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STORY: UN / LAW OF THE SEA
TRT: 02:47
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: CHECK SHOTLIST FOR RESTRICTIONS
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 MAY 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations Headquarters
22 MAY 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, meeting room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jogi Morishita, President, Review Conference on the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea:
“I'm pleased to note that since the first Review Conference was convened in 2006, 35 additional states have become parties to the UN Fish Stocks Agreement. And we believe this demonstrates a continued awareness of the importance role played by the agreement.”
4. Wide shot, meeting room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen D. Mathias, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs (OLA):
“It is therefore of major concern that is described in the report of the Secretary-General to the resume Review Conference. The overall state of world's fish stocks continues to deteriorate overfishing, destructive fishing practices and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, undermine the sustainability of the world's fisheries.”
6. Wide shot, meeting room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen D. Mathias, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs (OLA):
“28 years after its adoption, participation in the Agreement is regarded as an important way for countries to commit themselves to responsible fisheries. I am pleased to note that since the Resume Conference was convened in 2016, nine more states have become parties to the Agreement, bringing the total number of states parties to 92 including the European Union.”
8. Wide shot, meeting room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen D. Mathias, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs (OLA):
“At a time when the global consumption of seafood keeps increasing, resulting from a combination of factors, capture fisheries continue to provide many wide-ranging benefits. Fisheries are critically important to food security, economic prosperity, employment, poverty alleviation, livelihoods and the sustainable development of many states, particularly developing states, including small island developing states.”
10. Med shot, meeting room
FILE - CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN - 26-29 APRIL 2022, PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN PROVINCE, THAILAND
11. Aerial shot, fishing boats at sea
12. Aerial shot, a fishing boat docked at a pier
13. Wide shot, workers in a wholesale market
14. Aerial shot, fishing boats
The Review Conference on the 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 brings stakeholders together at the UN headquarters in New York from May 22 to 26.
Speaking at the opening of the Conference today (May 22), Jogi Morishita, President of the Conference, said, “I'm pleased to note that since the first Review Conference was convened in 2006, 35 additional states have become parties to the UN Fish Stocks Agreement.”
He stressed, “And we believe this demonstrates a continued awareness of the importance role played by the Agreement.”
Also addressing the Conference, Stephen D. Mathias, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs (OLA), said that the overall state of world's fish stocks “continues to deteriorate overfishing, destructive fishing practices and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, undermine the sustainability of the world's fisheries.”
The United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement was adopted on 4 August 1995 by the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and opened for signature on 4 December 1995, marking a major step forward in the development of a comprehensive legal regime for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks.
Mathias said, “28 years after its adoption, participation in the Agreement is regarded as an important way for countries to commit themselves to responsible fisheries.”
Mathias continued, “I am pleased to note that since the Resume Conference was convened in 2016, nine more states have become parties to the Agreement, bringing the total number of states parties to 92 including the European Union.”
He also noted, “At a time when the global consumption of seafood keeps increasing, resulting from a combination of factors, capture fisheries continue to provide many wide-ranging benefits.”
The Assistant Secretary-General concluded, “Fisheries are critically important to food security, economic prosperity, employment, poverty alleviation, livelihoods and the sustainable development of many states, particularly developing states, including small island developing states.”
The United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement covers species, such as tuna, swordfish and oceanic sharks (highly migratory species), which migrate long distances through both the high seas and areas under the jurisdiction of States. It also covers fish stocks that straddle the border between a country’s exclusive economic zone (up to 200 nautical miles offshore—where coastal States have sovereign rights for the conservation and management of marine living resources), and the adjacent high seas.
