At present, the oceans are governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was adopted and signed in 1982. The ABNJ are currently governed by principles of “freedom of high seas” and “common pool resources”. Regulating the high seas is of critical importance from multiple angles. Another issue under the spotlight is intellectual property rights of marine genetic resources. With regard to genetic resources from fisheries, India has emphasised that the value of resources — rather than their volume — should be the key criterion.

Source: The Hindu September 27, 2018 08:15 UTC