Sea fisheries cases before the European Court of Justice

Approximately 300 sea fisheries cases have been dealt with by the judicial institutions of the European Community (European (Economic) Community; European Communities, Court of Justice [ECJ] and Court of First Instance [CFI]). Their nature evolved in line with the changes ratione loci and materiae of the European Common Fisheries Policy (‘CFP’) and can be grouped around seven main issues. The first three issues deal with jurisdictional matters: Before the establishment of 200-mile zones, thereafter, and relating to the specific regime of coastal waters (Fisheries, Coastal). Two fundamental concepts underlying the European internal fisheries regime—the principles of equal access and relative stability—are dealt with next. The former means that, as a rule, Member States have equal access to each other’s maritime waters. The latter underlies the allocation of fisheries resources between the Member States. The ensuing practice of so-called quota-hopping is dealt with next. A final issue concerns the integration of environmental aspects into the CFP. In many of these cases and when confronted, inter alia, with lacunae in Community fisheries law, international law has been relied upon (European Community and Union Law and International Law)