Australiaʹs first tuna negotiations with Japan

In July 1999 the Governments of Australia and New Zealand decided to submit their dispute with Japan over southern bluefin tuna to an arbitration procedure under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Pending the constitution of an arbitral tribunal, they also requested the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to prescribe provisional measures. This paper traces the beginnings of tuna as an issue in Australiaʹs relations with Japan, from 1945 until the conclusion of the first bilateral negotiations on the subject in 1968. Drawing on recently released archival material the paper explains why, in terms of the evolving law of the sea, the 1968 agreement was generous.