The LOSC and China’s Practice: Sino-Japanese and Sino-Korean Fisheries Agreements

Based on the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) regime of the United Nations Convention on he Law of the Sea (LOSC), China signed a fisheries agreement with Japan in 1997 and another one with South Korea in 1998 to manage the fisheries resources they share.1 This paper analyses the cooperative management regime established by the two agreements and highlights the implementation challenges from a Chinese perspective. The paper points out that the two agreements are important steps towards a cooperative mechanism for the sustainable management of the shared resources, but they also have their constraints and implementation challenges. The paper considers the impact of the substantial reduction of fishing grounds on the livelihood of Chinese fishermen, the EEZ enforcement on China’s legislation capacity, and the flag state control on the compliance of Chinese fishing vessels. It is concluded that the two agreements are important steps towards the cooperative management of the shared stocks of the China Seas, and the effective implementation of these agreements is vital to the sustainability of the shared resources.