PhD Defense: The elusive search for sustainable high seas fisheries

Catherine Blanchard successfully defended her thesis on sustainable high seas fisheries on 30 November in Utrecht. Her research is entitled: The elusive search for sustainable high seas fisheries: What role for an oceans governance approach?

The legal regime for the management of high seas fisheries has evolved extensively in past decades, through the development of several instruments of different legal nature and in different fields of international law, through the work of regional fisheries management organizations, and through the growing involvement of non-State actors. Such developments have led to the inclusion of sustainability objectives in the management of fisheries, and to a more holistic understanding of the interconnectedness between fisheries and the broader marine environment. Yet, despite such developments, overexploitation continues to plague marine living resources, and fishing activities remain the main threat to marine biodiversity in the so called areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ).

The thesis explores the concept of governance, and its application to the oceans as a basis upon which alternative and complementary regulatory avenues towards sustainability in fisheries management in ABNJ could be examined. The thesis questions how the broader approach suggested by governance positions the law among other components for social action, and explores the role that governance plays in developing a model to understand the adaptive capacity of the law. This dialogue between governance and adaptability leads to the use of alternative mechanisms to improve the interplay between fisheries management and environmental protection, so that this interplay permeates institutions, actors’ behaviours, and, eventually, the legal framework itself.

The thesis, therefore, maps potential ways of rethinking the legal design for high seas fisheries, one that would assist actors in navigating more effectively through the complex interconnectedness between fisheries management and sustainability.