The Quest for Sustainable International Fisheries: Regional Efforts to Implement the 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement: An Overview for the May 2006 Review Conference

The United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA) represents a major international effort to improve fisheries governance, resource recovery, and sustainable development of international fisheries. Straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks are especially vulnerable to overexploitation because of ineffective management regimes and noncompliance by fishing interests. This book explains the international legal framework, summarizes the state of the fisheries, and outlines the efforts of regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) to adopt and implement key elements of UNFSA: the precautionary approach, the ecosystem approach, decision making, and enforcement.