Law and Politics in Ocean Governance

The UN Fish Stocks Agreement was an effort to curb rising conflicts and unilateral actions regarding the rights and duties of States to exploit and manage straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. It broke new ground in international fisheries law in terms of incorporating new environmental principles, provisions on compliance and enforcement, and the duty of States to co-operate.
This volume explores how these commitments are acted upon by States in a selection of regional fisheries management regimes, covering fisheries from the European Arctic to the western and central Pacific Ocean. The cases chosen reflect the heterogeneity of institutional arrangements that are established at the regional level to manage straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. The authors review three established regional fisheries management regimes and two regional agreements establishing such regimes, negotiated following the UN Fish Stocks Agreement.

"The topic of regional fisheries management is a salient one, on the agenda of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as well as the UN General Assembly. It is also timely in addressing issues to which civil society as well as the academic community pay attention increasingly.
With the current interest in international fisheries issues, and written in a clear language, this is a book that should command the interest of a wide audience." – Alf Håkon Hoel, Associate Professor
"This is the 'must have and read' book for academics and practitioners dealing with relationships and interaction between the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and regional fisheries management organizations." – Ted L. McDorman, Ocean Development and International Law