Legislating for property rights in fisheries

In recent years, the traditional public right to fish in dital waters has been supplanted by limitations on access to the stocks, particularly for commercial fishers. This is achieved by statutory schemes establishing rights of varying natures. Where these rights are fully established, they highlight the legal characteristics of property. This study is a contribution by the FAO Development Law Service to teh discussion on rights-based systems in fisheries management from a legal perspective. It outlines the development history of rights-based fisheries and the terms used in property rights regimes, the governing legislation in jurisdictions that have introduced property rights in fisheries and the interpretation placed by the courts of the jurisdiction on that legislation. It also presents possible options for implementing property-based fisheries rights systems in national legislation.