Fish Population Dynamic and Stock Assessment

10.4.2. Origins of public policy

The present functioning of fishery resource agencies develops basically from public attitudes that have evolved for a very long time. It must be presumed that the earliest people who subsisted largely by hunting and fishing originated the concepts that the game and fish belong to no one until after they are killed and physically possessed. Such wild animals were important to everyone who depended upon them yet.

In most countries, fishing laws are still based on the assumption that the fish belong to no one until caught, except for those in certain government waters and for fish grown in private aquaculture.

Since fish commonly been considered to belong to no one, fishing has been regarded by everyone as a right. In ancient China, all waters were free and open to fishing with the exception of a few imperial reserves. Under Roman law, the sea and public waters were open for fishing by anyone. However, private waters were recognized and granted by governments in such situations as coves, backwaters, small lakes, and aquacultural ponds. Exceptions were also made in some places in favor of the fisherman who first occupied a site with fixed gear, such as a trap. He was allowed exclusive use of the shore or water for a reasonable distance around his gear, even though he did not own the fish until he caught them.

Today, most domestic waters remain open to fishing by all citizens of the country having jurisdiction. In countries with large numbers of recreational fishermen, this right may be exercised by a large proportion of the population.

Those fished in international waters, namely the sea and a few large boundary or rivers, went beyond the limits of domestic authority into an area that, in early times, was shared universally. It was an area of no law, an area of freedom from all domestic authority. But since 1300 that area has been gradually reduced, and now we have a new Law of the Sea, of which control of the fisheries is an important part.