International fisheries law and the Anthropocene: a challenge to foundational narratives

International fisheries law, in its current construction, operates based on several foundational principles which have created corresponding collective regime-based narratives. This chapter examines three of these narratives and their foundational principles. These are the principle of maximum sustainable yield, the zonal approach to resource allocation, and the centrality of single-species assessments. Each continues to play a key role in international fisheries law, despite efforts to modernise their application. The Anthropocene concept, while often contested, challenges the continued relevance of these narratives. According to this concept, the world has left the relatively stable Holocene geological era and has entered an era where human activities are the major driver of planetary change. These human-induced global changes impact the world’s oceans, which are particularly vulnerable to a number of these stressors. The impacts of climate change, through ocean warming, acidification, and sea-level rise, as well as other threats to marine biodiversity, such as overfishing, shipping, and pollution, put marine ecosystems under increasing pressure. This chapter looks at each of the narratives outlined previously in turn. It highlights that foundational narratives underpinning international fisheries law will need to be rethought in the context of the emerging conditions of the Anthropocene Ocean.