FISH WARS ON THE HIGH SEAS: A STRADDLING STOCK COMPETITION MODEL

The post-World War II era saw the development of powerful self-contained fishing fleets, so-called distant-water fleets (DWFs), which roamed the world's oceans, seeking out rich harvesting targets and practicing pulse fishing. With the creation in the 1980s of coastal states' extended economic zones (EEZs), to manage fisheries out to 200 miles from the shore, it was hoped that the DWFs would close down. But the ranges of many important commercial fish stocks straddle the boundaries of several EEZs, and continue out into international waters. Thus, the consequence of creating the EEZs has been to encourage development of coastal countries' national fleets, while the DWFs continue to harvest in international waters. Here, we model the fish war between a DWF and a regionally-based coalition of coastal states, operating out of their EEZs. The outcome is again a pulse fishery, but one which may be even more destructive than was the former situation, when the DWF was unopposed. Finally we point out the relevance of the fish war model to the issue of creating effective multinational Regional Fisheries Management Organisations — a necessary step for achieving sustainable benefit from the harvest of the regional seas.

Anarchic armadas, Brussels bureaucrats, and the valiant maple leaf: sexuality, governance, and the construction of British nationhood through the Canada-Spain fish war

In March 1995, amid ongoing Balkan conflict, Britain was forced to respond to hostilities emerging from a seemingly unlikely quarter. Angered by saturation fishing of Greenland halibut (turbot) in the North West Atlantic, especially by the Spanish, Canada dispatched warships to an area just beyond their 200 mile fishing zone. Guns were fired and one Spanish vessel was arrested in international waters and impounded. Spain, antagonised by Canadian actions and accusations, and with the backing of the European Union (EU), refused to withdraw from the area. They argued that their fishing practices, in contrast to Canada's actions, were internationally lawful. Conflict escalated, and media interest intensified on both sides of the Atlantic. The British government, facing increasing domestic support for Canada, attempted to steer a middle path. In particular, it tried to use its unique position, as a member of both Commonweulth and Common Market, to negotiate a compromise.