Simone Vezzani, Jurisdiction in International Fisheries Law: Evolving Trends and New Challenges

Abstract

In Jurisdiction in International Fisheries Law, Simone Vezzani sets out to examine evolving trends and new challenges in the allocation of jurisdiction in international fisheries law. Here, the author understands jurisdiction to include prescriptive, adjudicative, and enforcement jurisdiction.1 The aim of Vezzani’s analysis is to find out to what extent this allocation of jurisdiction still serves ‘narrow synallagmatic interests of States’ as opposed to the ‘common interests of the international community as a whole.’2 Although this is not made explicit in the title of his monograph, Vezzani focuses specifically on jurisdiction in the context of so-called ‘fisheries crime.’3 This phrase is not, however, defined. Given that ‘fisheries crime’ is neither a legal term of art used in the main fisheries treaties nor an entirely uncontroversial concept with clear contours, a detailed definition by the author would have been desirable. This is even more so as Vezzani’s analysis does in fact consider illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in relation to marine capture fisheries.4 His examination does not, however, investigate all forms of illicit conduct that might be considered under a broad understanding of ‘fisheries crime’ (for example, fraud or money laundering in the context of trade in fish products).