The allocation of scarce natural resources: The case of fisheries

This article addresses the question of allocation of living marine resources among countries. We examine the principles for distribution emanating from the global rules for ocean governance, review state practice, and consider some distributional effects of conservation measures. We find that it is difficult to ascertain the influence of the distribution principles with any greater degree of precision. The principles vary with regard to their ease of operationalization. Further, state practice shows that distributional principles serve to define the scope for a range of different distributional outcomes, but their relative importance remains elusive. Thus, distributional outcomes cannot be explained in terms of these principles alone. A measure of politics is always at play.