Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to provide initial thoughts on potential conflicts between the mandates of
Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and any mechanisms for establishing Marine
Protected Areas in the high seas and how these conflicts might be avoided. The article addresses first,
whether the fears that may exist concerning the conflicts are, as a matter of international law, real and to
the extent that they are real, how an Implementing Agreement (IA) might be shaped to avoid them. As the
article is intended to provide only initial thoughts, the range of RFMOs and possible conflicts are only
illustrative and are not intended to be comprehensive. With the potential conflicts in mind, the article then
provides, in the third section, possible approaches that the drafters of the IA could adopt to avoid and/or
mitigate against them. Finally, the article offers some concluding remarks.
