1998 Year of the Ocean Ocean Living Resources 



Box 3: International Sustainable Fisheries Initiatives 



For centuries, customary international law and practice have been mare 

 liberum, freedom of the sea. It was customary that anyone possessing the 

 wherewithal to ply the seas and cast nets was free to fish. Further, it was assumed 

 that anyone wishing to impose any restrictions on fishing (or other activity) on the 

 seas bore the burden of proof to show that the activity was harmful before any 

 limitations were necessary. Moreover, the only persons permitted access to the 

 arenas where decisions about marine wildlife were made were government 

 officials and user groups. Over time, these two presumptions have shifted, most 

 recently and most thoroughly in an international agreement about ocean fishing. 



The United States has been a leader in promoting international agreements 

 and initiatives that shift the focus from increasing catches at all costs to 

 sustainable fishing, ecosystem protection, conservation of biodiversity, and the 

 precautionary approach to fishery management. These agreements include: 



• The 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea contains a 

 comprehensive menu of dispute settlement procedures. Universal 

 acceptance of the Convention (including accession to the Convention 

 by the United States) would provide additional tools to deal promptly 

 and constructively with disputes involving fisheries management. 



• The Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United 

 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Relating to the Conservation 

 and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish 

 Stocks has been heralded as a "sea change" in international fisheries 

 law (Freestone 1997). The UN Agreement on Straddling Stocks has 

 been held up as a measure against which effective fishery management 

 regimes should be measured. In addition to its precautionary provisions, 

 the Agreement calls for collection and use of best available scientific 

 information, and directs signing nations to conduct their fishery 

 business in open, accessible "transparenf ' forums where interested 

 parties can observe and participate. 



(continued) 



C-26 



