This paper deals with a broad overview of the international legal context in which problems of fisheries management have to be viewed. After discussing the weaknesses of the old fisheries regime, the new international system based on the Economic Zone concept which is being formulated at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is examined. Implications of the Economic Zone for fisheries management are considered first in more general terms and then specifically for the Indian Ocean. Some suggestions are made for future research in fisheries management.