A/RES/70/75. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 2015

• Resolution Number: A/RES/70/75
• Year: 2015
• Session: 70th
• Issuer: General Assembly of the United Nation

United Nations

A/RES/70/75

General Assembly

Distr.: General

22 February 2016

Seventieth session

Agenda item 79 (b)

15-16829 (E)

*1516829*

Please recycle

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 8 December 2015

[without reference to a Main Committee (A/70/L.19 and Add.1)]

70/75. Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 Agreement

for t he Implem enta tion of the P rovis ions of t he U nite d

Nation s Conv ention on th e Law of the Sea of

10 Decemb er 19 82 re lati ng to the Con servatio n and

Management of Straddli ng Fish Stoc ks and Highly

Migratory Fish Stocks, and related instruments

The General Assembly ,

Reaf firm ing its annu al reso lutions on susta inable f isherie s, includ ing res olution

69/1 09 of 9 Decembe r 2014, and othe r relev ant reso lutions,

Reca llin g the r elevant prov isions of the Unite d Nation s Convent ion on th e

Law of th e Sea (the Convent ion),

1

and bearin g in mind t he rel ationshi p betw een th e

Conv ention and the 1995 A greemen t for th e Imple mentatio n of th e Provi sions o f the

Unit ed Nat ions C onventi on on the Law of the Sea o f 10 Decembe r 198 2 rela ting t o

the Conser vation and Manage ment of Str addling Fish Stocks and Highly Migra tory

Fish Stocks (the Agre ement),

2

Welcomi ng the rat ificatio ns o f a nd a ccessio ns to t he Agreeme nt and the fact

that a g rowing numb er of S tates, e ntities refe rred to in the Con vention and in

artic le 1, paragra ph 2 (b), of t he Ag reement , and subr egional and regio nal fi sheries

mana gement organ izations and arra ngement s, ha ve ta ken measure s, as appr opriate,

towar ds the implem entatio n of t he prov isions of the Agreeme nt, in order to impr ove

their manage ment re gimes,

Noti ng with satis faction the twentiet h anni versary of th e openi ng for signat ure

of t he Agr eement on 4 Decembe r 1995 at N ew York, a s well as the t wentiet h

anni versary of the adopti on of the Cod e of C onduct for Re sponsibl e Fishe ries of the

Food and Agricu lture Organiza tion o f the United Nati ons (t he Co de), a nd not ing in

this regard t hat a c onferenc e was h eld in 20 15 in Vigo , Spain , for th is purpo se,

_______________

1

United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, No. 31363.

2

Ibid., vol. 2167, No. 37924.

A/RES/70/75

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

2/35

Welcomi ng the work of the Food and Agri culture Orga nization of the Unite d

Nati ons an d its Commit tee o n Fishe ries, and re cognizin g in particu lar the Code and

othe r rela ted i nstrumen ts, i ncludin g the inter national plan s of actio n, wh ich s et ou t

princ iples and glo bal standar ds of beha viour f or resp onsible pra ctices for

cons ervation of fi sheries reso urces a nd th e m anageme nt and dev elopmen t o f

fishe ries, a s w ell as the 2005 Rome D eclarati on on Illeg al, Unr eported and

Unre gulated Fishing ,

Reco gniz ing th e i mportan ce of data coll ection thr ough accur ate and reli able

repor ting and mo nitorin g of ca tches, inc luding b y-catch an d dis cards, as a

fund amental e lement of e ffective fisherie s managem ent that pr ovides a b asis for

scie ntific st ock asse ssment, and eco system approac hes to f isheries manage ment,

Noti ng with concer n that effecti ve mana gement of mari ne cap ture fis heries has

been made di fficult in some areas b y unrelia ble and incomp lete info rmation and da ta

caus ed b y, inter alia, unr eported and mis reporte d fi sh c atch and fishing effo rt a nd

that this lack of accura te da ta co ntribut es to over fishing in some areas, and i n thi s

rega rd recalli ng that me mbers of reg ional fis heries ma nagement organiza tions or

arra ngements must full y com ply w ith th eir a ssociate d dat a col lection and reporti ng

obli gations, inc luding to e nsure t hat req uired d ata sub missions ar e co mplete,

relia ble and submitt ed in a timely manner,

Reco gniz ing the sig nificant c ontribut ion of sus tainable f isheries to f ood

secur ity, inco me, weal th and p overty alleviat ion for present and futu re gene rations,

Welcomi ng in th is regard the out come do cument of th e U nited N ations

Conf erence on Su stainab le Dev elopmen t, hel d in Rio d e Janei ro, Br azil, from 2 0 to

22 Ju ne 201 2, ent itled “The f uture we wan t”, as endor sed by the General Asse mbly

in it s resolu tion 66/ 288 of 27 July 2012,

Welcomi ng th e outc ome docu ment of the Unit ed N ations su mmit f or th e

adop tion of the po st-2015 develo pment a genda, held fr om 25 t o 27 S eptembe r 2015,

entit led “ Transfor ming o ur w orld: the 2030 Agenda for Sustain able Develop ment”,

as adopt ed b y th e G eneral Asse mbly in its resolut ion 70/1 of 25 Se ptember 201 5,

and in this regard reaffi rming the commit ment to co nserve and sustai nably use the

ocea ns, sea s and mar ine res ources for sus tainabl e devel opment, as reflec ted in

