2026-10-06T16:04:19Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34038153 2026-10-01T04:30:45Z category_62 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_10_2026

Supplementary file 4_Implementing the BBNJ Agreement: shaping and being shaped through institutional interaction with RFMOs.docx Yuqiong Sun (4369561) Yi Tang (55726) Yanxuedan Zhang (25151757) Marine Biology area-based management tools BBNJ Agreement environmental impact assessment high seas fisheries governance institutional interaction regional fisheries management organizations <p>With the entry into force of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the Agreement), its interaction with existing institutional bodies has become an immediate governance challenge. Regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), as the primary institutions regulating high seas fisheries, represent one of the earliest and most consequential arenas in which this interaction will unfold. This study moves beyond the “not undermine” debate and inquires whether the mechanisms and practical conditions needed to turn mutual deference into effective coordination are in place. Using Stokke’s effectiveness-oriented institutional interaction framework, it combines legal analysis, coding of 11 negotiation summaries and expert consultations to examine potential interaction across all four pillars of the Agreement. The analysis reveals that the Agreement provides a generally supportive legal basis for coordination and cooperation. However, its interaction mechanisms do not by themselves ensure constructive interaction in practice. Such interaction requires clear operational rules, careful management of overlapping regulatory roles, early and meaningful RFMO participation and proper evaluation of RFMO input. It will also depend on whether RFMOs give practical effect to the relevant decisions, recommendations and standards adopted under the Agreement through their own decision-making. States participating in both regimes will be central to this process. They will carry BBNJ outputs into RFMO processes, while RFMO knowledge, practices and institutional responses will shape how the Agreement is applied to high seas fisheries. Implementation will therefore be a reciprocal process in which each regime shapes and is shaped by the other. Readiness on both sides will be essential if this relationship is to support more coherent and integrated ocean governance.</p> 2026-10-01T04:30:45Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fmars.2026.1843828.s004 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_file_4_Implementing_the_BBNJ_Agreement_shaping_and_being_shaped_through_institutional_interaction_with_RFMOs_docx/34038153 CC BY 4.0