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/71/123
paragraphs 121, 126, 129, 130 and 132 to 134 of resolution 66/68 and
paragraphs 156, 171, 175, 177 to 188 and 219 of the present resolution, with a view
to ensuring effective implementation of the measures therein and to make further
recommendations, where necessary, and decides to precede that review with a twoday workshop;
193. Encourages accelerated progress to establish criteria on the objectives,
establishment and management of marine protected areas for fisheries purposes, and
in this regard welcomes the development by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations of technical guidelines on marine protected areas and
fisheries, also encourages their application, and urges coordination and cooperation
among all relevant international organizations and bodies;
194. Urges all States to implement the 1995 Global Programme of Action for
the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land -based Activities 32 and to
accelerate activity to safeguard the marine ecosystem, including fish stocks, against
pollution and physical degradation, taking into account the increase in oceanic dead
zones;
195. Calls upon States, either individually, collectively or through regional
fisheries management organizations and arrangements, to further study, develop and
adopt effective management measures, and disseminate information in that regard,
taking into account the best available scientific information, on fishing methods,
gear types and uses to minimize mortality and other harms caused by abandoned,
lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear;
196. Acknowledges the serious environmental, as well as economic and social,
impacts on the marine environment caused by abandoned, lost or otherwise
discarded fishing gear, and encourages States, and regional fisheries management
organizations and arrangements, as appropriate, to take action to reduce such gear,
noting the recommendations of the 2009 report by the United Nations Environment
Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
197. Reaffirms the importance it attaches to paragraphs 77 to 81 of resolution
60/31 of 29 November 2005 concerning the issue of lost, abandoned or otherwise
discarded fishing gear and related marine debris and the adverse impacts such debris
and derelict fishing gear have on, inter alia, fish stocks, habitats and other marine
species, and urges accelerated progress by States and regional fisheries management
organizations and arrangements in implementing those paragraphs of the resolution;
198. Welcomes in this regard the ongoing work in the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations to further develop guidelines on the marking of
fishing gear, through a technical consultation, and encourages the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to conduct pilot projects to avoid
ghost fishing by retrieving abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear and
on the marking of fishing gear in developing countries in order to facilitate the
implementation of those guidelines;
199. Encourages further studies, including by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, on the impacts of underwater noise on fish
stocks and fishing catch rates, as well as associated socioeconomic effects;
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32
A/51/116, annex II.
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