Peaceful Settlement of Disputes in the South China Sea through Fisheries Resources Cooperation and Management

The South China Sea dispute is complicated in terms of its nature, the sovereignty issues of the islands, delimitation issues, resources utilization as well as other matters concerning security (both traditional and non-traditional). In order to solve the dispute, cooperation is one of the main considerations. However, the practice has not been realized. In order to solve the dispute and promote cooperation in the South China Sea region, the author suggests that conserving and managing fishery resources could be established as a starting point. There are a great number of management means, institutions, and international instruments (such as conventions, treaties and arrangements), which have been developed to protect fish stocks. Nonetheless, these policies should be practiced in an integrated mechanism at the national, regional, and international levels, so that the policy objectives could be accomplished. The South China Sea, the East China Sea, and Yellow Sea comprise a large marine ecosystem (LME) in East Asia. In other words, any change of the marine ecosystem could create a serious impact on other maritime areas. This paper suggests that a regional fisheries management organization is needed in order to conserve and manage the fishery resources in the South China Sea, which could also influence other maritime areas. Furthermore, it is also the purpose of this paper that such a model could contribute the solution to the dispute in the South China Sea