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ECUADOR PROPOSAL:

At the final Plenary session the delegation of Ecuador submitted document A/CONF.164/L.44, "Presentation of the Working Paper for a Draft Convention on the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks on the High Seas". This document does not include the observations and proposals made during the current session because it was considered appropriate to leave to the Chair the evaluation of the changes that, in the light of the debates, he considered advisable to introduce in the revision of his negotiating text. Its authors said that the purpose of this draft text is not to supersede the negotiating text, but solely to provide the Conference with a comprehensive working paper that makes it easier for all participants to evaluate the opinions and the proposals of the sponsoring delegations with a view to achieving the goals for the establishment of an effective conservation and management regime for such fish stocks on the high seas.

The Chair's text (A/CONF.164./13) constitutes the main source of the working paper while certain articles and paragraphs are taken from the draft Convention submitted to the Conference by the delegations of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Iceland and New Zealand (A/CONF.164/L.11/Rev.1, of 28 July 1993) and concepts that stem from other sources, such as the working paper submitted by the delegations of Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru (A/CONF.164/L.14, of 16 July 1993), the document on definitions presented by the delegation of the Russian Federation (A/CONF.164/L.32, of 27 July 1993), and the elements contributed by the Latin American Organization for the Development of Fisheries (OLDEPESCA) in the draft prepared for its tenth Ministerial Conference, held in Lima, Peru, 8-10 March 1994.

L.44 contains eleven parts and four annexes. The Preamble recalls the provisions of Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, on sustainable yield and conservation of the living resources of the high seas. The Preamble states that the only way to achieve the goals mandated by the UN Conference on Environment and Development and of General Assembly Resolution 47/192 is to adopt legally-binding rules that determine the rights, obligations and responsibilities of States when applying conservation and management measures established for high-seas fishing of the stocks concerned. [Return to start of article]