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ATTACraENT 



. NGO STATEMENT: A CALL FOR GLOBAL FISHERIES REFORM ' 



Presented to the UM Conference 

 on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks 



— United Nations, New Yoik City, July 12-30, 1993 — 



1. We, the representatives oE the undersigned Non-Governmental 

 Organizations (NGOs) , appeal to delegates participating in the UN 

 Conference on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks to adopt 

 effective conservation measures. While complementary and 

 coordinated measures are needed at local, national, regional and 

 global levels, this Conference provides a special opportunity to 

 address what is required at the global level. Broadly stated, the 

 decisions of this Conference must: 



- ensure conservation and an ecologically sound approach to 

 fishing on the high seas, and encourage adoption of comparable 

 measures in zones of national jurisdiction; 



- protect and preserve marine and coastal habitats and other 

 ecologically sensitive areas; and 



- support and strengthen artisanal, indigenous, women, 

 traditional and small-scale fishers,- fishworkers and fishing 

 communities around the world and their effective representation in 

 national, regional and global forums. 



2. The world's fisheries are irj .crisis. As noted in the "oceans" 

 chapter of Agenda 21, adopted by consensus by 172 governments in 

 Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, fisheries-related problems beyond and 

 within nations' 200-mile zones include overfishing (with many fish 

 stocks at historic lows and fishing effort at historic highs) ; 

 overcapitalization; excessive fleet size; vessel reflagging; 

 inappropriate fishing gear that results in bycatch, discard and 

 waste of non-targeted fish species and other marine wildlife 

 populations; ecosystem degradation from a range of human 

 activities, unreliable databases, uncertain reporting, inadequate 

 impact assessments and inadequate cooperation among States. Absent 

 major reforms, this crisis promises increasingly harmful 

 ecological, economic and social impacts. 



3. Despite a variety of regional fisheries agreements, conservation 

 and management of most high seas fishing has been ineffective, at 

 best. Moreover, while major reforms are needed regarding high seas 

 fishing, there also is an urgent need for fisheries reform within 

 zones of national jurisdiction. All marine living resources, 

 whether under coastal State jurisdiction or on the high seas, 

 require ecologically sound conservation and management mandates 

 like those contained in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 

 Convention (UNCLOS) . Coastal and high seas fishing states should 

 use the occasion of this Conference to commit to reforms 

 benefitting straddling and highly migratory fish stocks, as well as 

 other living marine resources, marine and coastal ecosystems and 

 affected fishers and fishworkers. 



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