From the vantage point of a coastal state, the most salient feature of the Convention is the provisions for extended coastal state jurisdiction, giving sovereign rights over natural resources in the 200 nautical miles EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) to coastal states. As for living marine resources, the Convention specifies that fisheries are to be managed sustainable (aka MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield) that fish resources shall be utilized in an optimal manner, and that states, where necessary, are to cooperate in this regard.
International agreements and processes
An increase in the fisheries at the high seas during the 1980´s and 1990´s necessitated the negotiation of an additional treaty to provide a legal basis for improved control of fisheries at the high seas beyond the EEZs. The 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement aims at filling the voids of the 1982 Convention by strengthening the rules of the global framework for the management of fisheries resources: the application of a precautionary approach to fisheries management becomes mandatory, the rules for enforcement of regulations are strengthened, more emphasis is given to regional cooperation, and the mechanisms for dispute resolution are enhanced.
The 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is a non-binding agreement that provides guidelines or best practices for all aspects of fisheries from conservation to marketing. A binding agreement aiming to enhance states control with vessels flying their flag (“the compliance agreement”) is an integral part of the Code, as are four International Plans of Action (IPOAs) to remedy problems related to overcapacity in fishing fleets, by-catches of sharks and seabirds respectively, and IUU-fishing. Associated with the Code is an FAO program for assistance to developing countries in implementing the code – the Fish Code program. The implementation of the Code is regularly addressed by the FAO Committee of Fisheries (COFI), which also can initiate negotiations of new IPOAs.
Fisheries and conservation of living marine resources
Following the entry into force of the Law of the Sea Convention in 1994, the UN General Assembly initiated a process to monitor its implementation and adopts annual resolutions on oceans and fisheries affairs. Since 1999 an informal consultative process on the law of the sea (UNICPOLOS) has addressed a range of issues relating to the sustainable use of the oceans.
Fisheries and conservation of living marine resources has been a recurring item on its agenda. Fisheries-related issues that have recently been addressed in General Assembly resolutions include bottom-trawling at the high seas, the protection of vulnerable ecosystems, and application of ecosystem approaches to the management of ocean resources.
Fisheries have become an important issue in a number of global environmental processes. The Agenda 21 emanating from the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable development contains a number of action points for fisheries management.
Modern principles for resource management
The last two decades have seen the emergence of several new principles for the management of living marine resources: The precautionary approach, the ecosystem approach, and the integrated oceans management approach are responses to problems of increasing use and pressure on the resources of the oceans and the habitats and ecosystems of which they are a part. The 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement has been particularly important in this regard, by requiring states to apply a precautionary approach to fisheries management.
The adoption of such principles represents a concern on the part of the world community for the state of the oceans and their resources. It is however important to recognize that they are to be applied in very different political, cultural and natural settings, and that the question of their implementation therefore is not one of one single approach, but rather one of finding the appropriate approaches for any given context.