Until recently, the international community failed to adopt either an agreed limit for the breadth of the territorial sea or a satisfactory regime of fisheries in the waters adjacent to the territorial sea. This provoked an eruption of unilateral acts by which coastal states extended their jurisdiction towards the high seas. The Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea accepted the establishment of a 12-mile territorial sea and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. While taking into account the non-existent rights and interests of the so-called geographically disadvantaged states and of states with broad continental shelves, the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea practically ignored existing rights and interests of habitual fishing states. It maintained the well-established principle of freedom of fishing on the high seas but with specific conditions. Dissatisfied with the Convention's regulation of fishing on the high seas, a few states elected to hold a U.N. Conference on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks which adopted the 1995 Agreement for the implementation of the provisions of the Convention relating to the conservation and management of such stocks. Similarly, some of these states, like Chile, Argentina, and Canada, adopted legislation extending their jurisdiction beyond their respective 200-mile fishing or exclusive economic zones. This book explores these events in the historical development of the international regulations of fisheries and concludes with a look into recent developments in the area.

Fisheries for highly migratory species are important in all oceans and semi-enclosed seas, except for polar regions. Fisheries for straddling fish stocks are much more localised, primarily occurring in a few regions where continental shelves extend beyond the 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), while most fisheries for other high seas fishery resources are deep-water fisheries. This publication examines issues relating to the stocks of these resources, including information on their state of exploitation. Findings include that about 30 percent of the stocks of highly migratory tuna and tuna-like species, more than half of highly migratory oceanic sharks and nearly two-thirds of the straddling stocks and the stocks of other high seas fishery resources are overexploited or depleted. Although the stocks concerned represent only a small fraction of the world fishery resources, they are key indicators of the state of an overwhelming part of the ocean ecosystem which appears to be more overexploited than EEZs.

"A publication of the National Research Council of Canada Monograph Publishing Program."

Excerpt from International Straddling Fisheries Stocks: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Fisheries Management of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session on H. Con; Res; 135 Although foreign delegates signed a document in 1992 providing for temporary suspension Of all commercial fishing in the Donut Hole for 1993-1994 and subsequently met in 1993 to negotiate a long-term management regime, nothing permanent has been agreed to as of this date. As Ambassador Colson said, we are going to Seoul the first of the month and press further on that. I would ask the subcommittee to pursue vigorously legislation to ensure permanent conservation and management for these impor tant resources. And, lastly, Mr. Chairman, I would like to bring to your atten tion The us. Draft Agreement for the Conservation and Manage ment of Pollock Resources in the Bering Sea as negotiated by the Department of State and the Governments Of the Peoples Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Republic of Poland and the Russian Republic. This agreement has the strength and bite to pro teet our straddling stocks. I respectfully request that when the agreement is sent to the Congress, please take immediate and posi tive action. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Leading scholars of international law and international relations explain the wave of regional disputes that arose in the 1990s over fish stocks that straddle both national waters and the high seas.