Goal 14 o f the ou tcome do cument,

Welcomi ng in t his regard the cont inuous atte ntion give n b y th e i nternati onal

comm unity to the rol e of fish and fis h produc ts in nu trition and food securit y,

inclu ding by the Commi ttee on World Food Secu rity of the Food and Agric ulture

Organ ization of the Unit ed Nati ons, es pecially no ting th e i mportan ce of th e

avail ability of highl y nutrit ious fo od for l ow-inco me pop ulations,

Reca llin g that in “The futur e we wan t”,

3

Stat es were encoura ged to g ive due

cons ideratio n to impleme nting the C ommitte e on World Food S ecurity Volunt ary

Guid elines on the Respons ible G overnan ce of Tenur e of La nd, Fi sheries and Fo rests

in th e Conte xt of Na tional F ood Sec urity,

Reca lling also the Volunt ary Guidelin es fo r Se curing Susta inable Small -scale

Fish eries in the Con text of Food Se curity a nd Pover ty Erad ication,

Reco gniz ing the urgent need for ac tion at al l levels , relyi ng on sci entific

advi ce, to en sure th e lo ng-term susta inable u se and manag ement o f fi sheries

_______________

3

Resolution 66/288, annex.

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

3/35

reso urces th rough t he wide applica tion of the pr ecaution ary app roach a nd ecos ystem

appr oach es,

Expre ssing concer n o ver the current and proj ected adver se ef fects of climate

chan ge on food s ecurity and t he sust ainabili ty of fisheri es, and noting in t hat reg ard

the work of th e I ntergover nmental Pa nel on Cli mate Cha nge, t he Food an d

Agri culture Organiza tion of the Uni ted Nati ons a nd the U nited N ations E nvironm ent

Prog ramm e,

Reaf firming its c ommitme nt to e nsuring that conserv ation an d manage ment

meas ures ad opted b y regio nal fish eries m anageme nt organ izations and ar rangeme nts

are b ased on the bes t availa ble scie ntific i nformat ion,

Depl orin g the fac t that fish stocks, inclu ding s traddlin g fish stock s an d high ly

migr atory fi sh stoc ks, in man y parts of the wor ld are over fished or s ubject to

spar sely r egulated and hea vy fi shing effor ts, as a r esult of, int er ali a, ill egal,

unre ported and unregul ated fishing, inad equate flag State contr ol an d enf orcemen t,

includi ng mo nitorin g, co ntrol and surv eillance meas ures, ina dequate regu latory

meas ures, harmf ul fi sheries sub sidies and overc apacity, as well as inadeq uate port

Stat e contr ol, as highl ighted in th e repo rt of the Food a nd Agr icultur e Orga nization

of th e Unite d Natio ns entitl ed The State o f World Fis heries a nd Aqua culture 2 014,

Expre ssing its s upport fo r ac celerati ng w ork to com plete the o ngoing

nego tiations in the Worl d Trad e Orga nizatio n to strengt hen d isciplin es on subsid ies

in t he fishe ries se ctor, inc luding through the pro hibitio n of cer tain fo rms of fisheri es

subs idies th at contr ibute to overcap acity and over fishing ,

Conc erne d that only a l imited nu mber o f Stat es ha ve tak en mea sures to

impl ement, ind ividuall y and throug h r egional fi sheries ma nagemen t organiza tions

and arran gements, the Inte rnationa l Pla n of Acti on fo r the Man agement of Fishi ng

Capa city ado pted by the Foo d and Agr iculture Organiz ation o f the Un ited Nat ions,

Reca llin g the Internat ional Pla n of Acti on to Pre vent, Det er and El iminate

Illeg al, Unrepor ted and Unregul ated Fishin g ad opted by the Food and Agr iculture

Organ ization of the United Nations,

Part icularly co ncerned th at i llegal, u nreport ed a nd unre gulated f ishing

cont inues t o cons titute a s erious thre at to fis h stoc ks and ma rine ha bitats and

ecos ystems, to the detrime nt of sustaina ble fis heries as well as the food s ecurity and

the economie s of ma ny State s, parti cularly developi ng Stat es,

Conc erne d that so me op erators inc reasingl y tak e adva ntage of the

glob alizatio n of fishery markets to t rade fishe ry product s stemmin g from ille gal,

unre ported a nd u nregula ted fishi ng a nd make ec onomic p rofits fr om those

oper ations, which co nstitut es an in centive for them to purs ue their activit ies,

Reco gniz ing that effective deterr ence a nd com bating of ill egal, u nreporte d and

unre gulated fishing has sig nifican t financ ial and other re source i mplica tions,

Reco gnizing als o the role o f t he Glob al Reco rd of Fish ing Vessel s,

Refr igerated Tr ansport Vesse ls and Supp ly Vesse ls in the conc erted fig ht agains t

illeg al, unre ported a nd unre gulated fishing,

Reco gnizing fu rther the du ty provide d in the Conven tion, the A greemen t to

Prom ote Com pliance with I nternati onal Co nservati on and Manage ment Me asures by