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STRADDLING AND HIGHLY-MIGRATORY FISH STOCKS

One of the more contentious issues within the UNCED discussions on oceans was the concern, particularly of coastal and distant water fishing States, that the over-exploitation of living marine resources in the high seas, especially of highly migratory and straddling fish stocks, has an adverse impact on resources within exclusive economic zones. Although the concerned parties were unable to resolve this issue in Rio, they did agree to call for an intergovernmental conference to be convened under UN auspices. Delegations at the UNGA are now focusing on this issue once again. Interested parties, led by the CANZ group (Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and like-minded countries on one side, and the European Community on the other side, have been holding private consultations for the past few weeks. New Zealand, on behalf of CANZ, circulated a draft resolution on 28 October, however, it has not been accepted by the other parties as the basis for negotiation. Given the sensitivity of this issue and the fact that many nations are not faced with this problem, Ambassador Razali has requested that the interested parties continue to consult among themselves and then present a mutually-acceptable draft resolution to the working group. It is expected that these consultations will come to fruition by late this week or early next week and only then will negotiations commence in the Razali Group.