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Fisheries under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Shigeru Oda
Shigeru Oda*
Affiliation:
International Court of Justice
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Extract

Under the traditional rules of international law, the sea was divided into the high seas and the territorial seas and in each case different rules and regulations obtained. As for the exploitation of fishery resources, the coastal state possessed unquestioned rights to regulate any such exploitation within its territorial sea and to apply its domestic legislation fully to any person engaged in such activities. Similarly, the coastal state was free to prohibit fishing by foreigners in its territorial sea and thus to monopolize those fishery resources. On the high seas, however, no state was allowed, at least in principle, to impose its jurisdiction upon any foreign vessel, since fishing on the high seas fell under the general regime of the high seas. The existence of these two disparate regimes, namely, exploitation under the full control of the coastal state and exploitation free from interference by any country, was a fundamental presumption underlying the exploitation of fishery resources.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 77 , Issue 4 , October 1983 , pp. 739 - 755
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1983

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References

1 No particular reference is made here to any other publication, as this subsection merely confirms the author’s long held view, expressed in such works as International Control of Sea Resources (1963); International Law of the Resources of the Sea, 127 Recueil des Cours 353 (1969 II) (reprinted ed. with Supp. 1979); The Law of the Sea in Our Time, I: New Developments 1966–1975 (1977).

2 Canada and United States of America, UN Doc. A/CONF.19/L.11 (1960), Second United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Official Records, Summary Records of Plenary Meetings and of Meetings of the Committee of the Whole [hereinafter cited as UNCLOS II, Off. Rec], UN Doc. A/CONF.19/8, at 173.

3 Kenya, Draft articles on exclusive economic zone concept, UN Doc. A/AC.138/SC.II/L.10 (1972), 27 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 21) at 180, UN Doc. A/8721 (1972).

4 Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela, Draft articles of treaty—Territorial sea, UN Doc. A/ AC.138/SC.II/L.21 (1973), 28 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 21, Vol. Ill) at 19, UN Doc. A/9021 (1973).

5 Bulgaria, Byelorussian SSR, German Democratic Republic, Poland, Ukrainian SSR, and USSR, Draft articles on the economic zone, Arts. 11–14, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/C.2/L.38 (1974), 3 Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Official Records [hereinafter cited as UNCLOS III, Off. Rec] 214, 215.

6 United States of America, Draft articles for a chapter on the economic zone and the continental shelf, Art. 12, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/C.2/L.47 (1974), 3 UNCLOS III, Off. Rec. at 222, 223.

7 Draft articles, note 5 supra, Art. 12.

8 UN Doc. A/CONF.62/WP.8/pt.II, Art. 50, paras. 1 and 2 (1975), 4 UNCLOS III, Off. Rec. at 160.

9 UNCLOS II, Off. Rec., note 2 supra, at 30.

10 Afghanistan, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Finland, Iraq, Laos, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Mali, Nepal, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Singapore, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, Upper Volta, Zambia, Draft articles on participation of land-locked and other geographically disadvantaged States in the exploration and exploitation of the living and nonliving resources in the area beyond the territorial sea, particularly Art. 4, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/ C.2/L.39 (1974), 3 UNCLOS HI, Off. Rec. at 216.

11 United States of America, Draft article for inclusion in a chapter on the high seas—living resources, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/C.2/L.80 (1974), 3 UNCLOS III, Off. Rec. at 239.

12 Note 8 supra, Art. 105.

13 Note 11 supra, para. 2.

14 Id., para. 2(d).

15 Note 6 supra, Art. 20.

16 Note 8 supra, Art. 53, paras. 1 and 2.

17 In this part the author is also suggesting his long-standing view expressed in his previous works, as referred to in note 1 supra, and, in addition, Sharing of Ocean Resources—Unresolved Issues in the Law of the Sea, in The Management of Humanity’s Resources: the Law of the Sea 49 (Hague Academy of International Law/UN University Workshop, 1981).

18 Revised Draft Articles on the Exclusive Economic Zone (submitted by Kenya as Member of the AALCC), Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, Report of the 14th Session (New Delhi, Jan. 10–18, 1973), at 61.