at the World Trade Organization in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Healthto clarify and improve its disciplines on fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector, including small-scale and artisanal fisheries and aquaculture, to developing countries;

VI.Large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing

Reaffirms the importance it attaches to continued compliance with its resolution 46/215 and other subsequent resolutions on large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing, and urges States and entities referred to in the Convention and in article 1, paragraph 2 (b), of the Agreement to enforce fully the measures recommended in those resolutions;

VII.Fisheries by-catch and discards

Urges States, regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and arrangements and other relevant international organizations that have not done so to take action to reduce or eliminate by-catch, catch by lost or abandoned gear, fish discards and post-harvest losses, including juvenile fish, consistent with international law and relevant international instruments, including the Code, and in particular to consider measures including, as appropriate, technical measures related to fish size, mesh size or gear, discards, closed seasons and areas and zones reserved for selected fisheries, particularly artisanal fisheries, the establishment of mechanisms for communicating information on areas of high concentration of juvenile fish, taking into account the importance of ensuring confidentiality of such information, and support for studies and research that will reduce or eliminate by-catch of juvenile fish;

Encourages States and entities referred to in the Convention and in article 1, paragraph 2 (b), of the Agreement to give due consideration to participation, as appropriate, in regional and subregional instruments and organizations with mandates to conserve non-target species taken incidentally in fishing operations;

Requests States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to urgently implement, as appropriate, the measures recommended in the Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations11 and the International Plan of Action for Reducing Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries in order to prevent the decline of sea turtles and seabird populations by reducing by-catch and increasing post-release survival in their fisheries, including through research and development of gear and bait alternatives, promoting the use of available by-catch mitigation technology, and promotion and strengthening of data collection programmes to obtain standardized information to develop reliable estimates of the by-catch of those species;

VIII.Subregional and regional cooperation

Urges coastal States and States fishing on the high seas, in accordance with the Convention and the Agreement, to pursue cooperation in relation to straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, either directly or through appropriate subregional or regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements, to ensure the effective conservation and management of such stocks;

Urges States fishing for straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks on the high seas, and relevant coastal States, where a subregional or regional fisheries management organization or arrangement has the competence to establish conservation and management measures for such stocks, to give effect to their duty to cooperate by becoming members of such an organization or participants in such an arrangement, or by agreeing to apply the conservation and management measures established by such an organization or arrangement;

Invites, in this regard, subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to ensure that all States having a real interest in the fisheries concerned may become members of such organizations or participants in such arrangements, in accordance with the Convention and the Agreement;

Encourages relevant coastal States and States fishing on the high seas for a straddling fish stock or a highly migratory fish stock, where there is no subregional or regional fisheries management organization or arrangement to establish conservation and management measures for such stocks, to cooperate to establish such an organization or enter into another appropriate arrangement to ensure the conservation and management of such stocks, and to participate in the work of the organization or arrangement;

Welcomes and urges further efforts by regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, as a matter of priority, to strengthen and modernize their mandates to include an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and biodiversity considerations, where those aspects are lacking, to ensure that they effectively contribute to long-term conservation and management of marine living resources;

Urges regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to ensure that their decision-making processes rely on the best scientific information available, incorporate the precautionary approach, develop criteria for allocation which reflects, where appropriate, the relevant provisions of the Agreement, and strengthen integration, coordination and cooperation with other relevant fisheries organizations, regional seas arrangements and other relevant international organizations;

Encourages States, through their participation in regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, to initiate processes for their performance review, and welcomes the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in the development of general objective criteria for such reviews;

Calls upon States, individually and through regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements, to strengthen or establish, consistent with national and international law, positive or negative lists of vessels fishing within the areas covered by relevant regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements in order to verify compliance with conservation and management measures and identify products from illegal, unreported and unregulated catches, including, where possible, establishing tracking and verification mechanisms to do so, and encourages improved coordination among all parties and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to share and use this information;

Encourages the establishment of regional guidelines for States to use in establishing sanctions, for non-compliance by vessels flying their flag and by their nationals, that are adequate in severity to effectively secure compliance, deter further violations and deprive offenders of the benefits deriving from their illegal activities;

IX.Responsible fisheries in the marine ecosystem

Encourages States to apply by 2010 the ecosystem approach, notes the Reykjavik Declaration on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem and decision VII/11 and other relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, notes the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations related to guidelines for the implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management, and also notes the importance to this approach of relevant provisions of the Agreement and the Code;

