April 6

Lecture Outline - April 6

The Management of Global Fisheries

I.  Fisheries and the Fishing Industry

             Major families of commercially caught marine fish      

                      1.   herring, sardines, pilchards, anchovies

                      2.   salmon (andromous species)

                      3.   cod

                      4.  tuna and mackerel

                      5.  bottom flatfish fish - halibut, flounder

                      6.  Invertebrates   - lobster, scallop, shrimp, krill crabs

                      7.  Mammals  (whales, seals, sharks)

        The technology of fishing 

                      -  gillnets, drift nets, purse seines  (for pelagic species)

                       - trawls, longlines  (for demersal species)

        Coastal and distant water fishing fleets 

        Overharvesting and decline of marine fisheries

                 Report FAO Fisheries Department-2004 

 In 1999, 4 percent of the stocks appeared to be underexploited, 21 percent were moderately exploited, 47 percent fully exploited, 18 percent overexploited, 9 percent depleted and 1 percent recovering.  (from 2000 FAO Report on Fisheries and Aquaculture)

Global study  (animation) announced in 2003 concludes that numbers of  large ocean fish have declined by 90% over the past 50 years.

         The growth of the aquaculture industry (fish farming)

II.   The International Law of Fishing

• Customary law of the high seas

•  Extended unilateral claims to fishery zones

• International Fishery Commissions

            (Examples) 

                Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization 

                International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 

                North Pacific Fur Seal Commission 

                North Sea Commission 

                Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources 

                International Whaling Commission 

• Law of the Sea Treaty (1982)

                coastal states have exclusive right to manage fisheries in 200 mile EEZs 

The Turbot War between Canada and Spain      (map)

•     UN Moratorium on High Seas Drift Nets  (1991)

•     Convention on Highly Migratory and Straddling Stocks  (1995)     (ratifications  -  56 as of Sept. 2005, including the US, Canada, and Spain)

            -Reaffirms responsibility of nations that fish the stocks to cooperate in preserving them

            -Fishing nations responsible for accurate figures on catch, conducting scientific 

                research, and eliminating overfishing and excess capacity

            -Adopts "precautionary approach"

            -Denies access to nations not members of regional fishery commissions

            -Significantly strengthens enforcement, especially responsibilities of the flag states

                      -Disputes to be resolved by peaceful means