Legal Reform
At the national level, the Legal Reform sub-component will assist Pacific SIDS to undertake legal reforms associated with the implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention and other relevant international legal and policy instruments. The key new provisions, which are specifically required for implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention, include the following:
- tighter controls over national flag vessels generally;
- specific new controls over fishing by national flag vessels in the high seas, including an authorisation process with conditions including vessel marking, satellite monitoring, boarding of observers, cooperation with inspectors of other Parties, data reporting etc.;
- requirements for flag vessels not to fish without authorisation in the waters of other states and to comply with the host states’ fishing conditions;
- authorisation of inspectors to board and inspect the vessels of other Parties on the high seas;
- control of national vessels and all vessels generally interpreted as requiring measures to eliminate the use of flag-of-convenience
- state responsibilities for ports to take action against vessels undermining Commission measures.
More broadly, the Sub-Component will assist Pacific SIDS in wider legal reforms, including:
- putting the key principles of the Code of Conduct, the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention into national law, including the precautionary approach, the ecosystem approach, protection of biodiversity and preservation of long term stock sustainability following existing model draft legislation from Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu;
- providing a statutory base for processes of stakeholder consultation;
- giving statutory force to Management Plans, using existing models from Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands;
- overhauling decision-making processes, especially for licensing, to increase transparency; and
- creating new institutional arrangements, including consideration of options such as independent self-financing authorities for fisheries management and cost recovery programs.
In-country training will also be provided, with the legal implications of the Convention generally and the implications of the new laws for prosecutors identified as priority subjects.
At the regional level, the Sub-Component will provide legal advice to Pacific SIDS on the legal issues involved in the development of the Commission’s programs, especially the compliance programme and its approach towards conservation measures. Key legal issues to be addressed in the early stages of the Commission’s work include:
- the position of non-Contracting Parties;
- for admission of new Members to the Commission;
- the procedure for dealing with apparent infringements by the vessels of Parties;
- the process for identifying States as undermining the Commission’s measures and sanctions to be applied;
- the legal rights and obligations of parties involved in boarding and inspection on the high seas;
- the process for adoption of conservation and management measures by the Commission and review and modification of those measures based on feedback from the fisheries monitoring and stock assessment activities as well as ecosystem analysis data; and
- the general interpretation of the Convention and the Rules of Procedure, particularly the more innovative provisions.
Regional legal workshops and consultations are particularly important to national legal personnel who are often working on their own on international fisheries legal issues within very small legal administrations.
Available Documents
