What Is The Indonesian Responsibility for High Seas Fisheries

High seas fishery is among the biggest sources of export for many countries including Indonesia, especially for pelagic and highly migratory species, such as tuna and tuna-like. One of the major developments in high seas fishery is the role of regional fisheries management organizations, encouraged by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the 1982 UNCLOS). Indonesia is surrounded by several big Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) which include The Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). As a sovereign country, Indonesia decided to ignore those developments and played outside the scheme of high seas fisheries management. Unfortunately, the international market has then pushed Indonesia into an undeniable situation of needing to follow the idea of managing high seas fisheries in sustainable manner, which includes accepting the quotas and setting up high seas licensing. Indonesia eventually ratified the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement) by Law No. 21 of 2009 and has also become a member of CCSBT and IOTC, while membership in WCPFC is just about to begin. This dissertation maintains that Indonesia's responsibility in the area of high seas fisheries must not stop at the ratification of the law on high seas fisheries, and membership in several major RFMOs. Indonesia's responsibility has to go beyond such formalities to secure the implementation of 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement in the national legal regime. This dissertation conducts a thorough study with the aim of looking at the major problems of Indonesian high seas fishing, the current condition of the relevant Indonesian policy and laws, and the preparedness of Indonesian stakeholders in high seas fishing to conduct high seas fishing in sustainable manner.