Changes in the law of the sea: Impact on international fisheries organizations

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad‐gauged assessment of what impending changes in the Law of the Sea may mean for regional fishery commissions, for the Committee on Fisheries and the Department of Fisheries of FAO, and for FAO programs of technical assistance to fisheries. The paper begins with brief descriptive summaries of extensions in coastal state jurisdiction as of October 1975 and of positions advocated at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (LOS III). A brief interpretation of those portions of the Informal Single Negotiating Text, Part II, is also provided. The implications of these changes are then assessed, first for fishery commissions in general; second, for non‐FAO‐sponsored regional commissions; third, for FAO‐sponsored regional commissions; and fourth, for areas of the world ocean that are not presently covered by regional commissions. Heaviest emphasis is placed on the FAO‐sponsored regional commissions. The analysis concludes with assessments of the implications of impending changes in the Law of the Sea for FAO technical assistance programs in fisheries, for the FAO Committee on Fisheries, and for the FAO Department of Fisheries. A summary of specific recommendations is provided at the end.