The International Plan of Action on Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing: The Legal Context of a Non-Legally Binding Instrument

Abstract

This paper traces the evolution of the International Plan of Action on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU) from the expert consultation held in Sydney, Australia in May 2000, through the two technical consultations held in Rome at FAO and at COFI, to its adoption by the FAO Council in June 2001. It does not, except incidentally, enter into the substance of the provisions of the IPOA-IUU. It focuses instead on the legal context in which this voluntary instrument was negotiated, looking at some questions that arose in the course of its negotiation, such as for example the use of definitions, footnotes and addenda. It looks in particular at the relationship of the IPOA to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and to other International Plans of Action negotiated in the context of the Code of Conduct. It also examines the role given to international law in the IPOA, and its relationship to the 1982 LOS Convention and other international instruments.

International Soft Laws against IUU Fishing for Sustainable Marine Resources: Adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines for Flag State Performance and Challenges for Taiwan

“…Although a "soft law", the IPOA-IUU was the first specific international instrument adopted to combat IUU fishing [20]. It contains seven parts, including "Introduction", "Nature and Scope of IUU Fishing and the International Plan of Action", "Objective and Principles", "Implementation of Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing", "Special Requirements of Developing Countries", "Reporting" and "Role of FAO".…”

Residential movements of top predators in Chile’s most isolated marine protected area: Implications for the conservation of the Galapagos shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis, and the yellowtail amberjack, Seriola lalandi

“…Carcharhinus galapagensis is one of the most abundant reef sharks inhabiting the Tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean (Duffy, 2016). It has a circumglobal, albeit patchy, distribution, and is associated with warm and temperate waters and oceanic islands (Duffy, 2016;Kohler, Casey, & Turner, 1998;Meyer, Papastamatiou, & Holland, 2010;Wetherbee, Crow, & Lowe, 1996). Their slow growth, fragmented geographical distributions, and unknown levels of local connectivity are likely to have contributed to their population declines in areas of high fishing pressure in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans (Kyne et al, 2019).…”