Transport Minister Dikobe Ben Martins today called on delegates at an international conference held in Cape Town to help bring into force an agreement on the safety of fishing vessels, which 30 years on has yet to be ratified.
Addressing the diplomatic conference held by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on the Safety of Fishing Vessels, Martins said until the 1993 Protocol of the 1977 Torremolinos International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessel came into force, an important sector of the international maritime was left without a binding agreement on safety standards.
The IMO is a United Nations agency responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.
The agreement being negotiated at the diplomatic conference in Cape Town is intended to give effect to the objectives of Torremolinos, (Convention on Fishing Vessel Safety), which never came into force due to lack of consensus.
The success of the Conference will be a great leap forward in providing safe working conditions on the labour intensive maritime sector.
Until the agreement is ratified tens of thousands of fishermen who work on vessels of over 24m in length will continue to go about their work without any legally binding safety standards for the vessels.
Martins, who also today accepted the presidency of the IMO conference and signed an agreement for is hosting with IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu, said when it is ratified the agreement would particularly benefit poor fishermen and women who daily looked for a better life and living.
"By reaching agreement, the conference will also demonstrate the continued relevance of the IMO, since the safety of people and property at sea also contributes to food security, economic growth and development across the globe," Minister Martins said.
He added that in the wake of the global economic downturn, the maritime industry and its stakeholders had a key role to play in creating jobs.
Significant progress, he said, had already been made in reaching consensus as the draft document before delegates, already had the broad support of the Maritime Safety Committee.
"It is therefore still possible to reach agreement and put into effect those provisions that were originally adopted by the IMO years ago," Minister Martins added.
IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said despite improved technology, the loss of life in the fishing industry remains unacceptably high, probably about 10 times or more higher than that of merchant marine vessels.
He emphasized the importance of establishing a globally binding safety regime for fishing vessels that is both robust and workable.
"The time is now ripe for an agreement to be concluded such that the objectives of the Torremolinos Convention can be met internationally," he said.
He said such an agreement would also significantly complement a binding international safety regime for fishing vessel personnel that entered into force last month under the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel.
That agreement ensures that the training standards and competence of those employed in the fishing industry are maintained.
The task for this Diplomatic Conference is to finalise and adopt the draft Agreement on implementation of the provisions of the 1993 Torremolinos Protocol to ensure, without any further delay, the worldwide implementation of the fishing vessel safety standards today’s fishermen are entitled to expect.
Sekimizu said clearing up outstanding issues around exemptions and entry-into-force requirements were all that stood in the way of bringing the agreement into force.
He said one sticking point over ratifying the agreement is whether or not to exempt those vessels that operate only in a particular country’s domestic waters,
Those countries, he said, with fleets of large numbers of fishing vessels such as China, Russia and Japan, were particularly concerned about the cost implications for their fleet once the agreement is ratified.
China for example has about 30 000 fishing vessels of 24m in length and over.
However Sekimizu said the idea, which had been under discussion for five years now, is that flag carriers would then be responsible for the inspection of those vessels confined to domestic waters.
He said once standards were applied for large fishing vessels of 24m in length and over, he hoped member states would push for mandatory safety standards for smaller fishing vessels.
The conference continues until Thursday, 11 October. Wednesday, 10 October will consist of closed sessions only.
Members of the media are invited to the closing ceremony on Thursday, 11 October at 9:30am.
For more information contact:
Tiyani Rikhotso
Cell: 083 570 1275
