Exclusive economic zones and the management of fisheries in the South China Sea

Abstract

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC), with the provisions for defining an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), is the international agreement that has had the greatest influence on the structure of fisheries policies in national and international arenas. It had the profound effect of increasing the contribution of fisheries to the national gross domestic product or GDP. It brought about a redistribution of benefits from fishing from distant water fishing fleets to the coastal states. Investments flowed in to the fisheries sector. The LOSC and the EEZ are strongly associated with ownership and the implication that fisheries will be better managed within some property rights regime. These concepts were modified by coastal states to apply to fisheries management policies at the scale of local governments and even communities. In this paper, we present case studies where there is a poor institutional fit between the EEZs of coastal states and the natural structure of fisheries resources. This has led to the formulation of inadequate fisheries policies, difficulties in monitoring and controlling the overexploitation of fish stocks, and a massive degradation of fish habitats vital to the survival and sustainability of stocks.