Abstract
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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.