Climate variability and tropical tuna: Management challenges for highly migratory fish stocks

The 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement facilitates the creation of regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) to govern harvests of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. The stability and success of these organizations will depend, in part, on how effectively they can maintain member nations’ incentives to cooperate despite the uncertainties and shifting opportunities that may result from climate-driven changes in the productivity, migratory behavior, or catchability of the fish stocks governed by the RFMO. Such climatic impacts may intensify incentives for opportunism, and create other management challenges for the RFMOs now governing tropical tuna fisheries in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.     

Managing straddling stocks: the interplay of global and regional regimes

During the past decade, a number of rivalries over fish stocks straddling from coastal zones into the high seas turned into bitter disputes involving some of the world's foremost fishing nations. This article examines the interplay of global and regional efforts to strengthen the basis for management of high seas fisheries. The overall effect of the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement for the effectiveness of regional management of straddling stocks is to support and globalize institutional features, especially regarding compliance control, that had so far been confined to the most advanced regional regimes. Such interplay between regimes can usefully be analyzed by distinguishing four causal pathways: (1) diffusion, in that one regime may influence the material contents of another; (2) political spillover, when interests or capabilities defined under one regime influence the operation of another; (3) normative interplay, when the rules upheld in one regime conflict or reinforce those established under another; and (4) operational interplay, referring to deliberate coordination of activities under separate regimes in order to avoid normative conflict or wasteful duplication. The article seeks to pinpoint the conditions under which these types of interplay are triggered.     

The tower of Babel: Different perceptions and controversies on change and status of North Sea fish stocks in multi-stakeholder settings

Fishermen, scientists, national policy makers, and staff of environmental NGOs (ENGOs) hold different perceptions about temporal patterns in fish stocks. Perception differences are problematic in multi-stakeholder settings, because they elicit controversies and unbalanced disputes. These hinder effective participation, a prerequisite for ‘good governance’ and effective management of sustainable fisheries. This study shows that perceptions of change (‘does the stock increase or decrease?’) and of current status of a fish stock (‘is it doing well or not?’) are influenced by the capturing and processing of information, rather than by interests alone. We focused on the Dutch North Sea fishery on plaice and sole and examined (1) availability and accessibility of information on temporal patterns of these stocks and (2) perception differences between all parties. A first explanation for these differences is the use of different parameters as a measure for stock size. Fishermen focus on catch rates or catch-per-unit-effort (relative stock size), whereas scientists, policy makers, and ENGO-staff mainly use scientific assessments of spawning stock biomass (absolute stock size). Between-group perception differences are further explained by spatial aggregation levels of information, lengths of time series evaluated, and by modes of comparison to qualify the current status of fish stocks. Awareness of information differences and the development of shared information use and processing may release some of the tensions in multi-stakeholder settings debating fisheries management. However, comprehension problems amongst all parties on how spawning stock biomass is reconstructed and how it relates to catch rates in the fishery may pose an enduring barrier.     

《联合国海洋法公约》群岛制度及其发展趋势和启示

为系统梳理相关国际海洋法律制度的历史和发展情况,推动我国进一步维护国家海洋权益和依法解决海洋争端,文章基于《联合国海洋法公约》介绍群岛制度的谈判历史和发展趋势,并提出对我国群岛制度建设的启示。研究结果表明:对群岛问题的实质性讨论和群岛制度的初步形成始于联合国第三次海洋法会议;历经谈判和博弈,群岛国和群岛基线等内容被《联合国海洋法公约》确定;根据《联合国海洋法公约》,群岛国和非群岛国多通过国内立法行使和充实其群岛权利,推动群岛制度的发展,其中大洋群岛的权利是重要领域和趋势;我国应在遵守《联合国海洋法公约》的前提下加强研究,积极参与国际海洋事务及其规则制定,在充分考量自身实际情况的基础上,通过完善国内立法,构建群岛制度。     

The spectre of uncertainty in management of exploited fish stocks: The illustrative case of Atlantic bluefin tuna

The recent overexploitation of East Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock has been well documented in the media where it has become the archetype of overfishing and general mis-management. Beyond the public debate, the crisis also highlighted how the interactions between science and management can change through time according to the awareness of the public opinion. To reflect these issues, the history of Atlantic bluefin tuna overfishing is first described. Then, the major uncertainties that undermine the current scientific advice are summarized and the importance of reducing their impacts by improving knowledge and developing robust scientific framework is considered. The study also discusses how uncertainty was used by different lobbies to discredit science-based management. The recent improvement in bluefin tuna stock status following the implementation of the rebuilding plan shows that, despite uncertainty in the scientific advice, the management of a heavily exploited fish stock can be positive when there is a political will. However, optimizing long-term yields of modern fisheries implies good science. The study concludes by advocating for the implementation of a scientific quota that should be part of the management framework to support the scientific advice.     

