Fisheries Administration and Lagislation

Unit 10 - International law of the sea

10.1. Introduction
The 3rd United Nations Conference on Law of the Sea in 1973-1982 achieved the status of law in 1994. Until early 50’s there were only international agreements for sharing of fishery resources. The 1st United Nations Conference on law was held on 1958 followed by 1960 and a series of meetings during 1973-1982. According to United Nations Conference on law of seas, Part V EEZ of from territorial waters became the property of coastal states. The doctrine of the freedom of the seas as it pertained to fisheries, rested upon two premises:

• The high seas fishery resources are inexhaustible
• Coastal states will not be able to control the resources beyond their territorial waters

However with the developments in fishing technology, shipping and transport, the above reasons were found to be wrong. Under part V of the UNCLOS 1973-1982 coastal states were granted the right to establish EEZs out to 200 nautical miles (370.4 kilometers) from the shore. Within the EEZ the coastal state has “sovereign the rights for the exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the fishery resources contained therein” If the coastal state has effective property rights to fishery resources within the EEZ, then the next and obvious question is the impact of EEZ on world capture fisheries. It was estimated that 90 percent of the world commercial marine capture fisheries were harvested within the EEZ.
Reason for International Law of the Sea, 1982

• Freedom of seas
• Extension of territorial waters
• Rights of the coastal state like India, Bangladesh, Srilanka