Page 231 - 《水产学报》2025年第8期

何妤如 水产学报, 2025, 49(8): 089319

MPAs. To support the implementation of spatially shared stock governance. They operate through
defined management regimes, the UNCLOS has multi-scalar governance mechanisms that reconfig-
introduced three implementing agreements: the ure power relations by taking authority over their
1994 Agreement governing the exploration and Convention Areas, allocating resource access via
exploitation of the international seabed area, desig- mainly quota-based systems, and instituting meas-
nated as the "common heritage of mankind"; the ures to ensure efficient, equitable, and sustainable
1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement resource utilization.
(UNFSA) addressing transboundary and highly The scaling arrangements of RFMOs include
migratory fish stocks; and the 2023 BBNJ Agree- jurisdictional scope, governance hierarchy, and reg-
ment on the conservation and sustainable use of ulatory expression. Jurisdictional scope operates
marine biological diversity of areas beyond national horizontally across physical space, demarcating the
jurisdiction. geographical boundaries of Convention Areas. Gov-
International cooperation remains for the ernance hierarchy captures the vertical, organiza-
cornerstone of effective governance on shared fish tional dimension, reflecting each RFMO’s status,
authority and role within the broader architecture of
stocks. As an eco-scalar fix (an environmental man-
international fisheries governance. Regulatory
agement solution to scale mismatch), RFMOs
expression represents a discursive dimension that
provide key regional mechanisms to mediate fish-
embodies the institutional arrangements and power
ing disputes over transboundary and highly migrat-
[20]
ory stocks . Articles 17, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the relations within a RFMO, including stakeholder
access and engagement, fishing rights allocations,
UNFSA clearly stipulate that States which do not
and the continual redefinition of operational legit-
join or cooperate with relevant RFMOs are prohib-
imacy, etc. Whereas the jurisdictional and gov-
ited from engaging in fishing activities within areas
ernance scales tend to remain relatively fixed due to
under their mandate, thereby providing the legal
their convention-based nature, the regulatory scale
basis for the establishment and authority of RFMOs.
shows greater flexibility, which is more susceptible
There are fifteen RFMOs and one regional fisheries
to upscaling, downscaling or rescaling shifts in
management arrangement (RFMA) operating under
response to the dynamics of ongoing negotiation.

the governance scale established by the UNFSA
(Tab. 1). With a broader scope of cooperative agree- 2.2 Scaled regulation of shared fisheries
ment, RFMAs may or may not involve the estab- resources

lishment of a formal, permanently institutionalized Overlapping geographical mandate Similar
organization. In the process of “reterritorializing” to terrestrial zoning systems that account for geo-
high seas and/or EEZs fishing rights, States have, in graphical features and demographic distributions,
effect, delegated the fishing rights traditionally the jurisdictional scope of RFMOs is, in principle,
enjoyed by their nationals under customary interna- negotiated based on ecological and operational
tional law to supranational management bodies. factors such as marine habitats, target species distri-
This has enabled a redefinition of jurisdictional bution, and fishing patterns . For instance, the
[22]
scales for the governance of straddling fish Commission for the Conservation of Southern
[21]
stocks . Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) is defined according to the
Through scale manipulation, RFMOs repres- migratory range of Southern Bluefin Tuna.
ent intergovernmental regulatory bodies authorized However, the biophysical boundaries of fish stocks
to implement binding conservation and manage- do not always align neatly with the political juris-
ment measures (CMMs) in the designated high seas dictions of RFMOs, whose membership composi-
and/or EEZs, creating new spatial-political scale for tion significantly influence boundary demarcations.

中国水产学会主办 sponsored by China Society of Fisheries https://www.china-fishery.cn
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