A Geopolitical-Economy of Distant Water Fisheries Access Arrangements

Fishing fleets and effort have grown throughout the waters of lower-income coastal countries in recent decades, much of which is carried out by vessels registered in higher-income countries. Fisheries access arrangements underpin this key trend in ocean fisheries and have their origins in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea's (UNCLOS’s) goal to establish resource ownership as a mechanism to increase benefits to newly independent coastal and island states. This paper provides a conceptual approach for understanding FAAs across the global ocean and for exploring their potential to deliver on the promise of UNCLOS.