Access to fishery resources in IEEZ: Current governance and legal issues

In a spirit to provide justice in the peaceful use of the ocean, UNCLOS 1982 requires all coastal states to allocate their surplus of fishery resources to other states by giving access to its EEZ, taking into account all relevant factors and considerations. As a country possessing a considerably large area of EEZ and thus is subject to this mandate, Indonesia already has a number of laws and regulations governing this matter. Despite the good will to support the implementation of UNCLOS 1982, the allocation of such an access allowing foreign fishing vessels to exploit the fishery resources in Indonesian EEZ (IEEZ) has captivated attention due to existing legal issues. This article is devoted to unraveling the legal issues revolving around the governance of access to fishery resources in IEEZ. It is carried out using normative-legal research methods in which various legal instruments and other secondary legal materials are analyzed descriptively to point out the emerging legal issues. The main findings reveal that the allocation of access to fishery resources for foreign fishing vessels in IEEZ does not comply with the conditions set forth in UNCLOS 1982. Further examinations find that such a discrepancy could lead to several problems including exposed danger to maritime security and threats to the sustainability of the fishery resources.