ABSTRACT

Throughout history, the scope of fisheries management has been subject to marked changes. With the information available it is possible to appreciate to what extent the communitarisation of fisheries management is justified on ecological considerations. The new Ocean Regime provides the sovereignty framework within which coastal countries can, separately and jointly for shared stocks, build up the property schemes that condition progress in the management of their domestic fisheries. Fish and environment resources have features that have important implications of the design of institutions. Three sets of institutions are involved in the regulation of access: the regime of exclusive rights, the mechanisms of use-rights allocation, and the structures to implement the allocation mechanisms. The chapter reviews some of the implications that the features of marine renewable resources have on the design of institutions which condition the regulation of access.