Changing Norms in Ocean Governance: Environmental Implications for International Fishery Resources
Norms and International Relations Theory
2005 Volume 2005 Issue 143 Pages 106-123,L13
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2005 Volume 2005 Issue 143 Pages 106-123,L13
We imagine that several accepted norms such as sovereignty, equity, justice, freedom, sustainability and so on are the basis of ocean governance, but we don't know how norms come about, interact and how they change and decay. The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of normative changes from “the freedom of the seas” to “the conservation and management of the international fishery resources.” For many years since the Grotius era “the freedom of the seas” had been accepted without doubt, but after WWII many countries became independent and claimed their sovereignty on resources and sought the transformation of existed institutions built by Western countries. One example was the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention introducing the new concept “the common heritage of mankind” for deep sea-bed mineral resources and the new zone, Exclusive Economic Zone within which the coastal state would enjoy extensive rights in relation to natural resources. This LOS convention made it clear that “the freedom of the seas” was decaying, but it never addressed specific management remedies for sharp declines or depletion of many fishery resources. In this situation the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development had significant impact as it took poor management of the ocean as one of the biggest problems of environment and the UN fish stocks agreement was adopted in 1995. In this agreement “sustainable use” of fishery resources inspired by “sustainable development” declared in the Rio Declaration became the mainstream and “the freedom of the sea” was not appropriate any more. The success of “sustainable use” depends on how to manage ocean resources, in this meaning, “conservation” and “management” are used. Now another stage of normative fluctuation is beginning. There seems to be a tendency that management of fishery resources is taken at other universal environmental forums whose goals do not necessarily assume the sustainable use, but protection or preservation of fishery resources.
