Xiao Recio-Blanco

Senior Attorney; Director, Ocean Program

Xiao Recio-Blanco is the Director of the Ocean Program at the Environmental Law Institute. Xiao joined ELI in early 2016 as a Staff Attorney specialized in ocean resources management. He has conducted legal research on the regulation of small-scale fisheries in developing nations, the implementation of Marine Spatial Planning, the negotiation of maritime boundaries agreements, the creation of transboundary Marine Protected Areas, and the regulation of ocean renewable energy. He has taught seminars on ocean resources management at universities in Europe, Mexico, and the United States. His current research interests include transparency and access to information in international fisheries, legal reforms to make small-scale fisheries more sustainable, the regulatory implementation of area-based management, and the design and enforcement of Marine Protected Areas.

Before joining ELI, Xiao was an attorney at Banco Santander in Madrid (Spain), and an Associate Professor of International Law at CIDE (Mexico City). He was also a Visiting Attorney at Earthjustice in the District of Columbia. He holds a J.D. from the Complutense University of Madrid, and a S.J.D. from Duke University School of Law.

Media Guide

Expertise

Energy: Ocean renewable energy

International: Design and enforcement of marine protected areas, deep seabed mining, fisheries management, maritime boundaries, transboundary management of ocean resources, European Union fisheries policy

Water: Area-based ocean management, marine spatial planning

Wildlife: International fisheries management, small-scale fisheries management

Education

J.D., Complutense University of Madrid (2005).

S.J.D., Duke University School of Law (2015).

Selected Publications

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Marine Protected Area Enforcement Through Legal Reform, American Bar Association IERL Committee Newsletter (2017).

Xiao Recio-Blanco, Bruce Myers & Kathryn Mengerink, Legal Tools for Strengthening Marine Protected Area Enforcement: A Handbook for Developing Nations (ELI 2016).

Transnational Area-Based Ocean Management: Finding Avenues for Regulatory Harmonization, 7 Wm. & Mary Policy Rev. 95 (2015).

Deployment of Ocean Renewable Energy through area-based management: Finding an Adequate Legal Framework, 45 ELR 11051 (2015).

Protecting Marine Biodiversity in Latin America Through Area-Based Fisheries Regulation, 28 Geo. Envtl. L. Rev. 75 (2015).