Requests for MCS technical assistance by FAO's developing members are expected to remain high as a consequence of a number of factors including:

(i) increased realization by States that MCS is an integral and essential component of fisheries conservation and management and that prospects for achieving conservation and management objectives and sustainable development will be limited in the absence of effective MCS;

(ii) recognition that fisheries falling under national jurisdiction will become subject to greater international scrutiny with respect to the nature and effectiveness of conservation and management measures adopted and implemented. In this connection the international community will expect States to take concrete steps towards implementing the goals and objectives of sustainable development as set out in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21: The United Nations Programme of Action from Rio, and

(iii) acknowledgement that fishing on the high seas carries with it substantial flag State responsibilities that must be fulfilled through States having greater control over the operation of their fleets. To this end States may need to adopt measures associated with the implementation of the Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas, concluded in 1993 under FAO auspices, and the outcomes of international negotiations, and in particular those parts relating to MCS, for the FAO-sponsored Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.

At the 1992 FAO Technical Consultation on High Seas Fishing (Rome, 7-15 September 1992), the various sessions of the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (New York, 1993-1995), the 1994 FAO Technical Consultation on the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing (Rome, 26 September to 5 October 1994), there has been considerable discussion and debate on the central role of MCS in fisheries conservation and management. This attention to MCS indicates the international recognition of the need for cost-effective MCS systems, both within EEZs and on the high seas, if long-term, sustainable fisheries conservation and management is to be achieved.