Assessing the Application of Innovative Incentive-Based Tools to Reform Highly Migratory Fisheries from Regional to Global Scale

The report evaluates the application of rights-based, suasive, financial, and market-based instruments within the international legal framework for fisheries, specifically focusing on Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) and four key regional project areas.

• The legal regime of the 'freedom of the high seas' creates significant impediments to incentive-based management because it allows for open-access fishing, where one actor's catch reduces the available resource for others, thereby weakening sustainability incentives.
• Rights-Based Management (RBM) is effective in domestic settings but rarely established in ABNJ due to the lack of an exclusive regulatory authority capable of designing and enforcing exclusive rights.
• Suasive instruments, such as certification schemes, are feasible in ABNJ and can be mutually reinforcing with regulatory standards, provided there is alignment with 'good regulatory standards'.
• Financial investment in fisheries is often hindered by a lack of secure tenure rights and regulatory instability, leading many initiatives to rely on grants rather than debt or equity.
• Market-based measures, including Catch Documentation Schemes (CDS), are valuable because they can be applied at the point of market entry, bypassing some of the jurisdictional limitations of the law of the sea.
• Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) often suffer from governance gaps, including a lack of transparent decision-making, poor compliance, and a failure to adhere to scientific advice.
• In the Western and Central Pacific, the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) have successfully leveraged their control over exclusive economic zones (EEZs) to influence high seas fisheries through the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS).
• The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) utilizes weaker forms of RBM, such as the Regional Vessel Register (RVR) and Dolphin Mortality Limits (DMLs), but lacks binding third-party dispute settlement processes.
• The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) faces significant challenges including outdated agreements that do not incorporate the precautionary principle or ecosystem-based approaches, and severe budgetary problems.
• The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has used trade-based measures to deter non-contracting States from undermining conservation objectives, though this has led to 'flag hopping'.
• The proposed international legally binding instrument (ILBI) for ABNJ is expected to introduce more stringent requirements for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and area-based management tools, which may impose significant costs on existing RFMOs.
• Effective fisheries governance requires a 'SMART mix' of different instruments, as no single tool is sufficient and the optimum combination is highly contextual.

APA

Barnes, R. (2018). Assessing the Application of Innovative Incentive-Based Tools to Reform Highly Migratory Fisheries from Regional to Global Scale. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/420/4417ge01q6_08818_WWF_WB_Innovations_Reg_Global_Layout_Final_pxp.pdf

Chicago

Barnes, Richard. Assessing the Application of Innovative Incentive-Based Tools to Reform Highly Migratory Fisheries from Regional to Global Scale. WWF International, 2018. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/420/4417ge01q6_08818_WWF_WB_Innovations_Reg_Global_Layout_Final_pxp.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Barnes |first1=Richard |title=Assessing the Application of Innovative Incentive-Based Tools to Reform Highly Migratory Fisheries from Regional to Global Scale |publisher=WWF International |date=September 2018 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/420/4417ge01q6_08818_WWF_WB_Innovations_Reg_Global_Layout_Final_pxp.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{barnes2018assessing, author = {Barnes, Richard}, title = {{Assessing the Application of Innovative Incentive-Based Tools to Reform Highly Migratory Fisheries from Regional to Global Scale}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/420/4417ge01q6_08818_WWF_WB_Innovations_Reg_Global_Layout_Final_pxp.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }