Statement to the 61st session of the UN General Assembly
Plenary
7 December 2006
Agenda item 71(a) & (b): Oceans and the Law of Sea and Sustainable fisheries
Delivered by HE Frances Lisson
Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations
(Check against delivery)
Madam President
Australia has the honour to co-sponsor both of the resolutions before us today. We are pleased with the attention given in these resolutions to issues of key importance for Australia, including the governance regime for areas beyond national jurisdiction, maritime security, the work of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), and the sustainable management and conservation of marine living resources, including responsible fisheries and measures to address destructive fishing practices.
Since last year’s debate under this item, we have moved closer to realising the objective of universal adherence to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Australia congratulates those States that have acceded in the past year – Belarus, Montenegro and from the Pacific, Niue.
Madam President
It cannot be denied that significant portions of the Convention have now formed part of the corpus of customary international law. But like other areas of the law, the law of the sea must be dynamic in order to meet new and emerging challenges.
High seas governance
First, we need to continue our work in identifying governance gaps, should they exist, and to take strides towards building mechanisms for conserving and managing the living resources of the oceans.
In this regard, Australia welcomes the request to reconvene in 2008 a meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction, and the decision to take up the Brazilian proposal that the Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) should focus its work in 2007 on the topic of “marine genetic resources”.
Maritime Security and Safety
Second, we need to address the significant threats to maritime security. The potential negative impacts of such threats on sea transportation, safety of navigation and the marine environment, as well as the threat posed to human life and property, call for the design and implementation of effective counter-measures at all levels. In this regard, we welcome the decision of the General Assembly to adopt Australia’s proposal that the Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea focus its discussions on the topic of “maritime security and safety” in 2008.
In March this year, Australia signed two protocols amending the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention), and its 1988 Protocol relating to Fixed Platforms. Australia urges Member States to take the necessary steps to adopt these instruments as soon as possible.
In addition, we welcome the recent entry into force of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). The agreement provides a transparent means of engaging Asia-Pacific countries on maritime security through information sharing. Australia is working towards acceding to this important Agreement, and urges other States in the region to consider doing the same.
Australia has also adopted other measures within its own waters to ensure the safety of navigation and to provide protection for sensitive marine environments, including the fragile Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait. These measures are necessary to facilitate safe passage through what are treacherous and narrow waters. They have been adopted in a manner consistent with the Convention, including approval by the competent authority.
Singapore has noted our different views on the application of such laws and regulations as they apply in respect of transit passage in international straits. We note that the omnibus resolution before us contains agreed language on this point, in paragraph 65. A number of states expressed strong concerns regarding Singapore’s proposed additional language, and despite our best endeavours to reach a compromise, we were beaten by the clock. We look forward to working with Singapore to resolve our differences.
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)
Third, Madam President, Australia welcomes paragraphs in the omnibus resolution addressing the important work of the CLCS.
Following Australia’s submission on the outer limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in late 2004, we look forward to our continuing engagement with the Commission, particularly as it formulates recommendations on which Australia’s final outer limit will be based.
We encourage States whose experts are serving on the Commission to do their utmost to ensure the full participation of those experts in the work of the Commission, including in the meetings of Subcommissions. Future members must be in a position to work together for extended periods in New York in order to expedite the consideration of submissions.
We appreciate the work of the Division on Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea in assisting to build the capacity of States preparing submissions. From Australia’s experience, preparing a submission is a demanding technical, scientific and legal task, and we are pleased to be able to share our experiences with other States planning or preparing their own submissions.
Fisheries and Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks
Madam President
Turning to fisheries, Australia welcomes the accession, since last year’s debate, of six States to the vitally important United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA) – Estonia, Japan, Niue, Poland, Slovenia and Trinidad and Tobago.
This year’s UNFSA Review Conference was an important opportunity to critically assess the effectiveness of the Agreement in taking forward cooperative and sustainable fisheries management. States Parties and non-State Parties alike worked together to reach a consensus outcome document. Australia will continue to resist attempts by some to undermine the significant progress made, and will consider carefully in future the issue of participation in the consultations of States Parties to the Agreement.
Madam President
Regional mechanisms are central to cooperative management of responsible and ecologically sustainable fishing, and it is especially important to establish such arrangements in areas where no management regime currently exists. Global RFMO coverage must be our ultimate objective.
In our own region, we welcome significant developments towards this objective. The stocks of the Western and Central Pacific are a significant natural resource for Pacific coastal States, and Australia will continue to work hard with its neighbours to ensure that the Western and Central Pacific Ocean Fisheries Commission continues to reflect best practice in the conservation and sustainable management of highly migratory species.
Australia will soon sign the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), and we are pleased to be a co-sponsor and key player in the development of a new RFMO for the South Pacific (the SPRFMO). We invite all States and entities with a genuine interest in the fishery to consider participating constructively in the new RFMO.
As called for in paragraph 85 of the fisheries resolution, we urge participating States to accelerate negotiations, and pending the formalisation of the SIOFA and SPRFMO, we encourage States to develop and implement meaningful interim measures for managing sustainably the relevant fisheries.
Destructive Fishing Practices
Madam President
In 2004, the international community called on States, directly or through Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), to take urgent action to address the impacts of destructive fishing practices on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Not enough has been done and this year, Australia urged all States to fulfil this commitment by taking new, positive actions.
Australia welcomes this year’s resolution, which we see as an important advance in international efforts to regulate high seas bottom fishing.
We have agreed, by consensus, a mechanism by which States, through RFMOs, both existing and under development, are to assess and manage bottom fisheries to prevent significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems. In unmanaged areas of the high seas, individual flag States must do the same, or not authorize their vessels to conduct bottom fishing. Importantly, these measures are required to be made publicly available.
Madam President
Good faith implementation of the measures contained in this resolution will represent an important shift in the approach for regulating all high seas bottom fisheries, both current and new, by ensuring that only those activities that do not cause significant impacts to vulnerable marine ecosystems are allowed to proceed.
Australia is disappointed, however, that the resolution does not contain a prohibition on bottom trawling in unmanaged high seas areas. Such a ban would have been an effective incentive for the establishment of competent and modern RFMOs, while providing protection for vulnerable marine ecosystems in the absence of such regulation.
The challenge now is to ensure that the measures we adopt today are implemented fully, effectively, and as a matter of priority. The resolution contains deadlines for the implementation of these measures. We would like to stress that a deadline is no reason to delay, especially given the call in 2004 for urgent action.
Within RFMOs, Australia will be working hard with others to develop and adopt appropriate conservation and management measures consistent with the commitments we have made this year. For unmanaged areas beyond national jurisdiction, we call on individual flag States to do the same.
IUU Fishing
Madam President
Australia would finally like to point to its strong desire for enhanced measures to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. We continue to act firmly against foreign vessels fishing illegally in Australian waters, and have responded promptly to situations of apparent illegal or unregulated vessels in areas regulated by RFMOs, in turn raising awareness among Member States.
IUU fishing is not one problem but three, each of which requires focused and determined international responses. We must hone in not only on flag state responsibilities, but also act in our capacity as port States to restrict market access to IUU catch. We must also take strong action against nationals involved in IUU fishing activities.
Consistent with the Convention and the UNFSA, it is Australia’s strong view that States have an obligation to either join relevant RFMOs if entitled to do so, or to otherwise refrain from fishing in the RFMO-regulated area, unless they agree to apply all relevant conservation measures. These are concrete and substantive obligations, with direct application.
Thank you, Madam President.