Introduction

Abstract

The extension of fishery jurisdiction by most of the coastal States was the dominant event in global fisheries during the decade of the 1970s. The extensions changed the open-access regime to an extended jurisdiction fisheries management regime. Under the open-access regime, the coastal States had little management control over the stocks of fish. Fishing was accompanied by considerable economic waste, many stocks were overfished or depleted to historically low levels of abundance, fishing in the distant waters off coastal States diverted economic benefits away from those coastal States, and the capability and effectiveness of fishery management organizations became a matter of global concern.