Historic agreement on high-seas fishing adopted by UN Conference.

• Position: Includes a related article on history of the UN Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks

A global treaty to regulate fishing on the high seas was adopted on 4 August by the UN Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks at its sixth session (24 July-4 August, New York). The treaty will, for the first time, legally bind States to conserve and sustainably manage high-seas fisheries and settle fishing disputes peacefully.

Calling the treaty "far-sighted, far-reaching, bold and revolutionary", Conference Chairman Satya Nandan of Fiji said it provided for regional, national and global action to address the critical problems facing the world's fisheries.

While the treaty contained innovations that went beyond the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and gave further meaning to some of its basic principles that were not being fully implemented, it was also realistic, practical and firmly based on the Convention's principles.

Canadian Minister for Fisheries and Oceans Brian Tobin said there were no losers at the Conference. "When the fish win, we all win." The desire to harvest stocks, he added, must take a back seat to the need to sustain stocks.

The treaty - officially entitled the 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 - is built on three essential pillars, Mr. Nandan stated.

First, it sets out principles for conservation and management of stocks based on a precautionary approach and the best scientific information. Second, it ensures that conservation and management measures are adhered to and not undermined by those who fish for stocks. And third, it sets out provisions for peaceful settlement of disputes.

Mr. Nandan cited a warning by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN about the disastrous social and economic consequences awaiting the global fishing industry unless the size of fleets was reduced, subsidies eliminated and fleets activities more effectively regulated. Without the Agreement, there would be a further depletion of the world's fish resources, as well as more conflict on the high seas.

The Agreement includes groundbreaking provisions to ensure compatible conservation and management measures between high-seas areas and coastal zones under national jurisdiction. One of its major features is the "precautionary approach" by which States are obliged to act conservatively when there is doubt about the...