Encourages enhanced science for conservation and management measures that incorporate and strengthen, in accordance with international law, the precautionary approach and consideration of ecosystem approaches to fisheries management, including through implementation of the Strategy for Improving Information on Status and Trends of Capture Fisheries,4 and a greater reliance on scientific advice in adopting such measures;

Calls upon States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to collect and, where appropriate, report to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations more timely and comprehensive catch and effort data, including for straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks within and beyond areas under national jurisdiction, discrete high seas stocks and by-catch and discards;

Encourages States, individually or through regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements and other relevant international organizations, to work to ensure that fisheries and other ecosystem data collection is performed in a coordinated and integrated manner, facilitating incorporation into global observation initiatives, where appropriate;

Also encourages States to increase scientific research in accordance with international law on the marine ecosystem;

Calls upon States, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other specialized agencies of the United Nations, subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, where appropriate, and other appropriate intergovernmental bodies, to cooperate in achieving sustainable aquaculture, including through information exchange, developing equivalent standards on such issues as aquatic animal health and human health and safety concerns, assessing the potential positive and negative impacts of aquaculture, including socio-economics, on the marine and coastal environment, including biodiversity, and adopting relevant methods and techniques to minimize and mitigate adverse effects;

Reaffirms the importance it attaches to paragraphs 66 to 71 of resolution 59/25 concerning the impacts of fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems, and urges accelerated progress by States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements on implementing these elements of the resolution;

Requests regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements with the competence to regulate bottom fisheries to adopt, in accordance with paragraph 67 of resolution 59/25, and implement appropriate conservation and management measures, including spatial and temporal measures, to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems as a matter of urgency;

Welcomes progress made in the implementation of paragraphs 68 and 69 of resolution 59/25 calling for the expansion, where appropriate, of the competence of existing regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements to regulate bottom fisheries and the impacts of fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems or for the establishment of new regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements with such competence to cover areas of the high seas where no such organization or arrangement currently exists;

Calls upon States urgently to accelerate their cooperation in establishing interim targeted protection mechanisms for vulnerable marine ecosystems in regions where they have an interest in the conservation and management of marine living resources;

Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session on the actions taken by States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to give effect to paragraphs 66 to 69 of resolution 59/25, in order to facilitate the review referred to in paragraph 71 of the resolution of progress on action taken, with a view to further recommendations, where necessary, in areas where arrangements are inadequate, and further requests that an advance unedited version of the report be made available in accordance with past practice via the website of the Division as of 15 July 2006;

Requests States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to submit detailed information to the Secretary-General in a timely manner on actions taken pursuant to paragraphs 66 to 69 of resolution 59/25 to facilitate a comprehensive review of such actions;

Encourages progress to establish criteria on the objectives and management of marine protected areas for fisheries purposes, and in this regard welcomes the proposed work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to develop technical guidelines in accordance with the Convention on the design, implementation and testing of marine protected areas for such purposes, and urges coordination and cooperation among all relevant international organizations and bodies;

Notes that 2005 marks the ten-year anniversary of the adoption of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, and urges all States to implement the Global Programme of Action and to accelerate activity to safeguard the marine ecosystem, including fish stocks, against pollution and physical degradation;

Calls upon States, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, in particular its Regional Seas programme, regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and arrangements and other appropriate intergovernmental organizations that have not yet done so to take action to address the issue of lost or abandoned fishing gear and related marine debris, including through the collection of data on gear loss, economic costs to fisheries and other sectors, and the impact on marine ecosystems;

Encourages close cooperation and coordination, as appropriate, between States, relevant intergovernmental organizations, United Nations programmes and other bodies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Global Programme of Action, and Regional Seas arrangements, regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and arrangements and relevant stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations, to address the issue of lost and discarded fishing gear and related marine debris, through initiatives such as analysis of the implementation and effectiveness of the existing measures relevant to the control and management of derelict fishing gear and related marine debris, the development and implementation of targeted studies to determine the socio-economic, technical and other factors that influence the accidental loss and deliberate disposal of fishing gear at sea, the assessment and implementation of preventive measures, incentives and/or disincentives relating to the loss and disposal of fishing gear at sea, and the development of best management practices;

