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Marine fisheries represent a significant, but finite, natural re-
source for coastal countries. The majority of the catches in some
offshore areas are not primarily by the coastal countries con-
THE PRESSURES AND FATE OF
THE CONTINENTAL SHELVES IS
BOTH A NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONALRESPONSIBILITY
Source: Downloaded from Seas Around Us Project (University of British Columbia),
http://www.seaaroundus.org/TrophicLevel/EEZTaxon.aspx?eez=478&fao=34&country=Mauritania&Hasnote=1&typeOut=4&Tx=1 (Accessed January 2006).
Figure 29. Intensity of fisheries off the coast of Mauritania, West-Africa.
While the country’s often impoverished coastal population
is strongly dependent on the fisheries, the largest share of the fishing is done by an international fishing fleet.
cerned. Most of the fisheries off the coast of Mauritania (Figure
29), for example, are by countries from Europe and Asia (Japan
and South Korea are in the ‘others’ group). According to this esti-