Australia's first tuna negotiations with Japan

In July 1999 the Governments of Australia and New Zealand decided to submit their dispute with Japan over southern bluefin tuna to an arbitration proc edure under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Se a. Pending the constitution of an arbitral tribunal, they also requested th e International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to prescribe provisional me asures. This paper traces the beginnings of tuna as an issue in Australia's relations with Japan, from 1945 until the conclusion of the first bilatera l negotiations on the subject in 1968. Drawing on recently released archiva l material the paper explains why, in terms of the evolving law of the sea, the 1968 agreement was generous, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.