ABSTRACT
The ability of fishing fleets to harvest fish well in excess of existing catches, either supported by existing resource conditions or long-run desired resource levels, is an issue of international concern. Beginning in 1995, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and various member nations embarked on an ambitious plan to address excess capacity in fisheries. Article 6.3 of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, adopted by the FAO in 1995, recommended that ‘States should prevent overfishing and excess fishing capacity, and should implement management measures to ensure that fishing effort is commensurate with the productive capacity of the fishery resource and their sustainable utilization’.
