The Role of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations in the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stock and Highly Migratory Fish Stock

Fish naturally migrate a lot during their life cycle depending on availability of food and water temperature. Some species migrate between the EEZs of two or more States; these are referred to as ‘shared stock’ and are outside the scope of this essay. Some other species migrate between the EEZs of two or more States and areas beyond and adjacent to the EEZs. These species are called ‘Straddling Fish Stock (SFS)’. There is yet another specie of fish which migrates over long distances and may be found within numerous EEZs and the high sea; these are referred to as ‘Highly Migratory Fish Stock (HMFS)’. Distant Water Fishing Nations (DWFN), having been displaced from areas of high seas that were now incorporated into EEZs, fished for SFS/HMFS just outside the EEZs of coastal states. This posed serious problems for coastal states as their efforts to conserve and manage SFS/HMFS within their EEZs were undermined by the activities of DWFN on the high seas. Consequently, conflicts broke out between coastal states which tried to extend their conservation and management measures of these stocks to the high seas and DWFN which insisted that fishing on the high seas is open to all and cannot be regulated by coastal states. In a bid to balance the interests of coastal states and DWFN, UNCLOS III established the duty of States fishing for SFS/HMFS to cooperate, directly or through appropriate sub-regional or regional organizations, to agree upon measures necessary for the conservation of these stocks.3 This led to the establishment of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and other arrangements geared towards the conservation and management of SFS/HMFS. This essay shall attempt to critically assess the role of RFMOs in the conservation and management of SFS and HMFS. The first part of this essay will give a brief overview of RFMOs; the second part will discuss the role of RFMOs under UNCLOS III and the 1995 Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 Relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (UNFSA); while the third part will discuss the effectiveness of RFMOs focusing on challenges faced by them