United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement Research Articles

Canada and Regional Fisheries Organizations: Implementing the UN Fish Stocks Agreement

Canada is a strong supporter of the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. Whether Canada's support is matched by its actions in strengthening regional fisheries organizations and arrangements dealing with straddling and highly migratory fish stocks is thus worthy of investigation. This contribution examines Canadian activities within regional fisheries organizations with particular reference to implementation of the precautionary and ecosystem approaches and the issue of enforcement of conservation and management measures. Although Canadian actions appear generally to be furthering implementation of the Agreement, comprehensive integration of words and deeds remains to be achieved.

How Long Has the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement Been in Force?

For most of the second half of 2001, by the United Nations Secretariat's "official" tally there were 29 ratifications and accessions of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, one short of the number required under Article 40(1) of the Agreement to bring it into force. However, there had been two ratifications withdrawn and a third not counted. Reviewing the facts in light of the Secretariat's published treaty policy, this article concludes that the better view is that by May 2001, at the latest, the Agreement had received sufficient ratifications and accessions to be considered in force.

Rio Plus Ten: The Evolution of International Marine Fisheries Governance

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held at Rio de Janeiro was a seminal event that addressed the interplay of economic development and human use of natural resources with the need for protection of the natural environment. The general principles embodied in the Rio Declaration and the provisions included in the comprehensive Agenda 21 expressed the expectations of the international community and set the stage for national and international policy and legal developments in a host of different areas, including the governance of the ocean's living resources. Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 focused on the world's oceans and seas and crystallized growing world community concern with problems such as unregulated fishing, fishing vessel reflagging, overcapitalization of the fishing industry, inadequate fisheries enforcement, and insufficient cooperation among states. Further, the documentation of UNCED evidenced interest in new governance frameworks and concepts such as ecosystem-based management and precaution. In retrospect, it is clear that the ideas discussed at Rio have been important and have been implemented by a variety of governments and international organizations as they exercise their responsibilities for fisheries management. This article examines the principles and approaches suggested by UNCED as they relate to world fisheries and considers how they have been reflected in global fishery agreements such as the FAO Compliance Agreement and the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, in the work of international fishery bodies such as the FAO Committee on Fisheries, and in the efforts of a number of regional fishery commissions. It also addresses the significance and ramifications of changes suggested by Agenda 21 for the future conduct and management of world marine fisheries.

Managing Fisheries in the Barents Sea Loophole: Interplay with the UN Fish Stocks Agreement

High seas fisheries for cod in the Barents Sea Loophole, a piece of international waters surrounded by the EEZs of Norway and Russia, is a rather recent phenomenon. This article assesses the interplay between the efforts to accommodate this straddling stock problem within the existing regional framework and the partially parallel evolvement of the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. The hub of the regional regime is the bilateral Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission, which establishes total quotas and operational restrictions for the entire stock, based on scientific advice partly generated under the auspices of ICES. The article assesses the extent to which state positions and outcomes at the New York negotiations were influenced by this particular regional dispute and the impacts of the Fish Stocks Agreement on the ability to manage the Loophole fishery effectively.

The United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement of 1995: History and Problems of Implementation

The United Nations (UN) Fish Stocks Agreement of 1995 arose in response to a worldwide resource management crisis involving those transboundary fishery resources found both within the coastal state Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the adjacent high seas—highly migratory fish stocks and straddling fish stocks. The need for the Agreement rested upon the inadequacies of those articles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea pertaining to the management of high-seas fishery resources. The Agreement is on the verge of coming into force. However, ratification is not implementation. With the aid of basic theory of games, both non-cooperative and cooperative, an attempt is made to assess, from an economist's perspective, the long-term viability of the Agreement, and the accompanying regime of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RMFOs). Certain key issues remain unresolved, but there are, nonetheless, grounds for cautious optimism.

The United Nations and fisheries in 1998

This article discusses the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea and one of its implementing agreements, the UN Fish Stocks Agreement. It considers problems, opportunities, and key principles that have emerged in recent international negotiations on fisheries. It notes that the large number of international fora that deal with fisheries encourage lack of focus and inefficient decision making. The article suggests that the UN General Assembly's annual ocean debate could play a critical role in addressing these problems.