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
Unregulated Fishing, most recently held for the Mediterranean in Tirana from
29 February to 4 March 2016;
84. Encourages strengthened collaboration between the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization,
taking into account the respective competencies, mandates and experience of the
two organizations, to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing,
particularly in improving the implementation of flag State responsibilities and port
State measures;
85. Also encourages States, with respect to vessels flying their flag, and port
States, to make every effort to share data on landings and catch quotas, and in this
regard encourages regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to
consider developing open databases containing such data for the purpose of
enhancing the effectiveness of fisheries management;
86. Calls upon States to take all measures necessary to ensure that vessels flying
their flag do not engage in trans-shipment of fish caught by fishing vessels engaged in
illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, through adequate regulation, monitoring and
control of trans-shipment of fish at sea, including through additional national measures
applicable to vessels flying their flag to prevent such trans-shipment;
87. 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;
88. Welcomes the ongoing work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations on the development of best-practice guidelines for catch
documentation schemes and traceability, in accordance with its agreed terms of
reference and framework principles;
89. Calls upon States to finalize as soon as possible their work within the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on the elaboration, in
accordance with international law, including the agreements established under the
World Trade Organization, of guidelines and other relevant criteria relating to catch
documentation schemes, including possible formats;
90. Notes, in this regard, that the Committee on Fisheries, at its thirty -second
session, authorized the technical consultation on the draft guidelines for catch
documentation schemes to resume its session with a view to finalizing the
guidelines and submitting them to the Conference of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations in July 2017, and called for greater flexibility
and cooperation among its members to finalize the guidelines; 5
91. Encourages information-sharing regarding emerging market- and traderelated measures by States and other relevant actors with appropriate internati onal
forums, given the potential implications of these measures for all States, consistent
with the established plan of work of the Committee on Fisheries, and taking into
account the Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fish Trade of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
92. Acknowledges the development of participatory surveillance activities at
sea involving fishing communities in West Africa as a cost-effective way of
detecting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing;
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