Sino-Japanese joint fishery management in the East China Sea

This article deals with Sino-Japanese fishery relations from the 1950s to date. It first reviews the early efforts made by both sides, and stresses the importance of new legal and environmental challenges which affected the Sino-Japanese joint fishery regime and which required the two countries to make a new arrangement accordingly. The new bilateral fishery agreement is assessed and the remaining issues are analysed. Finally, it is pointed out that the joint fishery regime is a first step for the necessary regional cooperation in fishery management towards sustainability. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.