AND HAVE AGREED that a set of immediate actions should be taken, without prejudice to the rights and obligations of States under international law, either directly or in cooperation with other States, or through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in cooperation with other appropriate intergovernmental organizations and/or regional fishery management organizations or arrangements. These immediate actions are:

1. To assess and monitor the present and future levels of global, regional and national production, supply and demand of fish and fishery products and their effects on food security, employment, consumption, income, trade and sustainability of production.

2. To enhance subregional and regional cooperation and establish, where it is considered appropriate, subregional and regional fishery conservation and management organizations or arrangements for straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks; and cooperate to strengthen, where necessary, existing subregional and regional fishery conservation and management organizations and arrangements in order to carry out their assigned tasks.

3. To conduct, within their competences and, where appropriate, in cooperation with regional and other intergovernmental organizations, integrated assessments of fisheries in order to evaluate opportunities and strengthen the scientific basis for multispecies and ecosystem management.

4. To identify and exchange information on potential mechanisms to reduce excess fishing capacity and implement action on programs to reduce excess capacity, where and when appropriate, as soon as possible

5. To develop, promote and facilitate the exchange of information on the use of efficient and standardized methodologies for the study of social, cultural and economic characteristics of fishing and associated activities; and, in particular, attempt to develop methods designed to permit verifiable indicators of the importance of such characteristics and their interaction and compatibility with management objectives.

6. To promote allocation of human and financial resources for an international program to investigate the effectiveness of multispecies management of commercial fishery resources.

7. To increase efforts to estimate the quantity of fish, marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles and other sea life which are incidentally caught and discarded in fishing operations; assess the effect on the populations or species; take action to minimize waste and discards through measures including, to the extent practicable, the development and use of selective, environmentally safe and cost- effective fishing gear and techniques; and exchange information on methods and technologies to minimize waste and discards.

8. To promote the exchange of information amongst research institutes and other relevant entities aiming to: (i) increase opportunities for the sustainable use of unexploited or underexploited species as human food; and (ii) promote and support research activities in order to ensure improvement in scientific knowledge of existing fishery resources.

9. To strengthen coordination of national and international research programs aiming to simulate environmentally sound aquaculture and stocking, giving emphasis to the development of international guideline for the development and management of activities in particular on: (i) the impacts on the environment and biodiversity; (ii) the application of biotechnology; and (iii) the health of cultured stocks.

10. To provide and coordinate technical and financial assistance programs for developing countries, in particular low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs) and small island developing States, and encourage cooperation between these countries, in order to achieve the contribution of fisheries to food security through, inter alia: (i) a rapid transfer of technology and know-how in enhancement in inland and marine waters; (ii) an upgrade and increase of the capabilities needed to minimize post-harvest losses; and (iii) ensuring improved control of fishing activities within areas under national jurisdiction.

AND REQUEST the Government of Japan to convey this Declaration and Plan of Action to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, the 1996 FAO World Food Summit and relevant international organizations for their consideration and endorsement.