Participants at an EU ministerial maritime conference including IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim have highlighted the urgent need to bring the Cape Town Agreement into force.
Adopting the agreement on fishing vessel safety will be crucial for improved safety at sea for fishers and will support the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
During the event held at Opatija in Croatia, further momentum towards this goal was seen with three more states (Bulgaria, Poland and Portugal) signing the Torremolinos Declaration, under which states publicly indicate their determination to ratify the Cape Town Agreement by 11 October 2022, the tenth anniversary of its adoption.
The Torremolinos Declaration was opened for signature at IMO's October 2019 conference on fishing vessel safety in Torremolinos, Spain, and has now reached 51 signatories.
The treaty will enter into force 12 months after at least 22 states, with an aggregate 3,600 fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and over operating on the high seas have expressed their consent to be bound by it. To date, 14 countries have ratified the agreement.
