This book examines legal, economic and environmental developments including recent state and international practice.

In Filling Regulatory Gaps in High Seas Fisheries, author Yoshinobu Takei investigates the regime of high seas fisheries from the perspective of international law and considers whether there are regulatory gaps in high seas fisheries and, if so, how they should be filled. The book focuses on topical issues such as the management of deep-sea fisheries on the high seas and the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems. In view of the current state of marine fisheries resources, together with ecosystem concerns, swift and effective action is required to improve fisheries management, in particular for high seas fisheries. Takei thoroughly analyzes the current state of affairs and convincingly suggests steps to be taken in the future.

International Marine Economy offers contributions from marine experts around the globe on the economic impacts of recent developments in international waters. From the South China Arbitration Award to the Bay of Bengal Case, this text includes important writings on Artic Shipping and Fisheries, the deep seabed, resources and maritime boundary regimes and studies the possibility of a new international agreement regulating the conservation of biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Finally, it concludes by considering the challenges and opportunities of whaling in the Antarctic Case, ocean governance issues in Southeast Asia, and the exercise of control over foreign merchant vessels and state liability for wrong assessments. This volume offers much needed contemporary commentary from renowned scholars on rapidly evolving maritime topics.

New Knowledge and Changing Circumstances in the Law of the Sea focuses on the challenges posed to the existing legal framework, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the various ways in which States are addressing these challenges.

The concept of a fishing entity is a new category of fishing actors, separate from that of states, in the international law of the sea. The emergence of this new category provides a significant development towards a more flexible application of regulations regarding usage of the sea. A fishing entity owns advanced technology and fishing skills, and, as such, has an important role to play in global and regional conservation and management of fishery resources. Despite this, it is defined as being distinct from a state in the relevant legal documents, resulting in unclear circumstances involving certain global and regional agreements which usually apply to the latter. This ambiguity is particularly prevalent in legal procedures on the high seas when the sovereignty of a state comes into question, such as boarding and inspection. This book provides a detailed definition of the role of the fishing entity in the international law of the sea, and its obligations and rights in high seas fishery enforcements.

This book investigates competing constructions of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and their role in the creation and articulations of legal principles, providing a broader perspective on the ongoing negotiation at the UN on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

The call by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development for New Negotiation to improve conservation of high seas fishing stocks again challenges the capacity of international law to cope with emerging problems. Examining past and current experience, The New International Law of Fisheries considers the revolutionary changes in the international law of the sea that reached their final stages in the 1970s and discusses their impact on state protection and customary law. It focuses upon the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, particularly the provisions on the exclusive economic zone where the bulk of world fishing occurs, as well as the major international decisions on high seas fishing, including driftnets, the harvesting of particular species, including salmon, tuna, and marine mammals, and the states that occupy coastal areas of national jurisdiction and high seas. This new study should be of particular interest to international lawyers interested in environmental law and the law of the sea and to states where fishing plays a vital economic role.

The Law of the Sea Convention has now reached 25 years of presence in the international scene as a constitution for the oceans. It was the product of a long and arduous negotiation with a final product of delicate balance. The purpose of this book is to examine whether the basic premises and essential compromises of the Convention still hold true or whether the Convention, as a living instrument, has evolved into accommodating new needs and challenges to its regulatory scheme. The vehicle chosen is the jurisdictional interplay between the States, as flag States, coastal States and port States, and the world community at large in matters relating to navigation, fisheries, access to the biological resources of the deep seabed or even maritime security. The result confirms the solid foundations of the Convention and its ability to evolve and expand without upsetting its essential balance. A book useful to all those interested in the law of the sea and the structure of international law.

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.