Václav Mikulka, Director of the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS), opened the eighth round of informal consultations on Monday morning. Ambassador David Balton, US, was then elected Chair of the consultations, and the plenary adopted its provisional agenda without amendments. Delegates then convened in informal consultations throughout the remainder of Monday and considered capacity building, the promotion of wider participation in the agreement and the relationships between the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and with other relevant international instruments.