Abstract
Shifting political alliances and new environmental challenges are prompting debate over processes of sub-regionalisation and whether the interplay between multiple scales of governance leads to positive synergistic outcomes or negative institutional disruption. Regional management of tuna fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean is an example where a web of treaties, conventions and institutional frameworks underlie international cooperation. Through examining the interplay between the regional Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and sub-regional Parties to the Nauru Agreement, this paper explores the extent to which the PNA and WCPFC interact in the management of regional tuna fisheries. The results demonstrate that for contested marine resources such as fisheries, international sub-regions can go beyond functional units to also present wider opportunities to shift power relations in favour of small island states. Additionally, the presence of sub-regional groups like the PNA has served to challenge the performance of the WCPFC, stimulating greater debate and progress within the regional body. The paper concludes that the combined work of the PNA and the WCPFC puts them ahead on many issues and may represent a testing ground for a functional multilateralism utilising both regional and sub-regional governance platforms for the management of shared resources.
Highlights
The perceived crisis in the effectiveness of multilateral institutions has led to a new round of debate over the form and function of environmental international regimes, especially around complex environmental problems (Young 2011; Biermann et al 2012; Conca 2012)
We explore how the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), as a sub-regional body, has been able to be more experimental in developing tuna fisheries conservation and management measures, how durable the outcomes of this experimentation are in terms of providing long-term change, and the extent to which the PNA and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) interact in the management of regional transboundary tuna fisheries
Our analysis focuses on the tensions that exist between the WCPFC and PNA in setting fishing reference points, administering Conservation and management measure (CMM) and balancing the interests of their respective members
Summary
The perceived crisis in the effectiveness of multilateral institutions has led to a new round of debate over the form and function of environmental international regimes, especially around complex environmental problems (Young 2011; Biermann et al 2012; Conca 2012). We explore how the PNA, as a sub-regional body, has been able to be more experimental in developing tuna fisheries conservation and management measures, how durable the outcomes of this experimentation are in terms of providing long-term change, and the extent to which the PNA and WCPFC interact in the management of regional transboundary tuna fisheries The interplay between these different scales of environmental governance in Western and Central Pacific tuna fisheries offers a relevant and timely lens to understand how these two scales of governance interact and what influence they have over each other in terms of creating innovative and effective management outcomes.
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