UNITED-NATIONS RESOLUTIONS ON DRIFTNET FISHING - AN UNSUSTAINABLE PRECEDENT FOR HIGH SEAS AND COASTAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

This article argues that the 1989 and 1991 driftnet resolutions (44/22 5 and 46/215) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly recommend ing termination of all high seas deployment of large pelagic driftnets are flawed by procedural and substantive errors. The resolutions were not supported by the best scientific evidence available and are not c onsistent with the principles of high seas fishing in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The article reviews the poli tical pressures, mostly from the United States hut with significant in put from South Pacific nations, that were largely -esponsible for the resolutions, and offers detailed descriptions and evaluations of obser vational data on the kev North Pacific squid driftnet fisheries. Most of these data were ignored hy the UN General Assembly, despite their a vailability and their evidence that high seas by catch rates in the sq uid fisheries are among the lowest in any known fishery, whatever the gear. The final section of the article discusses international legal i ssues posed by the resolutions and their implications for governance o f high seas fisheries and other fisheries, and offers recommendations.