OceanLaw On-Line Paper
No. 15, June 2002
One
fin, two fins, red fins, bluefins - some problems of nomenclature and taxonomy
affecting legal instruments governing tuna and other highly migratory species
Andrew
Serdy
Executive Officer, Sea Law, Environmental Law and Antarctic Policy Section
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Abstract
In
the light of recent recognition by the FAO that what were thought to be
separate Atlantic and Pacific stocks of the species Thunnus
thynnus (northern bluefin tuna) are in fact two distinct species,
this paper examines and finds considerable variation in how tunas are named and
classified in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and other fisheries
treaties. He highlights two
consequences related to the superimposition on this variation of the entry
into force of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement – an end to the mixing of
northern and southern bluefin tuna for quota management purposes and a
potential legal problem that may arise from the lack of taxonomic specificity
with regard to species coverage in the International Convention for the
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Calling
for the wider use of FAO species names, he concludes that, until this occurs,
it is the Latin scientific names rather than the common names in the
“authentic” vernacular treaty texts on which reliance should be placed for
legal purposes.
