A Fairer Governance of High Sea Fishing through a Systemic Interpretation Approach.

The regulation of high sea fishing would not be successful without cooperation among the states in the current international society, without a world government. However, the ongoing quest for cooperation in the field of fishery governance focuses too much on the unilateral responsibility of a state to cooperate with a RFMO, overlooking the responsibility of state parties of an RFMO or the state seeking to regulate IUU fishing. This essay reveals that the equitable consideration of fishery governance is sometimes prejudiced in the name of conservation. Fishery governance involves food security, employment, free trade, and the environment. An ideal regime of high sea fishing is expected to balance the conflicting values and bring an end to the fragmentation of international law. The systemic interpretation approach, which is based on Article 31, paragraph 3(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, contributes to a fairer governance of high sea fishing. Such an approach revives the obligation of the state to cooperate in the fishery sector by referring to external legal sources, including human rights laws, WTO laws, and environmental laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]