Political uncertainty in international fisheries management

International cooperation on management of living marine resources is compounded by uncertainties generated by politics. The proliferation of international agreements and bodies concerned with the environment pose a number of challenges for fisheries management, as environmental politics has become a driving force of change in fisheries regimes. The impact of environmental politics and the uncertainties it creates for cooperation on research, regulation and enforcement in fisheries as well as to the internal politics of fisheries institutions are illuminated through three case studies: The 1992 Biodiversity Convention, the 1946 International Whaling Convention and the 1995 UN Straddling Stocks/Highly Migratory Stocks Convention. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.