Conflict within the fishing industry

Abstract

There are two distinct sectors within the marine fisheries of the world. One is composed of mainly company-owned large-investment fishing units, and the other of chiefly privately owned or privately-managed small-scale units. The common terms for these two important sectors are "deep-sea" and "inshore," or "commercial" and "artisanal." These names are some what misleading as some large-scale units fish in inshore waters and some small-scale units fish in deep seas. To class a fisherman as an artisan does not mean to imply that he is not trying to make a commercial success of his venture. In the past, conflicts between the two sectors were minor and isolated. This was because the world's oceans were then relatively underfished and large vessels could fish close to the shores of foreign states. The enormous increase in the size and power of fishing fleets in the last three decades, and the extension of exclusive fishery zones to 200 mi from shore have together changed the whole situation. Now the deep-sea and inshore fleets are finding themselves increasingly in conflict with each other, over the limited fishing grounds within their country's EEZ. This article describes this confliect in the Asian region.