Judge Vladimir Golitsyn, President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), gave his annual statement before the United Nations General Assembly on 8 December 2015, on the occasion of the General Assembly's debate on the item "Oceans and the law of the sea".
The President noted that the caseload had continued to increase in 2015, with the delivery of three decisions during the course of the year:
1. the Tribunal's first advisory opinion in a case concerning illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing submitted by seven West African States, members of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission;
2. the provisional measures order rendered by the Special Chamber of the ITLOS formed to deal with the dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean;
3. and the order prescribing provisional measures in respect of the dispute between Italy and India concerning the Enrica Lexie incident.
The President pointed out that the ITLOS had provided important clarification in its Advisory Opinion on matters such as the issue of flag State obligations and flag State liability in relation to IUU fishing activities. The President indicated that the opinion might be of value to those seeking legal guidance in pursuing their efforts to deter IUU fishing.
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Source: https://www.itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/press_releases_english/PR_240_Photo_EN.pdf