《联合国海洋法公约》与中国海监维权执法

中国海监成立以来,在维护国家海洋权益方面发挥了重要作用.然而,<联合国海洋法公约>规定的模糊、疏漏和国内立法的缺失,给一些国家侵害我国海洋权益提供了可乘之机,制约着中国海监维权执法工作的开展.为此,我国必须加快相关海洋法律法规的出台与完善.中国海监也应直面挑战,采取灵活措施,开展维权工作.     

美国加入《联合国海洋法公约》问题

1982年第三次联合国海洋法会议产生了《联合国海洋法公约》,美国积极参与并主导了该《公约》的整个谈判过程,对《公约》大部分条款持支持态度,但最终却没有签署《公约》,其原因主要在于它反对《公约》第十一部分关于深海采矿的规定。1994年《执行(公约)第十一部分的协定》对《公约》中与深海采矿有关的部分进行了实质性修改,满足了美国的利益和要求,但美国国内对《公约》还存在其他一些反对意见。目前美国国内各界支持加入《公约》的呼声日益高涨,美国正在积极考虑加入《公约》。     

《联合国海洋法公约》对我国海洋地理教育的新要求

《联合国海洋法公约》在我国生效已经十年了,但我国海洋地理教育远远落后于国际海洋形势的发展.为了我国的国家利益和可持续发展,新形势要求我们在海洋地理教育中改革现行地理教材,要求受教育的群体多样化,要求在教育中重新树立海洋意识,加强海洋国情教育,加强海洋资源观教育,加强海洋法权意识,加强海洋道德教育,让开发海洋、保护海洋、保卫海洋国土的意识深入民心.     

Prioritising species for research,conservation and management: a case study of exploited fish species

Studies that categorise species according to their conservation status often fall short in their implementation by not having taken into account the impacts on, or the response from, those that either benefit from, or exploit, the resource under consideration. This is especially true in multispecies fisheries where personnel and funding limitations often create the dilemma over which species should be the first to receive management and research attention. This study uses a multicriteria decision analysis approach to prioritise 176 South African linefish species on the basis of a number of criteria indicating conservation and socio-economic, including fishery sector, importance. For each species, conservation criteria were: abundance trend, level of knowledge, vulnerability, range, and relative exploitation throughout that range. Sectoral criteria were: total catch, degree of targeting, the number of participants and the economic value of each species. The scores given to each species on the basis of each of these criteria were summed to allow an examination of each fish's importance from the points of view of (i) conservation, (ii) each fishery sector separately and combined, and (iii) the overall combined conservation and sectoral importance. Different weight sets were used in the weighted summation of the scores, and results were examined for sensitivity. The results were reasonably insensitive to these changes in weights. Relative scores within each of the fishery sectors were dominated by two or three species. Consequently, the scores separating the remaining species from each other were small. This meant that, in many cases, even when the rank of species changed by a number of places with a different weight set, the differences in score were slight. On the whole, the top fish included the most important species in each sector and biogeographical region and in terms of conservation. The separate and overall rankings should assist in the development of broadly acceptable management strategies for different fish species.     

Sustaining marine life beyond boundaries: Options for an implementing agreement for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

For nearly a decade, governments have been discussing the need to improve efforts to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). Support for a new international agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – an Implementing Agreement – on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ has been growing. In June 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, States agreed to take a decision on the development of an international instrument under UNCLOS before the end of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which runs from September 2014 to August 2015. In follow-up to this commitment, it was agreed to consider the “scope, parameters and feasibility” of this instrument. To inform these international discussions, this article highlights some potential options for the content of a new UNCLOS Implementing Agreement. It first reviews the history of UN discussions, and then elaborates on options to address key elements identified as priorities for States in 2011: marine genetic resources, including the sharing of benefits, area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology. It addresses cross-cutting issues such as the governing principles, institutional structure as well as on other critical points such as High Seas fishing and flag State responsibilities. The article concludes with suggestions on possible next steps in order to succeed in the negotiations for an agreement.     

Experimental activities that intentionally perturb the marine environment: Implications for the marine environmental protection and marine scientific research provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The global community's ability to assess the environmental effects of marine scientific research (MSR) as required by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea's (UNCLOS) marine environment provisions (MEP) is limited, as shown by experimental activities that intentionally manipulate the marine environment. Such work enhances knowledge of the ocean, but it may also have significant environmental effects. This growing use of the ocean as a laboratory has global scientific, environmental, legal and policy implications. Examined here is the relationship between the MSR and the MEP provisions of UNCLOS. International, science-driven guidelines are proposed.