Reflections on the Implications of Environmental Norms for Fishing: The Link between the Regulation of Fishing and the Protection of Marine Biological Diversity

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 389-409
Author(s):  
Yoshifumi Tanaka

Abstract The aim of this article is to examine the implications of environmental norms for fishing by analysing the South China Sea and Chagos Marine Protected Area cases. In so doing, the article considers the link between the regulation of fishing and the protection of marine biological diversity. Specifically, three issues are to be examined: (1) the implications of Articles 192 and 194(5) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for the regulation of environmentally harmful fishing, (2) the implications of Article 194 of the Convention for the fishing rights of a state, and (3) balance between environmental considerations and the fishing rights of a state. In this connection, the article argues that environmentally harmful fishing can be regarded as a key concept when considering the regulation of fishing from the viewpoints of marine environmental protection.

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-855
Author(s):  
Mariano J. Aznar

Abstract Spain has just declared a new marine protected area in the Mediterranean. This follows a protective trend taken by Spanish authorities during the last decades and has permitted Spain to honour its international compromises under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It contributes to a framework of protected areas established under conventional regimes such as OSPAR, RAMSAR or EU Natura 2000. The new area protects a ‘cetacean corridor’ and will be inscribed in the list of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance under the Barcelona Convention regional framework.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Churchill

AbstractThis is the seventh of a series of annual surveys reviewing dispute settlement in the law of the sea both under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and outside the framework of the Convention. The main developments during 2010 were the commencement of four new, and very different, cases—a request for an advisory opinion in the Responsibilities and Obligations of States sponsoring Persons and Entities with respect to Activities in the Area case and three contentious cases, the Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan), the M/V Louisa (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v. Kingdom of Spain) and Dispute concerning the ‘Marine Protected Area’ related to the Chagos Archipelago (Mauritius v. United Kingdom) cases—and an order by the ITLOS declining to prescribe provisional measures in the M/V Louisa case.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
patrick Smallhorn-West ◽  
Hugh Govan

Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted 20 targets, known as the Aichi Targets, to benchmark progress towards protecting biodiversity. These targets include Target 11 relating to Marine Protected Area coverage and the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the accepted international database for tracking national commitments to this target. However, measuring national progress towards conservation targets relies on sound data. This paper highlights the large-scale misrepresentation, by up to two orders of magnitude, of national marine protected area coverage from two Pacific Island nations in multiple online databases and subsequent reports, including conclusions regarding achievements of Aichi 11 commitments. It recommends that for the target driven approach to have value, users of the WDPA data should carefully consider its caveats before using their raw data and that countries should strive for a greater degree of accountability. Lastly it also concludes that protected area coverage may not be the best approach to environmental sustainability and that the remaining 19 targets should be considered to a greater extent.


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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-152
Author(s):  
Hua Zhang

Abstract The development of international law of the sea by international courts and tribunals is generally acknowledged among international lawyers. In retrospect, the creative jurisprudence of international judicial bodies was incorporated into the mainstream of international law-making process in many cases, while the experience of failure cannot be ignored. In the past decade, the strengthening of marine environmental protection has become a tendency in international adjudication. Accordingly, the content and scope of due diligence obligation has been discovered, consolidated and extended. In light of the evolution of due diligence obligation, the methodology of law-making by international judicial bodies includes: inter alia, interpretation, cross-reference of precedents, analogy, and assertion. However, from the perspective of legitimacy, law-making should not become the normal function of international judicial bodies. Bearing in mind international rule of law and good administration of justice, the lawmaking activities of international courts and tribunals should be curtailed in certain degree.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Churchill

This is the latest in a series of annual surveys reviewing dispute settlement in the law of the sea, both under the un Convention on the Law of the Sea and outside the framework of the Convention, and covering developments in 2015. During the year the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea gave an advisory opinion concerning fisheries questions in the exclusive economic zone and made two orders of provisional measures. Annex vii arbitral tribunals delivered awards on the merits in the Chagos Marine Protected Area and Arctic Sunrise cases, and the tribunal in the Philippines v. China case gave an award on jurisdiction and admissibility. There were also a number of less significant developments during the year.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary George ◽  
Abdul Samad Shaik Osman ◽  
Hanafi Hussin ◽  
Anneliz Reina George

The International Maritime Organization (imo) adopted legally binding regulations for the control of ships’ atmospheric emissions under Annex vi of the International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships, 1973/78. With Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia being States Parties thereto, consequently, one of the effects in the Malacca and Singapore Straits is that it enables the Straits States, together with the imo, to designate emission control areas for the approximately 75,000 ships transiting annually. This article examines the robust provisions of Annex vi for the marine environmental protection of the Straits and the contentious debates preceding an otherwise dead-locked technology-transfer resolution for implementing Annex vi. If implemented, Annex vi provisions will represent a unique milestone in the protection of the marine environment of the Straits which is regulated by the restrictive provisions of Part iii of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.


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