The legal regime for the protection and exploitation of fishes, with special reference to Australia

Australia has the third largest Exclusive Economic Zone (l° 648 250 km2) however overall commercial fisheries production is ranked relatively low in comparison with many other nations (240,000 metric tones per year, valued at $A2.2 billion)2. The reason underlying this relatively low level of fisheries production can be largely attributed to the low productivity of many marine waters surrounding the Australian coastline and a legal regime that is designed not only to manage fisheries, but to provide a significant degree of environmental protection to both fishes and their habitats.