The Convention on the Law of the Sea: An Effective Framework for Domestic Fisheries Conservation?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, an estimated 52 percent of fish stocks are fully exploited and producing catches at the maximum sustainable limit. A further 25 percent of stocks are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Moreover, a majority of the most important commercial species are considered to be fully or overexploited. Because more than 90 percent of commercial fisheries are located within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), effective mechanisms for conserving and managing fisheries within 200 nautical mile EEZs remain of fundamental importance. This chapter examines the general framework established by Part V of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) and suggests that its failure to spell out a sufficiently coherent obligation to steward resources within the EEZ has contributed to the collapse of many domestic fisheries. A number of binding and non-binding instruments which have emerged post-LOSC are also considered, along with the future of international law on fisheries and the conservation and management of living resources under the LOSC, including the prevention of overfishing.
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