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/68/71
89. Calls upon States, individually and, as appropriate, through subregional
and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements with
competence to regulate highly migratory species, urgently to address global fishing
capacity for tunas, inter alia, in a way that recognizes the legitimate rights of
developing States, in particular small island developing States, to participate in and
benefit from such fisheries, taking into account the recommendations of the 2010
Joint Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations International Workshop on
RFMO Management of Tuna Fisheries, held in Brisbane, Australia, and the
recommendations of the 2011 third joint meeting of tuna regional fisheries
management organizations and arrangements;
90. Encourages those States which are cooperating to establish subregional
and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements, taking into
account the best scientific information available as well as the precautionary
approach, to exercise voluntary restraint of fishing effort levels in those areas that
will come under the regulation of the future organizations and arrangements until
adequate regional conservation and management measures are adopted and
implemented, taking into account the need to ensure the long-term conservation,
management and sustainable use of the relevant fish stocks and to prevent
significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems;
91. Urges States to eliminate subsidies that contribute to overfishing and
overcapacity and to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, including by
accelerating work to complete World Trade Organization negotiations on fisheries
subsidies in accordance with the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration 13 to clarify and
improve and the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration to strengthen disciplines
on fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of the fisheries sector to
developing countries;
92. Recalls, in this regard, that in “The future we want”, States reaffirmed
their commitment in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to eliminate
subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and
overcapacity, taking into account the importance of that sector to developing
countries, reiterated their commitment to conclude multilateral disciplines on
fisheries subsidies that would give effect to the mandates of the World Trade
Organization Doha Development Agenda 13 and the Hong Kong Ministerial
Declaration 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, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and
differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an
integral part of World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation, taking into
account the importance of the sector to development priorities, poverty reduction
and livelihood and food security concerns, and encouraged one another to further
improve the transparency and reporting of existing fisheries subsidies programmes
through the World Trade Organization and, given the state of fisheries resources,
and without prejudicing the Doha and Hong Kong ministerial mandates on fisheries
subsidies or the need to conclude those negotiations, to eliminate subsidies that
contribute to overcapacity and overfishing and to refrain from introducing new such
subsidies or from extending or enhancing existing ones;
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18/31
A/C.2/56/7, annex.