Ocean Management in Global Change : Proceedings of the Conference on Ocean Management in Global Change, Genoa, 22-26 June 1992

OCEAN MANAGEMENT IN GLOBAL CHANGE

To commemorate the Quincentenary of the Discovery of the Americas the Twentieth Anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment the Tenth Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Published with the collaboration of ENTE COLOMBO ’92, Genoa, Italy

OCEAN MANAGEMENT IN GLOBAL CHANGE Edited by

PAOLO FABBRI University of Bologna, Italy

ELSEVIER APPLIED SCIENCE London and New York 1992

ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD Crown House, Linton Road, Barking, Essex IG11 8JU, England This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” WITH 19 TABLES AND 72 ILLUSTRATIONS © 1992 ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD CIP Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0-203-21363-7 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-27045-2 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 1-85166-868-3 (Print Edition) Library of Congress CIP data applied for No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Special regulations for readers in the USA This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC), Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in the USA. All other copyright questions, including photocopying outside the USA, should be referred to the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

FOREWORD

The Celebrations of the Quincentenary of the Discovery of the Americas and their Scientific Events Ente Colombo ’92 was created with the task of organizing the Celebrations of the Quincentenary of the Discovery of the Americas. This body decided on an International Specialized Exhibition, ‘Christopher Columbus: Ships and the Sea’, to be flanked by a series of scientific events at a sufficiently distinguished level to be able to discuss, authoritatively, the evolution of sea uses and the consequent need to protect the marine environment. It was decided to programme these events during the central part of the Celebrations and so, during the week entitled ‘Man and the Sea’, three international conferences on ocean management, the law of the sea (annual Conference of the Law of the Sea Institute) and legal maritime subjects (conference of Unidroit and Comité Maritime International) respectively are to be held in Genoa. The event on ocean management was organized by Ente Colombo ’92 with the co-operation of the United Nations Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea and was devoted to Ocean Management in Global Change. Its aim is to deal with the evolution of the objectives and methodologies of coastal and ocean management, with special emphasis on the relationships between resource development and environmental protection and, as a result, establishing close topical links with the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, June 1992).

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In order to give the greatest opportunities for scientific communication and discussion at this Conference, two books have been published. This present volume contains the lectures presented at the Conference; Sea Management: A Theoretical Approach, written by Adalberto Vallega, the scientific co-ordinator of the Conference, deals with the theoretical background and practical implications of coastal and ocean management. On behalf of Ente Colombo ’92 I express my gratitude to the UN Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, as well as to all those who have offered their co-operation and moral support to the Conference, in the fervent hope that it will contribute to the improvement of sea resource development and environmental protection. ROMANO MERLO Mayor of Genoa President, Ente Colombo ’92

PREFACE

The International Conference on Ocean Management in Global Change The evolution of coastal and ocean management is worth considering in the light of (i) the principles of environmental protection established by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972) and the subsequent action developed by the United Nations and its organizations, (ii) the legal frameworks provided by the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1982), (iii) the recently implemented efforts to encourage multidisciplinary approaches to environmental change and, finally, (iv) the impetus given by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992) to the implementation of the rationale in resource use and environmental management. This background supports both the subject area and the whole approach to be developed by the International Conference on Ocean Management in Global Change (Genoa, 22–26 June 1992), the main objectives of which are (i) to examine present and expected trends in coastal and ocean resource use, (ii) to evaluate the state of the art and the expected evolution in theory and practice of management and (iii) to discuss scientific and technological developments and their impacts on management. On this basis it was thought that the Conference should have to produce (i) general views of the evolution of coastal and ocean management with the aim of putting into evidence their theoretical background and methodologies, as well as drafting short- and medium-term prospects, and, in this context, (ii) should deal with crucial issues, such as the relationships between sea resource development and environmental protection, taking

