IUU Fishing: Contemporary Practice

The last decade has seen increasing attention to the problems caused by inadequate controls over fishing effort. While non-compliance with fisheries regulations is not new, the 1990s brought the problems in managing high seas stocks, particularly highly migratory and straddling stocks, into sharp relief. More recently the problems of dealing with fishing operations that take place outside relevant management arrangements or outside effective control by flag States (so called flag of convenience - FOC - vessels), given the title illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing (IUU Fishing) have attracted considerable attention. IUU Fishing can take place in any fishery, and can as easily take place within a coastal State's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as on the high seas. Most recent attention has, however, been placed on the problems of IUU Fishing in the high seas and the efficacy of existing imitruments, institutions and practice to combat this problem. This chapter begins with a brief survey of key legal instruments before moving to examine tools that can be used to address IUU Fishing and the role of international and regional organizations and States.