Deep-sea fisheries protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction on the current international fisheries scenario: is there any place for the hard law?

Deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction are one of the issues less regulated by the current international law of the sea. The provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea apply generally in this field, together with a multitude of global, regional and bilateral treaties as well as legally binding acts from various global and regional international organisations, being of particular relevance regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements. The most part of the international texts on deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction are soft law and their possible legal effects are inexistent. There is therefore a gap in the legal regime as it will be seen in this paper.