New Zealand has become the latest country to accede to the fishing vessel safety treaty, the 2012 Cape Town Agreement.
When it enters into force, the 2012 Cape Town Agreement (CTA) will bring in mandatory safety requirements for fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and over. It includes provisions addressing stability and associated seaworthiness, machinery and electrical installations, life-saving appliances, communications equipment, and fire protection, as well as fishing vessel construction.
It now has 21 contracting parties and will enter into force 12 months after at least 22 States, with an aggregate 3,600 fishing vessels meeting the length requirements operating on the high seas, have expressed their consent to be bound by it.
Ms. Kirstie Hewlett, Chief Executive, Maritime New Zealand, deposited the instrument of accession with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim on 30 May at IMO Headquarters.
IMO has been spreading awareness of - and building support for - the CTA via a series of regional webinars, organized and conducted in cooperation with The Pew Charitable Trusts.
More than 50 countries signed the "Torremolinos Declaration" following a Ministerial Conference held in Spain in October 2019, indicating their determination to ratify the Agreement by its tenth anniversary (i.e. 11 October 2022). The 21 Contracting States to the CTA with approximately 2600 qualifying fishing vessels are: Belgium, Belize, Congo, Cook Islands, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa and Spain.
