Resolution MEPC.97(47)

IDENTIFICATION OF THE SEA AREA AROUND MALPELO ISLAND AS A PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE SEA AREA

(adopted on 8 March 2002)

THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMITTEE,

BEING AWARE of the ecological value of the sea area around Malpelo Island, as well as the tourist and fishing activities in die area,

NOTING that article 211(6) of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is further evidence of the will of States to co-operate in defining vulnerable marine areas requiring a higher level of protection than that which generally applies,

NOTING FURTHER that the Guidelines for Identification and Designation of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas under resolution A.927(22) set out procedures for designation of particularly sensitive sea areas and for adoption of measures to be applied in such special areas,

RECOGNIZING that the Sub-Committee on Navigation, at its forth-seventh session, agreed to a proposal to establish an area to be avoided around Malpelo Island for approval by the Maritime Safety Committee at its seventy- fifth session,

RECOGNIZING ALSO the intention of Member Governments to co-operate with the coastal State to determine measures to be applied in the proposed sea area as soon as possible,

HAVING CONSIDERED the proposal by Colombia to designate me sea area around Malpelo Island as a particularly sensitive sea area,

HAVING AGREED that criteria for identification of a particularly sensitive sea area provided in resolution A.927(22) are fulfilled for the sea area around Malpelo Island,

IDENTIFIES the sea area around Malpelo Island as defined in the Annex to this resolution as a particularly sensitive sea area.

Annex.

GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE