Abstract
Abstract This article describes the proliferation of drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) and analyses subsequent legal questions that arise for fisheries and marine litter management over who is responsible for FADs during their drifting stage. This follows recent concerns about unlicensed FADs drifting through closed areas. This article analyses a case study of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in order to determine State obligations to manage drifting FADs. Analysis concludes that a drifting FAD in the WCPFC Area is ‘fishing’ from deployment to recovery, thereby creating obligations to monitor, control and report drifting FADs, consistent with broader obligations for coastal and flag States. The article recommends strengthening regional management in three ways: implement regional drifting FAD monitoring systems; control deployment of drifting FADs so as to promote recovery and minimize lost gear; and define appropriate responses for FADs that drift into national or closed waters without a license.
Highlights
Marine capture fisheries have long exploited the natural tendency of certain fish species to aggregate around floating objects such as driftwood and seaweed.[1]
This article describes the proliferation of drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) and analyses subsequent legal questions that arise for fisheries and marine litter management over who is responsible for FADs during their drifting stage
One of the ways they have become more efficient is through the use of purse seine nets and drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) attached to satellite location beacons
Summary
Marine capture fisheries have long exploited the natural tendency of certain fish species to aggregate around floating objects such as driftwood and seaweed.[1] One such group of species are the tropical tunas skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares). These highdemand species are globally traded, worth approximately US$32 billion per year, and provide critical revenue to the numerous developing coastal States that license fleets to fish within their exclusive economic zones (EEZs).[2] As industrial global tuna fisheries have developed over time, fishing fleets have become increasingly efficient and dependent on technological developments in remote sensing and fishing gear. The analysis studies the definition of fishing as it relates to drifting FADs and considers the resulting
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