Enforcement cooperation in combating illegal and unauthorized fishing: an assessment of contemporary practice

The emergence of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the 1970s placed

potentially vast areas of the sea under national jurisdiction. Moving from

relatively modest territorial seas close to the coast as the only basis of fisheries

jurisdiction for States, the international community suddenly embraced a new

form of jurisdiction over resources that extended fisheries up to 200 nautical

miles from land. This extension brought over one third of the world’s oceans, or,

more importantly, approximately 90% of the world’s wild fish catch, under

national jurisdiction.