The Southern Bluefin Tuna Award of 4 August 2000 marked the first instance of application of compulsory arbitration under Part XV, Section 2 of the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention and of the institution of an Arbitral Tribunal under Annex VII of the LOS Convention. The purpose of the Tribunal was to hear the merits of a dispute between Japan, on the one hand, and Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand, concerning fishing under the Convention on the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna. The dispute had previously been subject to a provisional measures hearing before ITLOS. The Arbitral Tribunal ultimately declined jurisdiction, however, placing emphasis on the fundamental principle of consent.
 

B. Kwiatkowska, 'The Australia and New Zealand v. Japan Southern Bluefin Tuna (Jurisdiction and Admissibility) Award of the First LOSC Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal', OceanLaw On-Line Paper No. 17, March 2003 (Revised) [Link to text]

D. Devine, 'Compulsory dispute settlement in UNCLOS undermined? Southern Bluefin Tuna case: Australia and New Zealand v Japan' (2000) 25 South African Yearbook of International Law 97-112

J. Firestone, T. Polacheck, 'The Effectiveness of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in Resolving International Fisheries Disputes: The Southern Bluefin Tuna Case' in Harrison, Bryner (eds.), Science and Politics in the International Environment, 2003

C. Romano, 'The southern bluefin tuna dispute: Hints of a world to come ... like it or not' (2001) 32 Ocean Development and International Law 313-348

   AWARD of 4 August 2000