Are international fisheries heading away from open access to a global commons towards a regime of property rights? The distributional implications of denying access to newcomers and re-entrants that used the resource in the past are fraught. Should the winners in this process compensate the losers and, if so, how? Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, in whose gift participatory rights increasingly lie, are perceptibly shifting their attention to this approach, which has hitherto been little analysed; this book provides a review of the practice of these bodies and the States that are their members. The recently favoured response of governments, combating 'IUU' - illegal, unregulated and unreported - fishing, is shown to rest on a flawed concept, and the solution might lie less in law than in legal policy: compulsory dispute settlement to moderate their claims and an expansion of the possibilities of trading of quotas to make solving the global overcapacity issue easier.
Offering a practical exploration of persistent and new challenges relating to contemporary international fisheries law, this book examines emerging and unresolved issues in international fisheries law. Covering a wide range of international legal aspects related to fisheries governance, it offers practical perspectives that go beyond the existing debates in this field. An expert team of contributors offers a comprehensive study of current challenges in fisheries governance, institutional law frameworks, procedural aspects and trade and enforcement issues. The book enriches fisheries law scholarship, outlining the capacity of international law to address challenges in international fisheries law and policy, highlighting the critical importance of fisheries to many states, coastal communities and economies globally. The book’s chapters have been meticulously selected, focusing on policy and practical considerations. The result is a comprehensive edited collection covering the main persistent challenges in international fisheries law, making it an essential reading for all those interested in the conservation, integrated management and sustainable use of living resources globally.
This collection addresses the central question of how the current international framework for the regulation of fisheries may be strengthened in order to meet the challenges posed by changing fisheries and ocean conditions, in particular climate change. International fisheries law has developed significantly since the 1990s, through the adoption and establishment of international instruments and bodies at the global and regional levels. Global fish stocks nevertheless remain in a troubling state, and fisheries management authorities face a wide array of internal and external challenges, including operational constraints, providing effective management advice in the face of scientific uncertainty and non-compliance by States with their international obligations. This book examines these challenges and identifies options and pathways to strengthen international fisheries law. While it has a primarily legal focus, it also features significant contributions from specialists drawn from other disciplines, notably fisheries science, economics, policy and international relations, in order to provide a fuller context to the legal, policy and management issues raised. Rigorous and comprehensive in scope, this will be essential reading for lawyers and non-lawyers interested in international fisheries regulation in the context of profoundly changing ocean conditions.
This book analyses a selection of challenges in the implementation and application of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), focusing on several areas: international organizations, fisheries, security, preserving marine biodiversity, dispute settlement, and interaction with other areas of international law. UNCLOS has been described as the Constitution for the Oceans. It sets out the fundamental rights, obligations and jurisdictions of States regarding the access to, uses and management of the oceans and seas and their resources. It balances States’ diverse and sometimes conflicting interests, such as conflicting uses of space, against navigational interests and the protection of the marine environment. UNCLOS is the first global treaty to include comprehensive obligations on the protection and preservation of the marine environment, including the conservation of living marine resources. These are often common or cross-border challenges, which can only be addressed through international cooperation. The book is divided into three thematic parts. The first concerns the role of international organizations in ocean governance. It includes twelve chapters covering a very diverse set of issues, both materially and geographically, that demonstrate the importance of coordinated actions on the part of multiple States for obtaining harmonized solutions regarding the pursuit of activities in maritime spaces (in connection with e.g. navigation, fisheries or maritime security). The second part concerns the relevance of dispute settlement mechanisms for understanding the international law of the sea and the international legal framework within which the actions of the great maritime powers take place. It is composed of three chapters, examining stakeholders’ role in dispute settlement, the position taken by China and the Russian Federation regarding international litigation in maritime spaces, and how the South China Sea Award may be relevant to the debate on the international legal concepts of rock and island. In turn, the third part addresses current discussions on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Its seven chapters report on the status quo of the ongoing negotiations for a new international legal regime of the high seas, and the establishment and operationalization of environmental regimes for international maritime spaces.
International Law is the definitive and authoritative text on the subject, offering Shaw's unbeatable combination of clarity of expression and academic rigour and ensuring both understanding and critical analysis in an engaging and authoritative style. Encompassing the leading principles, practice and cases, and retaining and developing the detailed references which encourage and assist the reader in further study, this new edition motivates and challenges students and professionals while remaining accessible and engaging. Fully updated to reflect recent case law and treaty developments, this edition contains an expanded treatment of the relationship between international and domestic law, the principles of international humanitarian law, and international criminal law alongside additional material on international economic law.
More than ever before the changing environmental and political landscape in the Arctic requires stability and foreseeability based on resilient common norms. The emerging legal orders in the Arctic cannot be legitimately created or effectively implemented unless all relevant actors are involved. Simultaneously, it must always be based on respect for the sovereign rights of the eight Arctic states in the region, as well as the tradition and cultural livelihood of the local communities. It is this delicate balance between Arctic and non-Arctic interests that is the core problématique for the emerging legal orders in the Arctic. Emerging Legal Orders in the Arctic critically examines the role of non-Arctic actors in this advancement of the shape and scope of the Arctic legal order. Discussing the admittance and participation of Observer states and organisations in the Arctic Council, including task force meetings where new treaties are negotiated, it details the issues and successes this can result in. Setting up the context of the current legal orders in the Arctic, the book discusses Asian, indigenous and European perspectives, amongst others. There is a strong focus on the groundbreaking fisheries agreement of November 2017 in the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO), and the impact on both Arctic and non-Arctic actors. Interests in marine living resources, scientific cooperation and the Arctic shipping regimes and governance are also thoroughly discussed from multiple perspectives. The book combines the expertise of academics and practitioners in the fields of international law and Arctic governance, uniquely focusing on Asian actors in the Arctic legal order-making. The resulting study is a fascinating insight into the interplay between non-Arctic actors and the Arctic legal order, and will be invaluable to academics in the field of Arctic and international law.
This Open Access book on Ocean Governance examines sustainability challenges facing our oceans today. The book is organized into three sections: knowledge systems, policy foundations and thematic analyses. The knowledge produced in the book was catalyzed by the scientific outcomes within the European-funded Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) network “Ocean Governance for Sustainability – Challenges, Options and the Role of Science”. This network brings together scientists, policy-makers and civil society representatives from 28 nation states to cooperate on ocean governance research. This book offers a compilation of new research material including focused case studies, broad policy syntheses and reflective chapters on the history and current status of knowledge production systems on ocean governance. New research material is presented, although some chapters draw on secondary sources. The book starts with synthetic review chapters from the editors, outlining past and present knowledge systems, addressing how and why ocean governance for sustainability is where it currently stands with critical reflections on existing narratives, path dependencies and colonialist histories. This is followed by chapters addressing, synthesizing and analyzing different legal and policy frameworks for ocean governance both regionally and internationally. At the core of the book are the thematic analyses, which provide focused case studies with detailed contextual information in support of different ocean governance challenges and sustainability pathways around the world. The book concludes with a chapter explicitly targeting students, researchers and policy-makers with key take-away messages compiled by the editors.