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/72/72 Welcoming in this regard the review by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations of the implementation of the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, and its ongoing work in this regard, Noting with concern that basic data on shark stocks and harvests continue to be lacking and that not all regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements have adopted conservation and management measures for directed shark fisheries and for the regulation of by-catch of sharks from other fisheries, Welcoming science-based measures taken by States to conserve and sustainably manage sharks, and noting in this respect management measures taken b y coastal States, including limits on catch or fishing effort, technical measures, including by catch reduction measures, sanctuaries, closed seasons and areas and monitoring, control and surveillance, Recalling the decisions on sharks and rays adopted at the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 24 September to 5 October 2016, inter alia, the inclusion of additional species of sharks and rays in appendix II to that Convention, 9 and recalling also the ongoing work of the secretariat of that Convention, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on capacity-building in this regard, Noting that the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, at its twelfth session, held in Manila from 23 to 28 October 2017, added 5 new species of sharks and rays to those listed in the appendices to that Convention, 10 bringing the number to 34 species, Noting with concern the continuing practice of the removal of fins from sharks, with the remainder of the carcass being discarded at sea, Recognizing the importance of marine species occupying low trophic levels in the ecosystem and for food security, and the need to ensure their long -term sustainability, Expressing concern over continued incidental mortality, in fishing operations, of seabirds, particularly albatrosses and petrels, as well as other marine species, including sharks, fin-fish species, marine mammals and marine turtles, while recognizing considerable efforts by States and through various regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to reduce incidental mortality as a result of by-catch, Noting with concern the significant threat that invasive alien species, such as those carried and transferred by ballast water and by biofouling on ships, pose to marine ecosystems and resources, I Achieving sustainable fisheries 1. Reaffirms the importance it attaches to the long-term conservation, management and sustainable use of the living marine 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, 1 in particular the provisions on cooperation set out in Part V and Part VII, section 2, of the Convention, and where applicable, the Agreement; 2 __________________ 9 10 17-21818 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993, No. 14537. Ibid., vol. 1651, No. 28395. 7/38