UN Food and Agriculture Organization: Exercising Legal Personality to Implement the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

Abstract

In the last several decades, intergovernmental organizations have played an increasingly significant role in implementing international treaties by providing innovative implementation proposals. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been a core institution for improving international fisheries governance. This chapter proposes that based on a combination of delegated and derivative international organization powers that the FAO has responsibilities to implement actively those portions of UNCLOS that are relevant to the FAO’s mission to conserve natural resources. Even though FAO is not a party to the UNCLOS treaty, the FAO has played a central role in elaborating general concepts within UNCLOS and innovating in the area of fishery management. FAO has done this both as an agent of States but also independently through the exercise of FAO’s delegated powers to conserve natural resources. This chapter highlights five areas where the FAO has made substantive contributions to improving practices for sustainable fisheries management: (1) ecosystem approach fisheries management, (2) port state measures to combat illegal fishing, (3) guidelines to assist small-scale fisheries, (4) improved flag state performance in relation to fisheries and (5) facilitation of regional fisheries bodies. The Author proposes at the end that the FAO might be able to exercise its derivative powers to improve enforcement on the high seas with the possibility of FAO-organized enforcement efforts.