Thursday, January 7, 2010: 3:20 PM
Manchester Ballroom I (Hyatt)
The United States and its foreign policy concerns played a significant role between 1945 and 1976 in shaping the institutional framework for international fisheries management and science. In particular, the U.S. has sought to use a variety of interventions to maintain its right to catch high-seas tuna, fish that wander the open seas, mostly in the upper layers of the oceans, where the water is warmed by the sun and wind.
The first tuna cannery was established in San Diego in 1911. But in 1926, albacore (Thunnus albacares) disappeared from Southern Californian waters, sending American boats chasing tuna stocks south off Mexico and Latin America. Between 1952 and 1955, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile attempted to expand their territorial limits in hopes of controlling both European whaling and American fishing. The U.S. successfully derailed this attempt at the creation of new international law on a regional basis, by orchestrating the adoption of a policy that held that fisheries could not be regulated until it could be proven scientifically that stocks had been overfished.
As high-seas fishing expanded during the 1960s, with the creation of large fleets of factory processing ships, many countries sought to exclude these foreign-flag vessels from their waters. The U.S. responded by creating a designation for tuna stocks, as highly migratory species, that allowed American boats to continue to fish for tuna, despite the expansion of territorial limits by many Pacific island countries after 1972. The U.S. also pushed for the principle of “full utilization,” which recognized the rights of coastal states to fish within their economic zones, but if the catch fell short of the maximum amount that could be taken, other nations must be allowed to take the surplus.
The first tuna cannery was established in San Diego in 1911. But in 1926, albacore (Thunnus albacares) disappeared from Southern Californian waters, sending American boats chasing tuna stocks south off Mexico and Latin America. Between 1952 and 1955, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile attempted to expand their territorial limits in hopes of controlling both European whaling and American fishing. The U.S. successfully derailed this attempt at the creation of new international law on a regional basis, by orchestrating the adoption of a policy that held that fisheries could not be regulated until it could be proven scientifically that stocks had been overfished.
As high-seas fishing expanded during the 1960s, with the creation of large fleets of factory processing ships, many countries sought to exclude these foreign-flag vessels from their waters. The U.S. responded by creating a designation for tuna stocks, as highly migratory species, that allowed American boats to continue to fish for tuna, despite the expansion of territorial limits by many Pacific island countries after 1972. The U.S. also pushed for the principle of “full utilization,” which recognized the rights of coastal states to fish within their economic zones, but if the catch fell short of the maximum amount that could be taken, other nations must be allowed to take the surplus.