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/69/109
conference on rights-based approaches for fisheries, to be held in Siem Reap,
Cambodia, from 23 to 27 March 2015,
Noting the endorsement by the Committee on Fisheries at its thirty-first
session of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries
in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication,3
Recognizing the urgent need for action at all levels to ensure the long-term
sustainable use and management of fisheries resources through the wide application
of the precautionary approach and ecosystem approaches,
Expressing concern over the current and projected adverse effects of climate
change on food security and the sustainability of fisheries, and noting in that regard
the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Environment
Programme,
Reaffirming its commitment to ensuring that conservation and management
measures adopted by regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements
are based on the best available scientific information,
Deploring the fact that fish stocks, including straddling fish stocks and highly
migratory fish stocks, in many parts of the world are overfished or subject to
sparsely regulated and heavy fishing efforts, as a result of, inter alia, illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing, inadequate flag State control and enforcement,
including monitoring, control and surveillance measures, inadequate regulatory
measures, harmful fisheries subsidies and overcapacity, as well as inadequate port
State control, as highlighted in the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations entitled The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014,
Expressing its support for accelerating work to complete the ongoing
negotiations in the World Trade Organization to strengthen disciplines on subsidies
in the fisheries sector, including through the prohibition of certain forms of fisheries
subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing,
Concerned that only a limited number of States have taken measures to
implement, individually and through regional fisheries management organizations
and arrangements, the International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing
Capacity adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
Recalling the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing adopted by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations,
Particularly concerned that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
continues to constitute a serious threat to fish stocks and marine habitats and
ecosystems, to the detriment of sustainable fisheries as well as the food security and
the economies of many States, particularly developing States,
Concerned that some operators increasingly take advantage of the
globalization of fishery markets to trade fishery products stemming from illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing and make economic profits from those
operations, which constitutes an incentive for them to pursue their activities,
Recognizing that effective deterrence and combating of illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing has significant financial and other resource implications,
3/34