Analysis of IUU Fishing in Indonesia and the Indonesian Legal Framework Reform for Monitoring, Control and Surveillance of Fishing Vessels

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dikdik Mohamad Sodik

AbstractIllegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is considered as a major threat to Indonesian fish stocks. The battle against IUU fishing activities has recently become a high priority in the national fisheries management agenda. Indonesia has implemented a series of laws and regulations concerning monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS). This article analyses the adequacy of the Indonesian legislation relating to MCS. After a discussion of the relevant IUU fishing, the adequacy of the national instruments is measured against the international fisheries instruments. The article will seek to demonstrate gaps in the current legal framework governing MCS for fishing vessels. The author recommends that Indonesia fully implement the MCS provisions of all relevant international fisheries instruments as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC), the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the FAO International Plan of Action-IUU.

Author(s):  
Kevern L. Cochrane ◽  
David J. Doulman

Since agreement was reached in 1982 on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and particularly since the conclusion of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, the rate of development of global instruments impacting on fisheries has escalated considerably and is apparently continuing to do so. A flood of global and regional instruments relevant to fisheries has been generated, including, for example, the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which pre–dates the UN Convention, the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992 Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development, the 1993 FAO Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas, the 1995 UN Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its four international plans of action and strategy, and the 2001 FAO Reykjavík Declaration on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem reflecting the growing international interest in ecosystem approaches to fisheries. Most recent has been the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development's Plan of Implementation. These instruments have been motivated by real problems associated with environmental degradation and living resource depletion, in several cases specifically in connection with fisheries. They have attempted to address these problems, and each instrument is recognized as being a positive contribution towards the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems. However, taken collectively they form a large, often confusing and potentially overwhelming set of recommendations and requirements that is putting many fishery management agencies under severe pressure as they seek to implement them. This paper provides a brief overview of the range of recent instruments and their implications for sustainable fisheries management, considers the progress being made in implementing them, identifies general problems being encountered and how they might be ameliorated in the future. A key problem is a lack of political will, or political ability, to address effectively the problems facing fisheries and marine ecosystems. One consequence of this is that the agencies charged with fisheries management are not provided with adequate technical and financial capacity to implement the instruments in most, if not all, countries. The problem is especially acute in developing countries where they are strained by the full effects of ‘instrument implementation fatigue’.


Author(s):  
Valentin J. Schatz ◽  
Arron N. Honniball

International fisheries law is a broad field of international law within which significant state practice, instruments, and relevant fora are found at the global, regional, subregional, bilateral, and national level. For the purposes of this bibliography, the analysis of international fisheries law is limited to the law governing marine capture fisheries (other fisheries law definitions may include the regulation of aquaculture or inland fisheries). This bibliography also primarily approaches fisheries law as a matter of fisheries conservation and management under the international law of the sea. The two main treaties of global application which reflect its foundational framework are the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (UNFSA). As a starting point, one should consult the maritime zones established under UNCLOS and customary law, whereby the distribution of rights and obligations among the various capacities of states differs per maritime zone. As fish do not respect legal boundaries, special rules of international law that emphasize cooperation and management between states must be adopted and adapted for shared fish stocks such as transboundary fish stocks, straddling fish stocks, and highly migratory fish stocks. In addition, various treaties of global application dealing with specific issues exist, such as the 1993 Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas (Compliance Agreement) and, most recently, the 2009 Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA). This global treaty framework is complemented by various global non–legally binding instruments, most of which were adopted under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). On the regional level, countless multilateral and bilateral fisheries treaties have been concluded, and the field remains highly dynamic. Notably, many fisheries are nowadays managed by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and Arrangements (RFMO/As) or bilateral fisheries commissions. As a thematically defined field of law, international fisheries law is not restricted to the rules governing conservation and management of marine fisheries, but may equally raise, among other issues, questions of general international law of the sea such as jurisdiction and maritime law enforcement operations, international environmental law, international trade law, international human rights law, and international dispute settlement.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Molenaar

AbstractAlthough the Fish Stocks Agreement was adopted by consensus after around only 2.5 years of negotiation, the final text did not fully resolve all significant differences of view. As it was feared that participation in the Fish Stocks Agreement would remain as troublesome as in the 1958 Geneva Fisheries Convention, considerable efforts have been made to promote wider participation since the Agreement’s entry into force in 2001. On 22 November 2010 there were 78 parties to the Fish Stocks Agreement and 161 to the Law of the Sea Convention. This article examines the current status and reasons for non-participation in the Fish Stocks Agreement by, inter alia, categorizing non-participation, appraising participation in light of the current participation in the Law of the Sea Convention and examining the relationship between the Agreement and regional fisheries management organizations.