Encourages States, directly and through regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, and in close cooperation and coordination with relevant stakeholders, to address the issue of lost and discarded fishing gear and related marine debris, through initiatives including developing and implementing joint prevention and recovery programmes, establishing a clearing-house mechanism to facilitate the sharing of information between States on fishing net types and other fishing gear, the regular, long-term collection, collation and dissemination of information on derelict fishing gear, and national inventories of net types and other fishing gear, as appropriate;

Encourages States, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Global Programme of Action, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements and other relevant intergovernmental organizations and programmes to consider the outcomes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Education and Outreach Seminar on Derelict Fishing Gear and Related Marine Debris, held in January 2004, and how they may be implemented;

Encourages States to raise awareness within their fishing sector and subregional and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements of the issue of derelict fishing gear and related marine debris and to identify options for action;

Encourages the Committee on Fisheries to consider the issue of derelict fishing gear and related marine debris at its next meeting in 2007, and in particular the implementation of relevant provisions of the Code;

X.Capacity-building

Reiterates the crucial importance of cooperation by States directly or, as appropriate, through the relevant regional and subregional organizations, and by other international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations through its FishCode programme, including through financial and/or technical assistance, in accordance with the Agreement, the Compliance Agreement, the Code and the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, to increase the capacity of developing States to achieve the goals and implement the actions called for in the present resolution;

Welcomes the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in developing guidance on the strategies and measures required for the creation of an enabling environment for small-scale fisheries, including the development of a code of conduct and guidelines for enhancing the contribution of small-scale fisheries to poverty alleviation and food security that include adequate provisions with regard to financial measures and capacity-building, including transfer of technology, and encourages studies for creating possible alternative livelihoods for coastal communities;

Encourages increased capacity-building and technical assistance by States, international financial institutions and relevant intergovernmental organizations and bodies for fishers, in particular small-scale fishers, in developing countries, and in particular small island developing States, consistent with environmental sustainability;

Encourages the international community to enhance the opportunities for sustainable development in developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, small island developing States and coastal African States, by encouraging greater participation of those States in authorized fisheries activities being undertaken within areas under their national jurisdiction, in accordance with the Convention, by distant-water fishing nations in order to achieve better economic returns for developing countries from their fisheries resources within areas under their national jurisdiction and an enhanced role in regional fisheries management, as well as by enhancing the ability of developing countries to develop their own fisheries, as well as to participate in high seas fisheries, including access to such fisheries, in conformity with international law, in particular the Convention and the Agreement;

Requests distant-water fishing nations, when negotiating access agreements and arrangements with developing coastal States, to do so on an equitable and sustainable basis, including by giving greater attention to fish processing, including fish processing facilities, within the national jurisdiction of the developing coastal State to assist the realization of the benefits from the development of fisheries resources;

Encourages greater assistance for developing States in designing, establishing and implementing relevant agreements, instruments and tools for the conservation and sustainable management of fish stocks, including the enhancement of research and scientific capabilities through existing funds, such as the Assistance Fund under Part VII of the Agreement, bilateral assistance, regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements assistance funds, the FishCode programme, the World Bank’s global programme on fisheries and the Global Environment Facility;

XI.Cooperation within the United Nations system

Requests the relevant parts of the United Nations system, international financial institutions and donor agencies to support increased enforcement and compliance capabilities for regional fisheries management organizations and their member States;

Invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to continue its cooperative arrangements with United Nations agencies on the implementation of the international plans of action and to report to the Secretary-General, for inclusion in his annual report on sustainable fisheries, on priorities for cooperation and coordination in this work;

Invites the Division, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other relevant bodies of the United Nations system to consult and cooperate in the preparation of questionnaires designed to collect information on sustainable fisheries, in order to avoid duplication;

XII.Sixty-first session of the General Assembly

Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all members of the international community, relevant intergovernmental organizations, the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, regional and subregional fisheries management organizations and relevant non-governmental organizations, and to invite them to provide the Secretary-General with information relevant to the implementation of the present resolution;

Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-second session a report on “Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instruments”, taking into account information provided by States, relevant specialized agencies, in particular the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and other appropriate organs, organizations and programmes of the United Nations system, regional and subregional organizations and arrangements for the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, as well as other relevant intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations, and consisting, inter alia, of elements provided in relevant paragraphs in the present resolution;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-first session, under the item entitled “Oceans and the law of the sea”, the sub-item entitled “Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instruments”.

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