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/70/75
Recognizing the efforts of States, individually and through regional fisheries
management organizations and arrangements, to implement its resolution 46/215 of
20 December 1991, in which the General Assembly called for a global moratorium
on all large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing, including collaborative fisheries
enforcement activities,
Concerned that marine pollution from all sources constitutes a serious threat to
human health and safety, endangers fish stocks, marine biodiversity and marine and
coastal habitats and has significant costs to local and national economies,
Recognizing that marine debris is a global transboundary pollution problem
and that, owing to the many different types and sources of marine debris, diffe rent
approaches to its prevention and removal are necessary, including identification of
such sources and environmentally sound techniques for its removal,
Reaffirming the importance of sustainable aquaculture to food security, noting
that aquaculture is already making a significant contribution to the global seafood
supply and that a further increase in that contribution is anticipated,
Noting that the contribution of sustainable aquaculture to global fish supplies
continues to respond to opportunities in developing countries to enhance local food
security and nutrition and poverty alleviation and, together with the efforts of other
aquaculture-producing countries, will make a significant contribution to meeting
future demands in fish consumption, bearing in mind article 9 of the Code,
Noting in this regard the concern about the potential effects of genetically
engineered aquatic fish species on the health and sustainability of wild fish stocks,
Calling attention to the particular vulnerabilities of small island developing
States, other developing coastal States and subsistence fishing communities whose
livelihoods, economic development and food security are heavily dependent on
sustainable fisheries and will suffer disproportionately if sustainable fishe ries are
negatively affected,
Calling attention also to the circumstances affecting fisheries in many
developing States, in particular African States and small island developing States,
and recognizing the urgent need for capacity-building, including the transfer of
marine technology and in particular fisheries- and aquaculture-related technology, to
enhance the ability of such States to exercise their rights in order to realize the
benefits from fisheries resources and fulfil their obligations under inter national
instruments,
Recognizing the need to adopt, implement and enforce appropriate measures to
minimize waste, by-catch and discards, including high-grading, loss of fishing gear
and other factors that adversely affect the sustainability of fish stock s and
ecosystems and, consequently, can also have harmful effects on the economies and
food security of small island developing States, other developing coastal States and
subsistence fishing communities,
Recognizing also the need to further integrate ecosystem approaches into
fisheries conservation and management and, more generally, the importance of
applying ecosystem approaches to the management of human activities in the ocean,
and noting in this regard the Reykjavik Declaration on Responsible Fisheri es in the
Marine Ecosystem, 6 the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
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E/CN.17/2002/PC.2/3, annex.
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