The Guardian, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and Süddeutsche Zeitung investigated fish stocks as there is no consensus on an agreement for a fishing quota for the north-east Atlantic. Also, with the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, the problem of opinions being divided on how much which country is now allowed to fish, is getting bigger resulting in even more massive overfishing (Poulsen and Petroni, 2022).
These are statements made in an article by The Guardian called Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened, written by Regin Winter Poulsen and Agostino Petroni on the 26th of October in 2022.
In the article, they discuss not only the problem of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and overfishing but also the fact that fish nowadays do not have the minimum length set by law and therefore do not meet the legal requirements, forcing fishermen to throw lots of fish back into the sea (Poulsen and Petroni, 2022).
In this essay I would like to talk about how the fishing industry is intertwined in International Relations – consulting the course literature – and how I relate Climate Change and International Law & World Politics from Mark Beeson and Nick Bisley’s Issues in 21st Century World Politics (2017) to this article.
The article is an entire account of the problem and other factors that do not contribute to the situation but rather exacerbate it. This text was an eye-opener for me because I had no knowledge of these problems and that is why I chose this article to analyse using two IR theories we discussed in class namely liberalism and constructivism.
Analysis
In this part of my essay, I will analyse the article and the chosen problems – Climate Change and International Law & World Politics – with liberalism and constructivism.
Liberalism in IR
Liberalism can be described as a dynamic, progressive, and initiative-rich theory. It is not the state but the individual that is central. According to the book International Relations Theory (2017), written by Stephen McGlinchey, Rosie Walters and Christian Scheinpflug, the basic principles of liberalism can be described as the following.
The well-being of the individual is fundamental to obtaining, maintaining, and preserving a correct political system. Therefore, the right of a person to life, liberty and property is the highest goal of the government in a liberalist, democratic state (Meiser, 2017, p. 22). Liberalist thinkers want to construct institutions that protect individual freedom by limiting and checking political power. Which means that not all power emanates from the government but citizens themselves still guard some of their power. We call this a democracy. The liberalist theory in International Relations also says that liberal states have a higher capacity for cooperation with each other and that liberal norms favour international cooperation, human rights, democracy, and rule of law (Meiser, 2017, p. 23). This fact is clearly stated in the article where the countries concerned – called the coastal states in the article – including Norway, Russia, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the European Union, and the United Kingdom meet every year in London where they have to come to an agreement on catch quotas (Poulsen and Petroni, 2022). Every country gets a chance to have their say on the topic and then to make reasonable and achievable demands. This is the fundamental aspect of a democracy.
With this said, we can link the previous paragraph with a statement from the book International Relations Theory (2017) by McGlinchey, Walters and Scheinpflug, which says that the activities of a state abroad have a strong impact on liberty and sovereignty within the country itself, referring to the United Kingdom and their decision on leaving the European Union. By going ahead with this decision and effectively leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom unwittingly made the (over)fishing problem worse by adding an extra negotiator to the table, as the UK would normally fall under the European Union’s catch quota (Poulsen and Petroni, 2022).
Constructivism in IR
The constructivist theory in International Relations says that the world is socially constructed with a nature of reality and a nature of knowledge (Theys, 2017, p. 36). As stated in the book International Relations Theory (2017) by McGlinchey, Walters and Scheinpflug, constructivism is also based on the idea that reality – shaped by actions, interactions and perceptions – is always under construction and that meanings can change over time relying on the ideas and beliefs that actors – in this case in the article; the coastal states – hold.
Constructivism distinguishes two types in their theory namely conventional constructivism and critical constructivism. Where conventional constructivism seeks to explain the world in causal terms and is interested in discovering the relationships between actors, critical constructivism is not interested in the effect that the identity of an actor has but does believe that identity is created through written or spoken communication between actors (Theys, 2017, p. 41). The second type fits more with the article Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened (2022) by Poulsen and Petroni. The different countries, related to the north-east Atlantic fishery, have to come to a compromise with each other. This of course involves extended discussions because each country has a different identity, associates itself with a different history and thus brings several reasons to the fore in order to win the most positive outcome for itself. As was written in the article, countries do listen to scientists’ recommendations on exactly how much they can all fish together, but then when it comes to dividing up the numbers, they have a demanding time getting an agreement and they all end up overfishing one by one anyway (Poulson and Petroni, 2022).
A state does not have just one single identity, but it can have multiple identities. They are socially instructed through interaction with other actors (Theys, 2017, p. 41), referring to the statement of Alexander Wendt. It is an example seen during a lecture on constructivism, illustrating the social construction of reality. He said: “500 British nuclear weapons are less threatening to the United States than five North Korean nuclear weapons” (Theys, 2017, p. 36). The danger is not caused by the nuclear weapons or the materiality but rather the meaning given to the material structure. It is also important to understand the social relationship between Britain, the United States, and North Korea. Nuclear weapons get meaning by understanding the social context and that is the premise of constructivism.