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into account (iii) relevant case studies and (iv) coastal and ocean areas worthy of special attention. The Conference benefits from co-operation between scientists from various disciplines—such as oceanography, ecology, law, economics, geography—and distinguished experts in coastal and ocean management. Their lectures are collected in this book, edited by Paolo Fabbri, of the University of Bologna, Italy. The lectures are concerned with the history, theory, practice and the expected evolution of coastal and ocean management, the physical changes in oceans and the subsequent research undertaken, key marine policy problems and the role of national jurisdictional belts, conflict management and environmental protection and preservation, the role of coastal and ocean management for development purposes, the specific features of the management of special coastal (waterfronts, estuaries and lagoons) and ocean (enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, polar seas) areas. This framework was conceived with the United Nations Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, in the context of which the objectives of the Conference and their background, as well as the preliminary descriptions of sessions and lectures, were extensively discussed and formulated. We are very grateful to the members of the UN Office—especially to Moritaka Hayashi and Stella Maris Vallejo—for the encouraging atmosphere they created for scheduling this initiative and the help they have given towards its scientific conduct. Gratitude is also expressed to Ente Colombo ’92, which decided to give such a strong impetus to the scientific events supporting the Celebrations of the Quincentenary of the Discovery of the Americas, and to Alberto Bemporad, the Commissioner General of the International Specialized Exhibition ‘Christopher Columbus: Ships and the Sea’. Finally, acknowledgements are expressed to Paolo Fabbri, the editor of the volume, to the Scientific Organizing Committee of the Conference composed of Francesco Bandarin, Giuliano Fierro, Maria Giuseppina Lucia and Giovanni Rildolfi, as well as to the staff of the Technical Scientific Committee, constituted by Elisabetta Dettori and Paola Schiavo. ADALBERTO VALLEGA Scientific Co-ordinator International Conference on Ocean Management in Global Change GIORGIO DORIA Co-ordinator Technical Scientific Committee Ente Colombo ’92

CONTENTS

Foreword Preface History of Ocean Management Alastair D.Couper Theory of Ocean Management Hance D.Smith Ocean Management in Practice Gerard Peet Sea-Level Rise and its Implications in Coastal Planning and Management Dallas L.Peck and S.Jeffress Williams Impact of Ocean Circulation on Regional and Global Change André Guilcher The Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Coral Reefs and Reef Islands Eric C.F.Bird Ocean Sciences and Management André Vigarié Remote Sensing in Ocean Management Renato Herz Information and Data Processing for Ocean Management Adam Cole-King and Chandra S.Lalwani Integrated Marine Policies: Goals and Constraints Stella Maris A.Vallejo From Coastal to Ocean Management: Policies and Planning Issues Paolo Fabbri National Ocean Policy in the United States: Less than the Sum of its Parts Robert W.Knecht

v vii 1 17 36 52

74 91 104 123 135 157 177

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The Role of National Jurisdictional Zones in Ocean Management Moritaka Hayashi Boundaries and Ocean Management Victor Prescott The Community Fisheries Policy Daniel Vignes A Review of Disputed Maritime Areas in Southeast Asia Phiphat Tangsubkul Multiple Use Conflicts and their Resolution: Toward a Comparative Research Agenda Biliana Cicin-Sain Comparative Evaluation in Managing Conflicts: Lessons from the North Sea Experience Patricia Birnie

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The Protection of the Marine Environment: A Key Policy Element Lee A.Kimball

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The Protection and Development of the Marine Environment: UNEP’s Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme Stjepan Keckes

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Special Areas and Particularly Sensitive Areas Jon Wonham Ocean Fisheries Management: The FAO Programme S.M.Garcia Seaport Management and Navigation Ugo Marchese Coastal Management in Ecuador Luis Arriaga M. Coastal Management in China Ying Wang Small Island States and Huge Maritime Zones: Management Tasks in the South Pacific Hanns Buchholz

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Urban Waterfront Management: Historical Patterns and Prospects D.A.Pinder and B.S.Hoyle

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232 249 255 285

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381 428 446 469 480

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Estuaries: Challenges for Coastal Management Norbert P.Psuty Complexity of Coastal Lagoons Management: An Overview S.Guillaume F.Zabi The Management of Enclosed and Semi-Enclosed Seas Lewis M.Alexander The Arctic Ocean H.Jesse Walker Management of the Southern Ocean Resources and Environment Juan Carlos M.Beltramino Future Challenges in Ocean Management: Towards Integrated National Ocean Policy Edward L.Miles

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Index of Contributors

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535 553 562 596

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HISTORY OF OCEAN MANAGEMENT ALASTAIR D.COUPER University of Wales, Cardiff

ABSTRACT Elements of present-day sea use management have evolved over a long period. Basic to these are the principles of freedom of the seas, open access to resources, and sectoral management. There is, however, a necessary corrective to this Euro-centric view when the relationships between people and the marine environment are examined in several other cultures. Open access in Western society has experienced more recent restrictions as resource scarcities have arisen and new technological capacities have increased. However, ocean management policies have continued within the spatial framework of freedom of the seas for fishing beyond national jurisdiction and the marine transport sector. The paper traces these aspects historically and also the emergence of new concepts, which have become progressively more multi-disciplinary as inter-sectoral problems have appeared. Similarly, United Nations global policies stand in constrast to the persistence of national sectoral management approaches. It is concluded that very recent developments have now created opportunities for more integrated ocean management to emerge. INTRODUCTION The concept of ocean management, in the sense of exercising some form of centralised control over multiple uses of a sea area, is a product of the late 20th Century. It emerged at a time when there was increased concern

