Bilateral Negotiations to Co-Manage Shared Marine Fisheries for Purposes of Conservation and Restoration

There can be no equitable sharing of living marine resources where resources are so depleted and degraded that there is little left to share. With estimates of 75% of the world’s global fish stocks being fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted or in the process of recovering from overfishing, the legal focus of fishing policy must shift from understanding marine life as exploitable economic stocks to identifying marine life as critical biological populations whose survival is important for the health of the oceans. Since the health of the oceans has consequences not only for marine life but also for food security and climate change mitigation, States should focus fishery efforts on collaboratively conserving and restoring marine populations and their habitats within their exclusive economic zones. With its focus on fair allocation of stocks, the Law of the Sea provides insufficient guidance on how States should undertake conserving and restoring threatened biological populations and habitat.