Coastal State requirementrs for foreign fishing

Coastal State requirementrs for foreign fishing

Editor

FAO ;

Descripción

he first edition of Legislation on Coastal State Requirements for Foreign Fishing was published in 1981. Revised versions were published in 1983, 1985, 1988 and 1993.The year 1994 witnessed the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on November 16 one year after 60 countries had ratified or acceded to the Convention. The Convention has, however, increasingly influenced national legislation since the 1970's. This has been noticeable in the steady growth in the number of states claiming territorial seas of 12 miles and exclusive economic zones of 200, or reducing more extensive territorial seas to 12 miles. In recent years, national legislation has more and more provided a framework for comprehensive fisheries management systems having due regard to the optimum utilisation of the living marine resources. As such, States have gained considerable experience in drawing up and implementing schemes for the allocation and control of access by foreign vessels to the waters under their national jurisdiction.In the area of legislation and agreements governing foreign fishing, the last decade has confirmed the move, which started since the 1980's, towards the development of regional approaches to licensing and control of foreign fishing operations. Faced with the immense task of controlling foreign fleets in the vast areas of ocean under national jurisdiction, coastal states in several areas of the world have embarked on regional rather than a purely national approach to compliance control. Significant and increasing actions have thus been taken to develop and implement the principle of flag state responsibility for ensuring compliance of their fishing vessels with the provisions of bilateral or multilateral access agreements and coastal state laws.