The term
fisheries includes both marine and inland capture fisheries
as well as marine and inland aquaculture. In the formulation and
revision of national fisheries legislation, in particular marine
fisheries, FAO is guided by the recent developments which have taken
place within the United Nations and FAO.
They are :
- the entering into force of the UN Convention on the Law of
the Sea,
- 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 1982 UN Convention
on the Law of the Sea, relating to the Conservation and Management
of Straddling Fish Stocks
and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and
- the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The core issues in FAO's work on marine fisheries
legislation are the conservation, management and utilisation of
the living resources of the EEZ, followed by institutional issues
and enforcement (e.g. Angola, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia,
Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Gabon, Guyana, Jamaica, Senegal). Particular
efforts are developed to introduce workable legal innovations and
to provide legal instruments which can readily be used and assimilated.
Issues of increasing importance
often relate to monitoring, control and surveillance of fisheries
(e.g. West Africa and South West Indian Ocean), the creation of
property rights in fisheries resources and the introduction of co-management
regimes (e.g. Bulgaria, Estonia, Namibia, Tonga, Uruguay).the use
of satellite-based vessel monitoring systems at national and regional
level (e.g. Namibia, Mozambique, FFA, CSRP). Aspects of foreign
fishing, including licences and agreements and chartering of boats
remain important.
The fundamental importance of the conservation
of the resources on the high seas has led some countries
towards revising their legislation with the assistance of FAO (e.g.
Angola, Namibia, Malaysia, The Maldives, Vietnam, and OECS member
countries including, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda)
to reflect as far as possible the recently concluded international
instruments, including the legislative adoption of objectives such
as the precautionary approach to fisheries management, increased
flag state responsibility and the gathering and exchange of information
on high seas activities and thus to implement these legal instruments
through their national legislation.
While much of the attention
of the past two decades has focused on marine fisheries, particularly
the EEZ there is now renewed concern with the legal regime governing
inland fisheries.
Legal assistance provided in this area tends to support the integration
of inland fisheries in the overall management process of the water
resources (e.g. Malaysia, Bulgaria). Moreover, aspects of community-based
management (e.g. Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso) and the recognition
of territorial use rights have been extensively promoted in legislation
relating to inland fisheries and lagoon fisheries.
Increasingly, technical assistancehas
been provided on aquaculture related issues (e.g. Bangladesh, Cyprus,
Malaysia, Namibia, Mozambique, Tonga). Key features in aquaculture
legislation relate to the access to coastal areas (e.g. Tonga and
Mozambique), fish health (e.g. Ethiopia, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Tonga)
as well as the environmental management of aquaculture - location
restrictions, waste water management etc. (e.g. Namibia).
Support has also been provided
to sub-regional or regional organisations, in particular by means
of improving the legal framework governing activities of regional
fisheries management organisations (e.g. the Sub-Regional Fisheries
Commission, Regional Fisheries Committee for the Gulf of Guinea,
the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, South East Atlantic Fisheries
Organisation) and of initiating a process of harmonization of fisheries
legislation and regulations on a bilateral or sub-regional basis
(e.g. Organization of the Eastern Carribean States). Several international
fisheries agreements relating to shared inland waters have also
been initiated or completed with the assistance of FAO (e.g. Lake
Kariba, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria)
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