71 



to improve the transparency of regional management organizations. This section of 

 the text should be revised to make it clear that NGOs and the public should have 

 full access to information, decision making and other activities of regional manage- 

 ment organizations. Specific language is suggested below: 



States who are parties to regional fisheries organizations shall review the 

 policies of those organizations to assure that NGOs have the right to attend 

 meetings as participating observers, and that records and reports of the organi- 

 zations are made available in a timely fashion to those NGOs that express in- 

 terest. Further, regional and international fishery organizations should be en- 

 couraged to include environmental experts from NGOs, as well as fishermen, in' 

 their expert and technical meetings. 



E. Compliance and Enforcement 



The text contains strong provisions on compliance, enforcement and binding, com- 

 pulsory dispute resolution that are essential to effective management and conserva- 

 tion. We have the following recommendations for improvement. 



1. Flag states 



The section of the text on duties of the flag state contains a number of important 

 measures. Flag states should be required to adopt all of them, not "an eflective com- 

 bination" thereof as the text is currently written. 



2. Port states 



The section on port state enforcement allows states to prohibit landings where the 

 catch has been taken in a manner that undermines the efi'ectiveness of applicable 

 conservation and management measures. This section is important and should be 

 expanded to include other measures including trade sanctions. 



3. Enforcement against parties to a regional organization 



The section on nonparticipants in regional management organizations authorizes 

 states to take measures, individually or collectively, which they deem necessary to 

 deter non parties from fishing in a way that undermines the efTectiveness of re- 

 gional management measures. Similar authority must be given to allow states to 

 take measures against parties to a regional management organization who fish in 

 a manner that undermines the effectiveness of regional measures. This is a very im- 

 portant provision that must be included. 



In addition, we believe coastal states should be required to implement Section V 

 within their EEZ. 



F. Review of the Implementation of the Text 



Regular, public review of implementation of the text will be crucial to holding 

 states accountable. The text requires states and regional organizations to report bi- 

 ennially to the Secretary General on progress made in implementing the provisions, 

 and provides for a full review-of the implementation by a conference to be held five 

 years from the date of adoption of the text. 



We recommend that nations and regional organizations be required to report an- 

 nually to the Secretary General of the United Nations for inclusion in his or her 

 annual report to the General Assembly on the oceans. NGOs should be afTorded the 

 opportunity to report to the Secretary General as well. A UN conference to examine 

 implementation should be held three years, not five, from the date of adoption to 

 provide incentives for timely implementation. All reports should also be sent to the 

 Commission on Sustainable Development. 



One troubling sentence in this section of the text could undermine the entire doc- 

 ument by requiring states and regional organizations to implement the text "based 

 on their capacities and the needs of the region." while we recognize the need for 

 sensitivity to the differing capacities of developing states, we believe this language 

 is excessively broad and creates an enormous potential loophole for both developed 

 and developing nations alike that must be corrected. 



G. Minimum Data Requirements 



The provisions in Annex 1 outlining minimum data standards must be made man- 

 datory if they are to have an effect. In addition, there should be a section on mini- 

 mum data requirements for non-tareet species of fish and other marine life caught, 

 discarded and landed. "T^o data/No fishing" requirements should be imposed so that 

 participants in a fishery that fail to report catch and by-catch are excluded from the 

 fishery during the subsequent season. Finally, minimum data requirements should 

 be imposed on all nations fishing for a particular straddling or highly migratory 

 population, both inside and outside EEZs. 



