LUXEMBOURG, June 16 (Reuter) - Fisheries ministers have agreed to revise the Commission's mandate to negotiate a binding convention at a United Nations conference on straddling stocks, Fisheries Commissioner Emma Bonino said. "The Council accepted a new Commission mandate is need ed for a binding convention," Bonino told a news conference after a fisheries council on Thursday.
The U.N. is expected to adopt a convention to protect fish stocks, which swim across national and international boundaries, at a meeting in New York between July 24 and August 4.
The Commission will be instructed to support the conservation role of multilateral fisheries organisations, preserve the sovereignty of the flag state and seek a better balance in the responsabilities of coastal and fishing nations.
