Marine Conservation Agreements: The Law and Policy of Reservations and Vetoes (Publications on Ocean Development)

297 Pages·2008·1.16 MB·English

by  Howard S. Schiffman

MARINE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS
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Publications on Ocean Development
Volume 60
A Series of Studies on
the International, Legal, Institutional and Policy Aspects
of Ocean Development
General Editor: Vaughan Lowe
Chichele Professor of Public International Law and Fellow of All Souls College,
Oxford University
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
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Marine Conservation
Agreements
The Law and Policy of
Reservations and Vetoes
by
HOWARD S. SCHIFFMAN
MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS
LEIDEN/BOSTON
2008
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A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
ISBN 0924-1922
ISBN 978 90 04 16385 0
Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood
Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
Printed in the Netherlands
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Contents
Preface .............................................................................................................. ix
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... xi
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................ xv
Chapter 1 “Exemptive Provisions:” A Survey of the Issues in International
Law .............................................................................................................. 1
I. Introduction ........................................................................................... 1
A. Scope of Inquiry and Key Terminology .......................................... 4
B. Objective and Questions to be Analyzed ......................................... 8
C. Methodologies ................................................................................. 8
II. The Law of the Sea as a Basis for Effective Marine Environmental
Conservation ......................................................................................... 9
A. Historical Overview ........................................................................ 10
B. Early Attempts at Codi(cid:2) cation of the Law of the Sea ...................... 12
C. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS) ...................................................................................... 14
D. Treaties and their Mechanisms for Addressing Conservation
and Utilization ................................................................................. 22
III. Exemptive Provisions in Treaty Law and Policy ................................... 24
A. General Reservations ....................................................................... 24
1. The Value of Reservations .......................................................... 25
2. The Genocide Case and the Vienna Convention on the Law
of Treaties ................................................................................... 28
3. The Requirement that Reservations be Consistent with the
“Object and Purpose” of the Treaty ............................................ 30
4. UNCLOS and Reservations ........................................................ 36
B. Speci(cid:2) c Reservations ....................................................................... 40
C. Veto Provisions ................................................................................ 45
Chapter 2 A Review of Objections and Speci(cid:2) c Reservations in Key
Treaties ......................................................................................................... 53
I. The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) ...................... 54
II. International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna
(ICCAT) ................................................................................................. 63
III. The Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) ...................... 69
IV. The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) ....................................... 75
V. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) .................................... 78
VI. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES) ...................................................................... 86
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vi Contents
VII. The Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS or Bonn
Convention) ........................................................................................ 98
VIII. The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
(ACAP) ............................................................................................... 103
IX. The Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea,
Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) .... 105
X. The Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic
and North Seas (ASCOBANS) ........................................................... 107
Conclusions .................................................................................................. 109
Chapter 3 A Review of Veto Provisions in Key Treaties ............................... 111
I. Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) ........................ 112
II. The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Blue(cid:2) n Tuna
(CCSBT) ............................................................................................. 119
III. The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) .... 127
IV. The Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock
Resources in the Central Bering Sea (“Donut Hole Agreement”) ...... 137
V. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living
Resources (CCAMLR) ....................................................................... 143
VI. The South East Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SEAFO) ................. 156
VII. Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly
Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Paci(cid:2) c Ocean ...... 162
Conclusions .................................................................................................. 168
Chapter 4 Legal Limitations to the Use of Exemptive Provisions ................ 171
I. The “Object and Purpose” Requirement ............................................. 172
II. The Precautionary Approach .............................................................. 181
III. Duty to Base Decision-Making on the Best Scienti(cid:2) c Evidence
Available ............................................................................................. 188
IV. The Duty to Cooperate ....................................................................... 189
V. Abuse of Rights .................................................................................. 196
Conclusions .................................................................................................. 197
Chapter 5 Suggestions for Future Practice .................................................... 199
I. Lessons from Key Fishery Regimes ................................................... 200
A. ICCAT: the bene(cid:2) t of reaf(cid:2) rming an objection ............................. 200
B. SEAFO: the bene(cid:2) t of “reasons and review” ................................ 201
C. Western and Central Paci(cid:2) c Treaty: the bene(cid:2) t of seeking
reconciliation ................................................................................ 202
D. The Donut Hole Agreement: protecting the rights of coastal
states ............................................................................................. 202
II. Lessons from Human Rights Law ...................................................... 203
A. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination .............................................................................. 204
B. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women .................................................... 205
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Contents vii
C. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the Human Rights Committee .................................................. 207
III. A New Role for Scienti(cid:2) c Committees: “Best Scienti(cid:2) c Evidence”
meets exemptive provisions .................................................................. 210
IV. The Value of Greater Transparency in the Decision-Making Process ... 212
V. Invoke Dispute Settlement Mechanisms to Combat Abuses ................. 213
Chapter 6 Conclusions .................................................................................. 215
Table of Treaties and Conventions ................................................................... 219
Table of Judicial and Arbitral Decisions and Related Documents .................... 223
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 227
Appendix (Summary Tables) ........................................................................... 245
Table-1 (NAFO Objection Summary) .......................................................... 247
Table-2 (ICCAT Objection Summary) ......................................................... 252
Table-3 (NEAFC Objection Summary) ........................................................ 253
Table-4 (IWC Objection Summary) ............................................................. 255
Table-5 (CITES Speci(cid:2) c Reservations Summary) ....................................... 257
Table-6 (CMS Speci(cid:2) c Reservations Summary) .......................................... 267
Table-7 (CCAMLR Exclusion of Conservation Measures from Adjacent
Waters of Certain Islands) ........................................................................ 270
Index ................................................................................................................ 273
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Preface
This book was originally submitted in partial satisfaction of the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy at the Cardiff University Law School. The objective of this work is to
examine the operation, impact and legal framework of reservations and vetoes, termed
“exemptive provisions,” in marine conservation agreements. The need to improve
ocean governance is manifest and this research is intended to help illuminate the path
forward. This is a work of public international law but the key issues addressed in this
book should be of interest to anyone concerned about marine conservation. English
spelling in this book is American. Citation style is an adaptation of the seventeenth edi-
tion of the “The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation” – the benchmark for legal
writing in the United States. Because “The Bluebook” more typically applies to shorter
works, some adaptations were made for ease and clarity. With regard to footnotes, each
chapter is self-contained and independent of the others.
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