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84 Am. Soc'y Int'l L. Proc. 283 (1990)
State Practice in Relation to Fisheries

handle is hein.journals/asilp84 and id is 293 raw text is: now been forty-three ratifications. If the rate of ratification continues as it did last year, we could see the Convention enter into force within several years. However, in view of this very possibility, we may see potential parties holding back. The reasons for member states to contemplate ratification are many. For instance, they may desire representation in institutions to be established if the Convention en- ters into force. Germany is interested in keeping Hamburg as a seat for the Tribunal. Other general interests include the fact that if the Convention enters into force the non-seabed provisions will become binding as treaty law, and, as a result, there will be much greater pressure on states to act in conformity with (now only presumed) cus- tomary law. In closing, before ratification is possible there are great problems with Part XI that must be solved. In addition, the LOS Convention must become universally accepta- ble. Efforts to achieve this are being undertaken, but the PREPCOM effort alone is not sufficient. Some changes must be made to Part XI, and there are various ways to do so. It is difficult to speculate whether or not this will happen, but there are some encouraging signs. Some members of the Group of 77 are willing to discuss amend- ments or freezing Part XI. It would mainly depend on what those members as a whole would get in return. Perhaps, in this respect, one could think of a link with negotiations in other areas, for instance, the environmental conference on the human environment in Brazil in 1992. If the Group of 77 got something in return in that framework they might be more likely to discuss issues in Part XI. This, however, is only speculation. STATE PRACTICE IN RELATION TO FISHERIES by Donald M. McRae* I would like to discuss certain problems that states are facing in the implementation of their fisheries jurisdiction in the waters off their coasts, with particular reference to Canada. The most dramatic change in state practice in relation to fisheries has clearly been the acceptance of the idea that coastal states should have jurisdiction over fisheries up to 200 miles from their coasts-from a freedom of fishing regime to a coastal-state- managed fisheries regime. In many respects this fundamental change has been effected relatively smoothly. Coastal states have generally asserted jurisdiction over fisheries within 200 miles of their coasts, either by claiming an exclusive economic zone, an exclusive fishing zone or, in some remaining cases, a 200-mile territorial sea. A recent study by Lawrence Juda lists only twenty-eight out of 119 coastal states that have not claimed fisheries jurisdiction in one form or other beyond twelve miles, but all but one of these nonclaimant states border an enclosed or semienclosed sea. The groundwork for this development in coastal state jurisdiction was laid not in the 1982 Convention, but in the state practice that emerged while the negotiations that led to the 1982 Convention were going on. In fact, as Juda points out, of the seventy- six states that claim an exclusive economic zone, only fourteen made that claim after the adoption of the 1982 Convention. An important factor in this evolution of state practice was the general acceptance, at a relatively early stage, of the right of the coastal state to exclude foreign vessels from any new zone of exclusive fisheries juris- diction, allowing them back in only under arrangements negotiated with the coastal state. *Dean of Common Law, University of Ottawa.

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