Book Description

As fish stocks continue to decline worldwide, coastal States seem to have largely failed in effectively managing fisheries in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). This study examines the international legal principles for effective EEZ fisheries management and assesses their domestic implementation in a comparative perspective. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as general international law, provides a useful range of norms for sustainable EEZ fisheries management, if carefully interpreted. These include the coastal State's obligation to ensure that the maintenance of the living resources in its EEZ is not endangered by over-exploitation. Additional obligations include the duty to maintain or restore populations of target species at sustainable levels, the determination of catch limits for stocks affected by exploitation, and the duty to apply the precautionary approach. In addition to such environmental requirements, issues of distributive justice and procedural fairness are also included in the analysis. The second part of the book evaluates the implementation of the international legal standards in five selected coastal states (Kenya, Namibia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico) and the EC. It focuses on the determination of total allowable catch, the allocation of individual fishing authorizations, and the regulation of foreign access to EEZ fisheries as exemplary management measures.