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for the health of the oceans, a greater awareness of the need to allocate national rights over ocean space and resources, requirements to regulate human activities at sea, and the need to resolve inter-territorial conflicts. Unlike land use management, ocean management is complicated by the fluidity of the medium, its three-dimensional parameters, mobility of many resources and activities, the complexity of interacting ecosystems, and the lack of relevance of administrative boundaries to the natural environment. Ocean management is also bedeviled by inheritances from the past in custom, law (and lack of it), the perceptions of land-minded administrators, and by powerful global military interests. What may now be understood by ocean management, if current views are pulled together, is methodology through which sectoral activities (navigation, fishing, mining, dumping, etc.) and environmental quality in a sea area are considered as a whole, and their uses optimised in order to maximise net benefits to a nation, but without prejudicing local socioeconomic interests or jeopardising benefits to future generations. This must involve assessments, priorities, allocations and regulations. Overall optimisation of uses in this way is a difficult objective and, it may be asserted, perhaps an unattainable one. An alternative to this and to central management is simply sectoral management within national sea areas, with linking mechanisms capable of resolving inter-sectoral, social welfare, and inter-territorial conflicts as these appear. Whether a centralised management approach should, or can, be adopted, or merely ad-hoc approaches used, is still open to debate. What is generally agreed, is the need for a policy which has as its foundation the recognition that many activities at sea are inter-connected, and as sea uses increase conflicts arise. The requirement for policies based on the various degrees of functional integration in the marine environment was emphasised in the preamble to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which…“recognises that the problems and opportunities of ocean space are closely inter-related and need to be considered as a whole” (1). In a subsequent report of the Secretary General it was stated: A fundamental requirement for the development and use of national off-shore marine resources is a national policy that establishes goals, objectives and priorities and lays down basic principles and criteria which provide guidance for the formulation of plans and programmes and a marine development strategy (2).

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It is not the purpose of this introductory paper to elaborate on these goals and the ways of achieving them. This will be done by subsequent contributions. What is intended here, is to consider how we reached the present levels of thinking, and to identify what concepts and practices have been inherited from the past in our current approaches to ocean management. THE CONCEPTUAL INHERITANCE Before multiple activities in sea areas can be managed, it is clearly necessary to establish who has the authority for making rules and setting priorities within a specified space, and what the law is with regard to resource ownership and access. In these respects, it is recalled here that some of the basic concepts which enter into present-day discussions and legislation are derived from much earlier periods. The most fundamental of these is the concept of freedom of the sea, and its related systems of coastal state and off-shore user rights. Attempts to control ocean space and the uses of the sea by maritime powers go back to at least Roman times(3). By far the most ambitious attempt, and never to be surpassed in its magnitude, was the action by Spain after the 1492 voyage which we are now commemorating. Following the report by Columbus of his explorations, Ferdinand and Isabella were able to secure a Papal Bull from Pope Alexander VI in 1493. This granted to Spain all discoveries lying to the West of a line drawn through a point 100 leagues from any of the Azores or Cape Verdes. Noone was to pass beyond this line, even for fishing, without permission of Spain under pain of excommunication. It should be said that the Marine Geographers Commission would not have awarded any prizes to the Pope for this piece of delimitation, since there is a difference of 8° of longitude between the extremes of the Azores and Cape Verde islands(4). The positional anomaly was rectified in the following year when Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordessilas establishing a new line 370 leagues West of the Cape Verdes. This delimitation included a section of what is now Brazil in the Portugese Eastern sector. The division of the world ocean by Spain and Portugal was studiously ignored by, amongst others, Henry VII of England who, in 1497, sent the Genoese captain, John Cabot, on his historic voyage north-westward from Bristol to North America. This was an important early lesson in geopolitics, indicating that national claims to sea areas could not be effective unless there was the naval capability to maintain them. Considering the emerging knowledge of the real size of the global ocean in

