Non-compliance with a fishing quota has become a significant problem that threatens the conservation effort toward particular fish stocks and contributes to over-exploitation. The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) has indicated Indonesia's over-catch issue against its national quota. Catching fish that exceeds the national allocation is classified as noncompliance. Thus the corrective measures might be taken. This study considers how State's noncompliance has been addressed in fishing for shared fish stocks. The question then is linked to the current pandemic situation and presents justification whether it can be an exception in international law. The dilemma that Indonesia is facing is to comply with the quota regulation. On the other hand the country needs to prioritize its national interest in the hard time during the pandemics. The study argues that it is an international standard in every agreement in which the position of developing States is recognised as there might be different capacity in fulfilling international obligations between developed and developing member States. Therefore when it comes to non-compliance case in extraordinary circumstances, there should be reasonable deliberation following national interest of a State. Indonesia's non-compliance with fishing quota is unique as the country has typical enormous fishing area and number of small-scale fishers are involved. The lesson learnt from Indonesia's southern bluefin tuna (SBT) case study allows us to expose such proportional measures for developing States regarding violation of fishing quota in an exceptional circumstance.

Fishing Quota, Pandemics, Proportionality, Non-Compliance, Over-Catch