Germany Accedes to Treaty Covering Fishing Vessel Safety
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s work to enhance fishing vessel safety received a boost today when Germany became the sixth State to accede to the 2012 Cape Town Agreement.
The Agreement involves a basic set of safety measures for larger high seas fishing vessels, covering issues such as stability, construction and protection of crews and will enter into force 12 months after 22 States express their consent to be bound by it.
These States must have a minimum of 3,600 fishing vessels of at least 24 meters in length operating on the high seas.
The agreement intends to bring into force amendments to update the provisions of the 1993 Torremolinos fishing vessel safety protocol and thereby provide a mandatory global regime for fishing vessel safety.
H.E. Dr. Peter Ammon, Germany's Ambassador to the UK and Permanent Representative of Germany to IMO, met IMO Secretary-General Lim today (5 July) to hand over the instrument of accession.