A/RES/72/72 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 impacts of bottom fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems, but notes with concern the uneven implementation of those provisions and that, in particular, bottom fishing continues to occur in certain areas beyond national jurisdiction without an impact assessment having been completed in the 10 years since the adoption of resolution 61/105, in which the General Assembly called for such assessments to be undertaken by 31 December 2008; 184. Calls upon, in this regard, States, regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements with the competence to regulate deep -sea fisheries, and States participating in negotiations to establish such organizations or arrangements to take, in particular, the following urgent actions regarding bottom fishing in areas beyond national jurisdiction: (a) To use, as applicable, the full set of criteria in the Guidelines to identify where vulnerable marine ecosystems occur or are likely to occur as well as for assessing significant adverse impacts; (b) To ensure that impact assessments, including for cumulative impacts of activities covered by the assessment, are conducted consistent with the Guidelines, particularly paragraph 47 thereof, are reviewed periodically and are revised thereafter whenever a substantial change in the fishery has occurred or there is relevant new information, and that, where such impact assessments have not been undertaken, they are carried out as a priority before authorizing bottom fishing activities; (c) To ensure that conservation and management measures adopted by States and regional fisheries organizations and arrangements are based on and updated on the basis of the best available scientific information, noting in particular the need to improve effective implementation of thresholds and move -on rules; 185. Recognizes that different types of marine scientific research, such as, inte r alia, seabed mapping, mapping of vulnerable marine ecosystems based on information from the fishing fleet, on-site camera observations from remote vehicles, benthic ecosystem modelling, comparative benthic studies and predictive modelling have resulted in identification of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known or are likely to occur and in the adoption of conservation and management measures to prevent significant adverse impacts on such ecosystems, including the closure of areas to bottom fishing in accordance with paragraph 119 (b) of resolution 64/72; 186. Encourages, in this regard, States, regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements with the competence to manage bottom fishe ries, and States participating in negotiations to establish such organizations or arrangements, to consider the results available from different types of marine scientific research, including, as appropriate, those listed in paragraph 185 above, concerning the identification of areas containing vulnerable marine ecosystems, and to adopt conservation and management measures to prevent significant adverse impacts from bottom fishing on such ecosystems, consistent with the Guidelines, or to close such areas to bottom fishing until such conservation and management measures are adopted, as well as to continue to undertake further marine scientific research, for the above-mentioned purposes, in accordance with international law, as reflected in Part XIII of the Convention; 187. Encourages, in this regard, States, regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements with the competence to manage deep -sea fisheries, and States participating in negotiations to establish such organizations or arrangements to carry out further marine scientific research to address the remaining knowledge gaps, in particular with regard to fish stock assessments, and to base and update conservation and management measures on the best available scientific 32/38 17-21818