A/RES/71/123
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
Provisions of the Torremolinos Protocol of 1993 relating to the Torremolinos
International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, 1977;
63. Notes, in this regard, that the Assembly of the International Maritime
Organization, at its twenty-ninth session, held in London from 23 November to
2 December 2015, adopted resolution A.1107 (29) on the entry into force and
implementation of the 2012 Cape Town Agreement, in which the Assembly of the
International Maritime Organization urged Governments to consider accepting that
Agreement at the earliest possible opportunity;
IV
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
64. Emphasizes once again its serious concern that illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing remains one of the greatest threats to fish stocks and marine
ecosystems and continues to have serious and major implications for the
conservation and management of ocean resources, as well as the food security and
the economies of many States, particularly developing States, and renews its call
upon States to comply fully with all existing obligations and to combat such fishing
and urgently to take all steps necessary to implement the International Plan of
Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing;
65. Welcomes the endorsement by the Committee on Fisheries of the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations of a proposal for an
international day for the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing,
and encourages the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to take
further action in this regard;
66. Recalls in this regard that, in “The future we want”, States acknowledged
that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing deprive many countries of a crucial
natural resource and remain a persistent threat to their sustainable development and
recommitted to eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as advanced in
the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and to prevent and combat those
practices, including by developing and implementing national and regional action
plans in accordance with the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and
Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, implementing, in
accordance with international law, effective and coordinated measures by coastal
States, flag States, port States, chartering nations and the States of nationality of the
beneficial owners and others who support or engage in illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing by identifying vessels engaged in such fishing and by depriving
offenders of the benefits accruing from it, as well as by cooperating with developing
countries to systematically identify needs and build capacity, including support for
monitoring, control, surveillance, compliance and enforcement systems;
67. Notes with satisfaction the development of an increasing number of
national plans of action to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported a nd
unregulated fishing, and calls upon States that have not yet done so to consider
developing such plans;
68. Urges flag States to strengthen effective jurisdiction and control over
vessels flying their flag, and to exercise due diligence, including by d eveloping or
amending national rules and regulations, where needed, in order to ensure that such
vessels do not engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, while
reaffirming the importance, under international law, including as reflected in the
Convention, of the responsibilities of flag States regarding fishing vessels flying
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