Deep, Deep Trouble: Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the Regulation of High Seas Bottom Trawling

Late last year, the United Nations General Assembly in its Fisheries Resolution expressed concern at the loss of sharks, albatross, fin-fish species and marine turtles as a result of incidental mortality, vulnerability of shark populations to over-exploitation, fishing overcapacity, illegal and unreported fishing, excessive bycatch, and the effects of destructive fishing activities on vulnerable marine ecosystems. It then tasked Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) with the responsibility of addressing these issues. Yet these issues have developed despite the existence of RFMOs, and the record of RFMOs in addressing these issues is far from reassuring, and there are structural and functional barriers to RFMOs addressing the issues in the future unless major reforms are implemented.