Author(s):  
Yoshifumi Tanaka

The aim of this chapter is to examine the role of the United Nations (UN) in treaty-making in the field of the law of the sea. In particular, this chapter addresses the First and Third United Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea, and the treaty-making process of two implementation agreements, that is, the 1994 Implementation Agreement and the 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement. In this regard, it is important to note that the tasks of the conferences in the field of the law of the sea have changed over time. At the First UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, its primary task was to establish a legal framework for coordinating interests of individual states according to multiple jurisdictional zones. In contrast, the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea that adopted the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) dealt not only with the reconciliation of competing state interests but also with the safeguarding of community interests, such as the establishment of the deep seabed regime on the basis of the principle of common heritage of mankind and marine environmental protection. As demonstrated by this Conference, the task of treaty-making conferences under the auspices of the UN is no longer limited to the reconciliation of state interests but includes the safeguard and promotion of community interests at sea. Thus, the reconciliation between state interests and community interests should be a crucial issue in treaty-making in the law of the sea.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-157
Author(s):  
Dita LILIANSA

AbstractIndonesia has been burning or sinking foreign vessels in its efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in its exclusive economic zone. Opinions on how much longer this measure should continue are manifold. While political issues may easily mask the situation, the underlying legal question remains: whether burning or sinking foreign vessels is a legal and necessary enforcement measure for Indonesia. Even though Article 73(1) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not make any reference to this type of measure, it allows coastal states to take measures that are “necessary to ensure compliance with their laws and regulations”. This paper examines the meaning of the term “necessary” within the ambit of Article 73(1) to evaluate whether Indonesia's measure to burn or sink foreign vessels is necessary.


2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 890-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Gavouneli

On April 2, 2015, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) rendered its first ever advisory opinion by the full Tribunal in response to a request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), a regional fisheries organization comprised of seven West-African States. The Tribunal was asked to address four substantive questions relating to the obligations of the flag and coastal states regarding fisheries management and the ensuing responsibility of both states and competent organizations for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. In doing so, it also had occasion to clarify whether ITLOS indeed has plenary advisory jurisdiction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-130
Author(s):  
Keyuan Zou ◽  
Jiayi Wang

Abstract The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea created the exclusive economic zone regime, which makes more than 90 per cent of the world’s commercial fish stocks under the national jurisdiction of coastal States. The biological characteristics of fish demonstrate that the long-term sustainability of fisheries can only be achieved through cooperation and coordination among States, especially for the conservation of transboundary fish stocks. However, the ocean may have more than 1,500 transboundary fish stocks, only a limited number are subjected to effective cooperative management. This article provides an overview of the international legal framework on transboundary fisheries and China’s practice on shared stocks and distant water fisheries, and argues that current bilateral fisheries agreements are not sufficient enough to manage transboundary fish stocks and China still has much to do on regulating distant water fisheries.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritaka Hayashi

AbstractThis article considers the gaps in the existing legal regime on deep-sea fisheries and explores a more effective global governance system. It is proposed that a new global agreement, modeled on the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement, be negotiated covering deep-sea stocks as well as other high seas resources, so that all fisheries on the high seas may be covered. The proposed agreement would complete the gaps in high seas fisheries regime and serve as an effective link between the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and regional fisheries bodies. As a short-term measure, FAO should prepare a set of guidelines covering all types of deep-sea fisheries, including shared and transboundary stocks as well as discrete high seas stocks. In addition, FAO's Committee on Fisheries should be strengthened in its global governance role, including co-ordination of all regional fisheries bodies


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