United Nations
General Assembly
A/RES/57/142
Distr.: General
26 February 2003
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 25 (b)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/57/L.49 and Add.1)]
57/142. Large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing, unauthorized fishing
in zones of national jurisdiction and on the high
seas/illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, fisheries
by-catch and discards, and other developments
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its resolutions 46/215 of 20 December 1991, 49/116 and 49/118 of
19 December 1994, 50/25 of 5 December 1995, 51/36 of 9 December 1996, 52/29 of
26 November 1997, 53/33 of 24 November 1998 and 55/8 of 30 October 2000, as
well as other resolutions on large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing, unauthorized
fishing in zones of national jurisdiction and on the high seas, fisheries by-catch and
discards, and other developments, and bearing in mind resolution 57/143 of
12 December 2002,
Noting that the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 1 sets out principles and global
standards of behaviour for responsible practices to conserve, manage and develop
fisheries, including guidelines for fishing on the high seas and in areas under the
national jurisdiction of other States, and on fishing gear selectivity and practices,
with the aim of reducing by-catch and discards,
Welcoming the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2
concerning the importance of achieving sustainable fisheries to the maintenance of
oceans, seas, islands and coastal areas as an integrated and essential component of
the Earth’s ecosystem, for global food security and for sustaining economic
prosperity and the well-being of many national economies, particularly in
developing countries,
Noting the importance of the wide application of the precautionary approach to
the conservation, management and exploitation of straddling fish stocks and highly
migratory fish stocks, in accordance with the Agreement for the Implementation of
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1
International Fisheries Instruments with Index (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.98.V.11),
sect. III.
2
See Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa,
26 August–4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum),
chap. I.
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