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The IUCN 4th World Conservation Congress (http://www.i.org/congress_08) meeting in Barcelona, Spain over 5-14 October 2008, approved Resolution 4.118 “Antarctica and the Southern Ocean”  which taking note of the “continuing deaths of seabirds in large numbers from long-line fishing operations” calls on all range states to accede to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP).

The resolution also urges nations whose vessels undertake long-line fishing within the foraging ranges of albatrosses and petrels to “require the adoption of best-practice seabird by-catch mitigation measures, such as line weighting and night setting in their fisheries”, to promote the adoption of such measures by RFMOs (Regional Fisheries Management Organizations), and to implement National Plans of Action -Seabirds.

The resolution also calls as a priority for a halt to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the oceans around Antarctica and calls for the necessary measures “to effectively prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing in the near future”.

All the adopted Congress resolutions, along with summaries of the voting record, may be viewed at http://www.iucn.org/congress_08/assembly/policy/index.cfm.