The ocean covers 71% of the earth's surface and 80% of the value of exploited
marine resources are attributed to the fishing industry. The fishing industry has provoked various international disputes as wild fish capture rose to a peak about the end of the 20th century, and has since started a gradual decline. Iceland, Japan, and Portugal are the greatest consumers of
seafood per capita in the world.
Disputes in the Americas Chile and
Peru are countries with high
fish consumption, and therefore had troubles regarding their fish industries. In 1947, Chile and Peru first adopted the 200
nautical mile standard as their
exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and in 1982, the
UN formally adopted this term. In the 2000s, Chile and Peru suffered a serious fish crisis because of excessive fishing and lack of proper regulations, and now . From the late 1950s, offshore bottom trawlers began exploiting the deeper part, leading to a large catch increase and a strong decline in the underlying biomass. The stock collapsed to extremely low levels in the early 1990s and this is a well-known example of non-excludable, non-rivalrous
public good in economics, causing
free-rider problems. Following the
collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery in 1992, a dispute arose between Canada and the European Union over the right to fish
Greenland halibut (also known as turbot) just outside of Canada's exclusive economic zone in the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The dispute became known as the
Turbot War. On 9 March 1995, in response to observations of foreign vessels fishing illegally in Canadian waters and using illegal equipment outside of Canada's EEZ, Canadian officials boarded and seized the Spanish trawler
Estai in international waters on the Grand Banks. Throughout March, the
Spanish Navy deployed patrol ships to protect fishing boats in the area, and Canadian forces were authorized to open fire on any Spanish vessel showing its guns. Canada and the European Union reached a settlement on 15 April which led to significant reforms in international fishing agreements.
Disputes in Europe Iceland is one of the largest consumers in the world and in 1972, a dispute occurred between
UK and Iceland because of Iceland's announcement of an
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to reduce overfishing. This dispute is called the
Cod Wars, direct confrontations between Icelandic patrol vessels and British warships. Nowadays in Europe in general, countries are searching for a way to recover their fishing industries. Overfishing of
EU fisheries is costing 3.2 billion euros a year and 100,000 jobs according to a report. So Europe is constantly looking for some collective actions that could be taken to prevent overfishing.
Disputes in Asia , China
Japan,
China and
Korea are some of the greatest consumers of fish, and have some disputes over
Exclusive Economic Zone. In 2011, due to a serious earthquake, the nuclear power facility in
Fukushima was damaged. A huge amount of contaminated water leaked and entered the ocean.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) admitted that around 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank on the site. In the
Kuroshio Current, the sea near Fukushima, about 11 countries catch fish. Not only the surrounding countries such as Japan, Korea and China, but also the countries like
Ukraine,
Spain and
Russia have boats in the Kuroshio Current. In September 2013,
South Korea banned all fish imports from eight Japanese prefectures, due to the radioactive water leaks from the Fukushima nuclear plant. The
North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission: NPFC was established in 2015 to manage fish stocks against increasing demand. Members are
Canada,
Japan,
Russia, the
United States, and
South Korea.
China,
Taiwan, and
Vanuatu also participated in the meeting. The NPFC imposes catch limits on member countries and countries participating in the conference. A crackdown on
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) vendors was also requested. ==Society and culture==