United Nations Conference On Straddling Fish Stocks And Highly Migratory Fish Stocks

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.

"A publication of the National Research Council of Canada Monograph Publishing Program."

Until recently, the international community failed to adopt either an agreed limit for the breadth of the territorial sea or a satisfactory regime of fisheries in the waters adjacent to the territorial sea. This provoked an eruption of unilateral acts by which coastal states extended their jurisdiction towards the high seas. The Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea accepted the establishment of a 12-mile territorial sea and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. While taking into account the non-existent rights and interests of the so-called geographically disadvantaged states and of states with broad continental shelves, the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea practically ignored existing rights and interests of habitual fishing states. It maintained the well-established principle of freedom of fishing on the high seas but with specific conditions. Dissatisfied with the Convention's regulation of fishing on the high seas, a few states elected to hold a U.N. Conference on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks which adopted the 1995 Agreement for the implementation of the provisions of the Convention relating to the conservation and management of such stocks. Similarly, some of these states, like Chile, Argentina, and Canada, adopted legislation extending their jurisdiction beyond their respective 200-mile fishing or exclusive economic zones. This book explores these events in the historical development of the international regulations of fisheries and concludes with a look into recent developments in the area.

This book examines legal, economic and environmental developments including recent state and international practice.

In the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) area, large pelagics contribute only about 6% of total landings, but are nonetheless significant for many countries. Large pelagic fishes are caught in all WECAFC states, and within the WECAFC region by several distant water fishing nations. However only 19 of 40 WECAFC Member States report catches to FAO. The fisheries range in scale and technological sophistication from artisanal fishers trolling from canoes to modern commercial longliners and purse seiners (mostly from distant water fishing nations). The available information on development of small-scale and large scale fleets targeting large pelagics, indicates a significant trend of increasing fishing capacity in the countries of the WECAFC region. Several species which are not assessed by ICCAT are of considerable importance in large pelagic fisheries in the WECAFC region. Overall, about half the landings of large pelagics in the WECAFC region are from species which are assessed. Existing institutional mechanisms are not adequate for management of shared or straddling fish stocks and those of highly migratory fish, as per the recent UN Agreement. Any such institution must have linkages with extraregional organisations, primarily ICCAT, and, in order to maximise efficiency and avoid duplication, should also be able to deal with shared, straddling and migratory fish stocks other than pelagics, for example, lobster and reef fishes with planktonic early life history stages. WECAFC, with modifications to its statutes, appears to be the most feasible existing organisation to adopt such a role.