In a constructivist theory, small states focus more on survival and big states rather focus on dominating global, political, economic, and military affairs (Theys, 2017, p. 41). If we imagine how a meeting about the fishing stocks goes, we can picture smaller countries having less to say than larger countries having more share in the conversation because of their authoritarian image over small countries. That will eventually result in an uneven distribution of fish quotas that will quickly dissatisfy smaller countries resulting in some tension between states and their international relations.
Climate Change and International Law & World Politics
The oppressive problem of climate change is clearly felt and stated in the article Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened (2022) by Poulsen and Petroni. Just because the various north-east Atlantic countries do not agree about the fishing quota, they all decide for themselves separately how much to fish, resulting in more fishing than is legally permissible. A clear consequence of this can already be seen and found in sea. There are far fewer fish to be found and those that can be found do not meet the legal requirements because they are way too small. So, these fish are – unfortunately – thrown back into the sea. As stated in the article: “Anna Heiða Ólafsdóttir, a marine biologist from Iceland describes the current system of negotiations as unsustainable” (Poulsen and Petroni, 2022). Climate change is a high-political problem and should be at the top of every political, scientific, and social agenda (Gordon and Paterson, 2017, p. 141) and I believe that when the consequences are not felt or visible enough, people do not consider the problem to have any weight.
The NEAFC is an international body responsible for fisheries. They are a fisheries commission for the north-east Atlantic and function as an overall regional fisheries management organisation. They monitor fisheries and fisheries-related operations (NEAFC, no date). The biggest reason why overfishing cannot be solved in the near future is the fact that this organisation does not have the power to force a country to accept certain quotas and they are certainly not in a position to punish them for disobeying (Poulsen and Petroni, 2022). As was written in the article Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened, by Regin Winter Poulsen and Agostino Petroni: “as long as the countries meet, they have, officially, done their duty.”
Due to the lack of international legislation around this subject, there is no regulation or extraordinarily little regulation possible (Hehir, 2017, p. 116). Introducing international legislation concerning the fishing industry could already be a first step in the right direction to solve the overfishing problem within climate change. In world politics, it is important to set clear laws between different states around the world. A well-functioning society also only works if laws and enforcement are present in the country itself. This rule also applies to international relations between countries (Hehir, 2017, p. 117).
Conclusion
In this conclusion I will try to formulate a consistent and clear answer to the question of this essay: How is the fishing industry intertwined in International Relations?
By reading and analysing the article Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened (2022) written by Poulsen and Petroni, the course literature, and the book Issues in 21st Century World Politics (2017) written by Mark Beeson and Nick Bisley, I have seen that International Relations can be found everywhere in our daily lives. We see a lot more of these theories in our current society than we actually think or expect. Without International Relations, there cannot be a well-functioning society, because everything inside a country is also related to what happens abroad. These two work like communicating vessels and influence each other both consciously and unconsciously.
In order for a meeting, such as the one described in the article from The Guardian, to take place, be conducted correctly and ultimately bring it to a successful conclusion, you need the support and cooperation of all countries. International Relations are particularly important in this respect. The relations in which the states commit to each other are crucial and must be as favourable as possible in order to achieve good negotiations that are positive for everyone (Theys, 2017, p. 41).
And as for the Issues in the 21st Century World Politics, Climate Change and International Law & World Politics are equally engaged in International Relations. International Relations can even provide an initial solution to raise awareness for these issues and possibly look for alternative approaches in the world to get these problems solved.
A final quote from the chapter ‘Constructivism’ from the book International Relations Theory (2017) written by Stephen McGlinchey, Rosie Walters and Christian Scheinpflug, that will always stay with me because it is so applicable to this topic and bring this essay to a beautiful conclusion is the following: “Our thoughts and actions literally construct International Relations.”
Reference list:
Beeson M. and Bisley N. (2017). ‘Climate Change’ in Gordon, D. and Paterson, M. (ed.) Issues in 21st Century World Politics. Third edition. London: Palgrave, pp. 141-156.
Beeson M. and Bisley N. (2017). ‘International Law and World Politics’ in Hehir, A. (ed.) Issues in 21st Century World Politics. Third edition. London: Palgrave, pp. 113-125.
McGlinchey S., Walters R., and Scheinpflug C. (2017). ‘Constructivism’ in Theys, S. (ed.) International Relations Theory. Bristol: E-International Relations Publishing, pp. 36-41.
McGlinchey S., Walters R., and Scheinpflug C. (2017). ‘Liberalism’ in Meiser, J.W. (ed.) International Relations Theory. Bristol: E-International Relations Publishing, pp. 22-27.
NEAFC (no date) About the Work of NEAFC [online]. Available at: https://www.neafc.org/about (Accessed: 16 November 2022)
Poulsen, R.W. and Petroni, A. (2022). ‘Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened’, The Guardian, [online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/26/north-east-atlantic-overfishing-brexit (Accessed: 12 November 2022)
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