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the late 15th Century there was little possibility of comprehensive national controls over fishing or navigation, and this signified the de facto recognition of freedom of the high seas. These lessons and subsequent events may have influenced the formulation of the concept of freedom of the sea contained in the Grotius Mare Liberum in 1604, and ultimately its de Jure recognition. Grotius not only conceptualised the basic principles of high seas freedoms, but he also identified the rights of nations to exercise jurisdiction over a narrow belt of coastal waters which could be controlled and defended from the shore. In this respect, Clyde Sanger(5) reminds us that later in the early 18th Century Dutch lawyers elaborated further on these themes, and in the process differentiated between off-shore sovereignty and jurisdiction (trusteeship). They argued also over such issues as exclusive fishery zones and the principle of equidistance in delimiting boundaries between opposite coastal states. Freedom of the sea was challenged by the Englishman John Selden with his counter-advocacy of Mare Clausum in 1635. Selden’s arguments (apart from their obvious imperialism) contained a hint of the possibility of depletion of the living resources of the sea. He upheld therefore the right of England to exercise jurisdiction over “English” waters. Selden also, however, gave expression to the rights of innocent passage of ships in what was to become the territorial sea. He did so in more elegant language than that of the 1982 Convention, when he wrote: “The offices of humanitie require that entertainment bee given to strangers and that inoffensive passage bee not denied”(6). Many of the principles debated more than 300 years ago became the orthodoxies of attempts at managing the sea, with Grotius rather than Selden on the ascendancy until very recently. PAST TECHNOLOGICAL INFLUENCES When we consider the influences of technology on patterns of sea uses, it should be recalled that the levels of technology in shipping and fishing were relatively stable until the energy revolution of the early 19th Century. Technology until then did little to upset the continued adherence to high seas freedoms. Indeed, the development of submarine cables in the late 1860’s reinforced the freedom of the high seas by establishing the right to lay cables, and the ‘Challenger’ expedition in the 1870’s did likewise for

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research, and incidentally retrieved the first manganese nodules from the deep sea bed. It was the introduction of steam to the fishing industry in the late 19th Century which marked the beginning of concern over freedom to fish and the common property characteristic of fish stocks. The steam trawler proved a magnificent ship for the job of catching large quantities of fish in waters distant from its home port. By the first decade of the 20th Century, this had given rise to disputes over fishing between, amongst others, Britain, Denmark and Iceland; and the need for stock assessments in the open ocean. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) was founded at this time made up of representatives from eighteen countries in the North Atlantic region. Before this period, some whale stocks were already under greater pressures than fish in the high seas. They had been hunted for their oil since at least the 12th Century and by the early 18th Century there were land-stations as far North as Spitzbergen for the Arctic whale. Whalers were soon pursuing the sperm whale throughout the Pacific Ocean, and the Antarctic whaling flourished with the introduction of the explosive harpoon and mechanised gun. For a brief period the whale had some respite with the development of mineral oil as an alternative basis for lighting. In 1885, the first oil tanker came into operation on the world sea lanes, and in 1898 the oil industry moved off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico to depths of 10 metres. For the whale, the respite brought by mineral oil production was only minimal, for in the 1900’s other technological changes brought renewed demand for whale oil for the making of soap and margarine. Whaling illustrates even more than fishing, the problems of open access and the common property nature of marine resources. The companies and whalers engaged in the industry must have known they were destroying the resource. In more recent times, Earling Naess, a Norwegian shipowner who made part of his fortune from whaling, consoled himself to the destruction of the whale with the thought, that… “If I desisted somebody else would have taken my place”(7), which is the classical expression of the ‘tragedy of the commons’. The power driven ship gave rise also to the first real concerns over intrasectoral conflict. The consequences of collisions between powerful cargo and passenger ships, which were concentrating in straits and port approaches in increasing numbers, required that rules for vessel behaviour at sea had to be introduced. There was some semblance of sailing instructions even in the 17th Century, this included the rule that “no captain shall take the wind of an admiral”, and in the 18th Century a

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“Rule of the Road” for ships on different tacks existed. However, it was only in 1863 that comprehensive collision regulations were introduced by Britain to govern the use of sea space in order to avoid collisions, but it was not until 1910 that these could be said to have international effect(8). The turn of the century thus saw some attempts to manage conflicts within the sectors of fishing and of shipping, and to internationalise several of the procedures. Freedom of the sea, however, was still the underlying principle. CULTURAL PERCEPTIONS So far this paper has been peculiarly Euro centric in its perceptions, as though freedom of the seas and open access had emerged as universal concepts. This would be to ignore the wealth of knowledge and understanding of the wise use of ocean space held and practiced by communities in other parts of the world—many of whom had cultures with much higher dependencies on marine resources and more intimate social and religious links with the sea. Societies with possibly the closest relationships with the marine environment, (especially in the pre-European contact period), were those occupying small oceanic coral islands. Atoll and reef island communities are very dependent on the sea. They are often subject to natural disasters which deplete what little agriculture is possible with poor calcareous soils and variable rainfall. Geologically, oceanic low islands represent the upward growth of coral from submerged volcanoes, consequently beyond the living reefs the outer slopes plunge to vast depths. With no continental shelves and little nutrient run-off from tiny areas of land most food resources are confined to reef margins, passes, flats and lagoons. Offshore deep sea fish are in turn highly migratory and often seasonal in their availability. Island people readily recognised that the vital resources on which they depended were finite. Their communities survived by evolving rules of social behaviour, ethics, appropriate technologies, resource entitlements and distributional methods which maintained at least long-term balances between the people and the marine environment in a dynamic holistic ecosystem. One basic feature of many Pacific island societies was limited entry to a fishery. Individual villages had access rights, there was no concept of freedom of island waters, or of a common property resource. In many places these indigeneous reef and lagoon tenure laws still exist. In Palau, Johannes has described community fishing rights as extending seawards to

