WCC 2012 Res 074 - Activity Report

Para 1 actions are being taken up through the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (General Assembly resolution 72/249).
Para 2 has yet to be implemented in full. RFMOs have been patchy and inconsistent in their approaches on protecting Vulnerable Marine Areas (VMEs). ECO has engaged with NZ and other parties on the South Pacific RFMO and CCAMLR. In 2020 there is a review by the UNGA of implementation of UNGa resolutions on protecting Vulnerable Marine Areas on the high seas.
Ecosystem based management is still in it infancy in implementation by RFMOs. Transparency is also inconsistent between RFMOs, For example CCAMLR being one of the worst and SPRFMO being one of the best.
EBSAs have been considered by some RFMOs but not all oceans areas have been assessed for EBSAs. The southern South Pacific and the Southern Ocean has not been assessed for EBSAs