Report And Documentation Of The International Workshop On Factors Contributing To Unsustainability And Overexploitation In Fisheries Bangkok Thailand 4 8 February 2002

This publication contains the report of an international workshop (including discussion papers and notes submitted by participants) and the conclusions and recommendations adopted regarding sustainable fisheries management. Issues discussed include: key aspects contributing to fisheries unsustainability and overexploitation; the best practical approaches to address these factors; and whether current international fisheries instruments sufficiently address these issues.

On cover and title page: FAO/Japan Government Cooperative Programme.

The workshop referred closely to the results of a first workshop held in Bangkok in 2002 (The International Workshop on Factors Contributing to Unsustainability and Overexploitation in Fisheries) but aimed more specifically at answering the following three major questions: What are the major obstacles to the implementation of major legal instruments? What are the main lessons learned and the possible paths to solutions for improved implementation? What are the possible gaps that may exist in these instruments to guide the international community in improving the management of marine fisheries? The workshop was based on a review of eleven case studies, each relating to one of the following categories of fishery: large volume small pelagics; tuna and tuna-like species; large volume demersals; and coastal fisheries. This publication contains the report of the Workshop, discussion papers containing case studies and notes submitted by participants. The document, and in particular the conclusions adopted by workshop participants, will serve as a basis for further analytical work aimed at improved fisheries management and a more effective implementation of major international fisheries instruments.

Marine living resources are currently under severe threat from unsustainable use. International law urges a precautionary approach in the use of remaining fish stocks, necessitating rational domestic management of coastal fisheries and requiring foreign nations accessing these stocks to cooperate to this end. The manner in which bilateral fishing relations between the EU and various West African states have historically played out, however, has not followed this route. This book is a legal study of these relations from an inter-disciplinary and contextual perspective with particular reference to sustainability questions using three broad conceptual lenses: common resource management, integration towards sustainable development and the colonial legacy to interrogate the extent to which these interactions operated as legal instruments of sustainability.

L'objectif de l'atelier ?tait d'examiner l'efficacit? des principaux instruments juridiques internationaux du secteur p?che et d'identifier d'autres mesures permettant d'aborder les facteurs de non durabilit? et de surexploitation. Ces facteurs oint ?t? identifi's et discut's lors de trois ateliers organis's par la FAO depuis 2002. Ont particip? ? cet atelier r?gional des experts de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du sud de la M?diterran?e. Des ateliers similaires seront organis's dans d'autres r?gions en 2006. Un r?sum? en anglais figure dans les pages pr?liminaires. La troisi?me partie du document pr?sente la version anglaise de la totalit? de la deuxi?me partie.

Fisheries for highly migratory species are important in all oceans and semi-enclosed seas, except for polar regions. Fisheries for straddling fish stocks are much more localised, primarily occurring in a few regions where continental shelves extend beyond the 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), while most fisheries for other high seas fishery resources are deep-water fisheries. This publication examines issues relating to the stocks of these resources, including information on their state of exploitation. Findings include that about 30 percent of the stocks of highly migratory tuna and tuna-like species, more than half of highly migratory oceanic sharks and nearly two-thirds of the straddling stocks and the stocks of other high seas fishery resources are overexploited or depleted. Although the stocks concerned represent only a small fraction of the world fishery resources, they are key indicators of the state of an overwhelming part of the ocean ecosystem which appears to be more overexploited than EEZs.

On cover and title page: FAO/Japan Government Cooperative Programme.

Ninety percent of the large fish in the world's oceans have disappeared in the past half century, causing the collapse of fisheries along with numerous fish species. In this hard-hitting, provocative expos�, Charles Clover reveals the dark underbelly and hidden costs of putting food on the table at home and in restaurants. From the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo to a seafood restaurant on the North Sea and a trawler off the coast of Spain, Clover pursues the sobering truth about the plight of fish. Along with the ecological impact wrought by industrial fishing, he reports on the implications for our diet, particularly our need for omega-3 fatty acids. This intelligent, readable, and balanced account serves as a timely warning to the general public as well as to scientists, regulators, legislators--and all fishing enthusiasts.