The 1992 Fishery Agreement Between the European Economic Community and the Argentine Republic

The Fishery Agreement concluded in 1992 between the European Economic Communities and the Republic oj Argentina provides an excellent example of the negotiating process leading to the conclusion of a treaty in the field of international fisheries. The Agreement shows how widely diverging interests and seemingly opposing views can be reconciled by two parties prepared to negotiate constructively and to develop a new generation of agreements. This article should be considered against the background formed by developments in the law of the sea. Particularly in the fields of the protection of the environment, the administration of resources and development policy, and the diverging interests that coastal states and ‘distant water fishing states’ have in these matters. To place the conclusion of this Treaty in the appropriate context, an overview of the structural and economic conditions of the fishery sector in Argentina and the European Communities will be given. Finally, the innovative technicalities of the new treaty will be discussed against this background.