A/RES/60/31
abandoned gear, fish discards and post-harvest losses, including juvenile fish,
consistent with international law and relevant international instruments, including
the Code, and in particular to consider measures including, as appropriate, technical
measures related to fish size, mesh size or gear, discards, closed seasons and areas
and zones reserved for selected fisheries, particularly artisanal fisheries, the
establishment of mechanisms for communicating information on areas of high
concentration of juvenile fish, taking into account the importance of ensuring
confidentiality of such information, and support for studies and research that will
reduce or eliminate by-catch of juvenile fish;
52. Encourages States and entities referred to in the Convention and in
article 1, paragraph 2 (b), of the Agreement to give due consideration to
participation, as appropriate, in regional and subregional instruments and
organizations with mandates to conserve non-target species taken incidentally in
fishing operations;
53. Requests States and regional fisheries management organizations and
arrangements to urgently implement, as appropriate, the measures recommended in
the Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations11 and the
International Plan of Action for Reducing Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline
Fisheries in order to prevent the decline of sea turtles and seabird populations by
reducing by-catch and increasing post-release survival in their fisheries, including
through research and development of gear and bait alternatives, promoting the use
of available by-catch mitigation technology, and promotion and strengthening of
data collection programmes to obtain standardized information to develop reliable
estimates of the by-catch of those species;
VIII
Subregional and regional cooperation
54. Urges coastal States and States fishing on the high seas, in accordance
with the Convention and the Agreement, to pursue cooperation in relation to
straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, either directly or through
appropriate subregional or regional fisheries management organizations or
arrangements, to ensure the effective conservation and management of such stocks;
55. Urges States fishing for straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish
stocks on the high seas, and relevant coastal States, where a subregional or regional
fisheries management organization or arrangement has the competence to establish
conservation and management measures for such stocks, to give effect to their duty
to cooperate by becoming members of such an organization or participants in such
an arrangement, or by agreeing to apply the conservation and management measures
established by such an organization or arrangement;
56. Invites, in this regard, subregional and regional fisheries management
organizations and arrangements to ensure that all States having a real interest in the
fisheries concerned may become members of such organizations or participants in
such arrangements, in accordance with the Convention and the Agreement;
57. Encourages relevant coastal States and States fishing on the high seas for
a straddling fish stock or a highly migratory fish stock, where there is no
subregional or regional fisheries management organization or arrangement to
establish conservation and management measures for such stocks, to cooperate to
establish such an organization or enter into another appropriate arrangement to
12