Following the conclusion of the negotiations on the Fish Stocks Agreement, the
international community devoted significant efforts to ensuring full high seas coverage with RFMO/As that meet the minimum standards laid down in the Fish Stocks
Agreement. This involved modernizing the constitutive instruments of existing
fisheries bodies as well establishing entirely new RFMO/As. An example of the
latter is the CAOF Agreement,
11 which was opened for signature in October 2018
and is—arguably—an RFMA (see Sect. 3.4). At the time of writing, the International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) had not yet finalized
its negotiations on modernizing its 1966 constitutive instrument,
12 and the Western
Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) was engaged in a process to
transform itself into an RFMO.
13 Other gaps in high seas coverage with RFMO/
As remain to be filled as well.
14
The fact that RFMO/As are at present the preeminent vehicles for fisheries
regulation at the regional level and, arguably, the preeminent institutions of international fisheries law overall, is to some extent a logical consequence of the geographical distribution of many fish stocks. At least as important, however, is that
pro-active and pioneering measures and approaches initiated within RFMO/As are
often subsequently elevated to the global component of international fisheries law.
Once these measures and approaches have become global minimum standards, they
form the benchmark that compels ‘straggling’ RFMOs to ‘upgrade’ their constitutive
instruments and practices.
Well known examples of RFMO/As as the primary source for the progressive
development of international fisheries law include the de facto ecosystem approach
to fisheries (EAF) management that was pioneered in the CAMLR Convention
15
—
to be subsequently embraced by the Fish Stocks Agreement
16
—and the concept of
illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which was developed by the
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
(CCAMLR),
17 and eventually culminated in the IPOA-IUU
18 and the PSM
11 Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean, Ilulissat,
3 October 2018. Not in force; OJ 2019, L 73/3.
12 International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, Rio de Janeiro, 14 May 1966. In
force 21 March 1969 (673 UNTS 63), as amended. Consolidated version available at www.iccat.int.
13 Report of the 2016 WECAFC Meeting, at para. 55.
14 See Harrison (2019), p. 81, who mentions the Central Eastern and South-Western Atlantic and a
smaller gap in the North Pacific. A small gap also exists in the Indian Ocean.
15 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Canberra, 20 May 1980.
In force 7 April 1982 (1329 UNTS 47). See Art. II(3)(b) and (c).
16 See in particular Arts 5(b) and (d)-(g) and 10(d).
17 See the Report of the 16th (1997) Annual CCAMLR Meeting, at para. 2.1 and Annex 5, paras 1.2
and 1.28.
18 International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated
Fishing. Adopted on 2 March 2001 and endorsed on 23 June 2001; text available at www.fao.org/fi.
84
E. J. Molenaar
international community devoted significant efforts to ensuring full high seas coverage with RFMO/As that meet the minimum standards laid down in the Fish Stocks
Agreement. This involved modernizing the constitutive instruments of existing
fisheries bodies as well establishing entirely new RFMO/As. An example of the
latter is the CAOF Agreement,
11 which was opened for signature in October 2018
and is—arguably—an RFMA (see Sect. 3.4). At the time of writing, the International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) had not yet finalized
its negotiations on modernizing its 1966 constitutive instrument,
12 and the Western
Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) was engaged in a process to
transform itself into an RFMO.
13 Other gaps in high seas coverage with RFMO/
As remain to be filled as well.
14
The fact that RFMO/As are at present the preeminent vehicles for fisheries
regulation at the regional level and, arguably, the preeminent institutions of international fisheries law overall, is to some extent a logical consequence of the geographical distribution of many fish stocks. At least as important, however, is that
pro-active and pioneering measures and approaches initiated within RFMO/As are
often subsequently elevated to the global component of international fisheries law.
Once these measures and approaches have become global minimum standards, they
form the benchmark that compels ‘straggling’ RFMOs to ‘upgrade’ their constitutive
instruments and practices.
Well known examples of RFMO/As as the primary source for the progressive
development of international fisheries law include the de facto ecosystem approach
to fisheries (EAF) management that was pioneered in the CAMLR Convention
15
—
to be subsequently embraced by the Fish Stocks Agreement
16
—and the concept of
illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which was developed by the
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
(CCAMLR),
17 and eventually culminated in the IPOA-IUU
18 and the PSM
11 Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean, Ilulissat,
3 October 2018. Not in force; OJ 2019, L 73/3.
12 International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, Rio de Janeiro, 14 May 1966. In
force 21 March 1969 (673 UNTS 63), as amended. Consolidated version available at www.iccat.int.
13 Report of the 2016 WECAFC Meeting, at para. 55.
14 See Harrison (2019), p. 81, who mentions the Central Eastern and South-Western Atlantic and a
smaller gap in the North Pacific. A small gap also exists in the Indian Ocean.
15 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Canberra, 20 May 1980.
In force 7 April 1982 (1329 UNTS 47). See Art. II(3)(b) and (c).
16 See in particular Arts 5(b) and (d)-(g) and 10(d).
17 See the Report of the 16th (1997) Annual CCAMLR Meeting, at para. 2.1 and Annex 5, paras 1.2
and 1.28.
18 International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated
Fishing. Adopted on 2 March 2001 and endorsed on 23 June 2001; text available at www.fao.org/fi.
84
E. J. Molenaar