From 7 to 14 November, an inter-governmental consultationon the “Sustainable fishery, including through the Agreement for theImplementation of the Provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling FishStocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and Related Instruments was heldat UN Headquarters in New York. Commissioned by the Fishery Bureau of theMinistry of Agriculture, Prof. Tang Yi from the College of Marine Culture andLaw and Shen Huihui from the College of Foreign Languages attended the UNconsultation as members of the Chinese delegation under the leadership of the ChinesePermanent Mission to the United Nations.
The meeting of consultation was attended by delegationsfrom 26 major fishery countries such as the United States, Canada, the EuropeanUnion, Argentina, Mexico, the Philippines and Japan, covering such topics assustainable fishery development, implementation of the 1995 Fish StockAgreement and relevant issues, combatting IUU fishing, fishery regulation andenforcement, international trade in aquatic products, curbing overfishing,bycatch and catch discards, deep seabed trawl fishery, regional andsub-regional fishery organizations and cooperation, marine ecosystem responsiblefishery, capacity building and cooperation within the UN system and otherissues. A total of 55 amendments to 77 paragraphs and 21 new proposals werediscussed at the meeting, and the final 26 proposals were adopted for inclusionin the draft resolution.
Under the leadership and support of the Permanent Missionof China to the United Nations, Tang Yi and Shen Huihui fully participated inthe consultation, kept in constant communication and consultation with theFishery Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC and actively submittedproposals on behalf of China. They also expressed their opinions on otherproposals on behalf of China. During the meeting, they submitted 6 proposals tothe Work Group on Consultative Coordination of Resolutions on behalf of theChinese delegation, of which two were unanimously adopted and included into thedraft resolution. Upon request by the Work Group on Consultative Coordinationof Resolutions, they organized off-meeting coordination work for the workgroups of two topics. In addition, the Chinese delegation also made theirsuggestions to other proposals, of which two suggestions were included into theadopted proposals.
Participating in the meeting of consultation on sustainablefishery resolution of the UN General Assembly is an important measure for our universityto safeguard China’s marine and fishery rights and interests and supportChina's participation in international fishery governance. It is of greatsignificance to enhance China's voice in global fishery governance and the internationalrecognition of China’s basic fishery development strategy.