Sharing aquatic genetic resources across jurisdictions: playing ‘chicken’ in the sea

Abstract

International regimes regulating access and benefit sharing were originally designed to promote conservation and fairness objectives concerning the use of the world's biological resources for their genetic material value. These regimes determine from whom permission is required to take the resources and who obtains the benefits of their use. They have evolved separate frameworks in three distinct jurisdictional areaswithin national jurisdiction, beyond national jurisdiction and in the Antarctic Treaty area. This article argues that if these regimes continue to evolve separately, there is a strong temptation for countries to play 'chicken' with biological resource governance through forum shopping or opting out of agreements that do not suit their political ends. Using game theory and a transgenic tilapia fish example incorporating genetic material from the three jurisdictional areas, it illustrates the legal and ethical dilemmas that can arise from the territorial (jurisdictional) approach to access and benefit sharingto the detriment of fairness and conservation in tilapia's countries of origin. Tilapias are known as the 'chicken of the sea' because they dominate global farmed production and developing countries depend on them as their primary source of protein, livelihoods and trade. This means Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3187042 2 there will be serious consequences if the regimes do not achieve their fairness and conservation objectives for sharing their genetic material. This article concludes that a purpose-driven cooperative governance approach can sidestep the game of chicken and promote fairer and more conservation focused outcomes than the current jurisdictional approach for the developing country providers of migratory aquatic resources.

The Voice of Science on Marine Biodiversity Negotiations: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The sharing of knowledge about activities that affect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, including research and extraction, is crucial for the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ (Ridings, 2018), can give greater access to patented genetic resources, and strengthen research capacity and support the conservation of wild stocks (Humphries, 2018). Scientific capacity building enables global monitoring, management and adaption to ocean change (Bax et al, 2018;Mossop, 2018).…”

Lessons learnt in global biodiversity governance

“…Similarly, several papers reflect advancements in environmental diplomacy while covering protected areas and habitat conservation (Sand, 2001;Wilson, 2008); natural resource management and sharing (most visibly, fisheries : Axelrod, 2017;Haas et al, 2021;Kim, 2019;Pentz & Klerk, 2020) and, especially, forestry (Bezerra, 2018;Fernandez-Blanco, 2019;Gulbrandsen, 2005;Heim, 2018;Ituarte-Lima, 2019Kalaba, 2014Mbatu, 2016;Pattberg, 2005). Others are better considered as "crossover" papers which examine overlapping regimes (Rosendal, 2001;Velázquez Gomar, 2016), partnerships (or "soft imperialisms") (Afionis & Stringer, 2014;Mbatu, 2016), or utilize comparative analysis (Atisa, 2020;Bezerra et al, 2018;Gulbrandsen, 2005;Humpries, 2018). A more limited set of articles focus on agency, and on specific actors' strategies and interests, and their implications for political outcomes achieved in biodiversity governance (Axelrod, 2017;Groen, 2019).…”

Lipid profile migration during the tilapia muscle steaming process revealed by a transactional analysis between MS data and lipidomics data

“…Tilapia is an important food resource and is commonly referred to as “aquatic chicken” 13 , 15 . Due to its excellent advantages such as tender muscle and richness of unsaturated fatty acids, tilapia is the second most important group of global farmed fish after carps 16 . In order to value-addedly utilize tilapia, fresh tilapia is generally processed into frozen fillets in aquatic plants for transportation and sales in the world, especially in Europe, Mexico, USA, etc.…”