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as far as where the islands are barely visible from a canoe(9) and Lucas in 1990 encountered intricate coastal zone rights held by villages in Papua New Guinea(10). It was customary conservation procedures in parts of the Pacific to have selective temporary closures of sea space; prohibitions on the taking of certain species at specified times; taboos on eating some species types; restrictions on methods of catch to ensure the escape of breeding fish; and the targeting of specific fish amongst a multi-species stock. King (et al) describes how it is taboo in many Fijian villages to catch small sardines in shallows; the belief is the sardines attract the larger carnivorous fish into shallow water where they provide a more substantial catch. He goes on to say that this simple management measure is, in fact, quite sophisticated; fisheries regulations in developed countries are usually by contrast directed towards protecting the target species itself rather than its ecological relationships(11). These traditional management systems are frequently characterised by strong linkages between the social and natural environments. Local fishery disputes were often settled by village chiefs or elders, and temporary reallocations of fishery rights made. Lawson and Kwei describe similar systems in West Africa, where chief fishermen and elders settle disputes, impose fines and award damages(12). Not all indigenous sea management systems are of course useful, and many of the most valuable are lost or are in decay, destroyed primarily under the impact of introduced concepts and technology. Alexander has shown that this exchange impoverished several communities in southern Sri Lanka(13). UNESCO also notes in relation to the resource base, that… “attempts to replace such traditional resource systems with those based on higher technology and large fossil fuel flows often cause feedback loops to be lost, resulting in resource exploitation rather than resource management”(14). It is only relatively recently that these aspects have been appreciated in western countries. BASIS OF PRESENT OCEAN MANAGEMENT POLICIES It was the aftermath of the Second World War that saw greatly increased uses of the sea, and the claims by several coastal states to sovereignty over seaward resources as national property. Concern about energy supplies led to the Truman Proclamation of 1945. This extended rights to the resources of the sub-soil and seabed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas contiguous to the United

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States. The limits of exploitation were subsequently taken as the 200 metre isobath, although it was not until the 1950s that drill ships could work these depths. The sea enclosure movement followed soon after the United States declaration. In 1947 Chile, and shortly other Latin American countries, extended jurisdiction to 200 nm; but the only widely acknowledged curtailments of high seas rights at this time were related to international attempts to manage whaling activities and the establishment of regional fisheries commissions. This paper now summarises some of the principal events over the decades since the Truman Proclamation as a basis for understanding inheritances in present-day ocean use management policies. 1950/1960 The decade saw greatly increased catches of fish, as underfished stocks were exploited, and the stern trawler freezer factory vessel brought urban industry to sea. Several states unilaterally extended their jurisdiction over fishing to 12 nm. Also, in 1951, the ICJ upheld the claim by Norway to draw baselines between the outer islands of the coastal archipelego, establishing a precedent for future enclosures of archipelegos. This was also a time of growth in the world fleet of oil tankers, and increases in the size of the ships, as crude oil cargoes were carried to market oriented refineries in Europe and America. Tank washing took place on return voyages and the oily residue was discharged into the sea. In 1954, the Oilpol Convention was introduced which curtailed tankers from discharging into the sea within 50 miles of the coast, and prohibited this entirely in special areas. In 1958, the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (to become IMO) was finally established, and in that year the first Law of the Sea Conference was convened. This made several contributions; but neither a uniform breadth of the territorial sea, nor a satisfactory limit to the continental shelf emerged. Conceptually, there were major advances at this time in fishing management—including the work by Schaefer(15) and Beverton and Holt (16). These established the principle of maximum sustainable yield; while Gordon(17) was an advocate of maximum economic yield and a move towards closure of free access to marine resources. Ocean science also advanced in 1957 with the advent of satellites and the inauguration of the International Geophysical Year.

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1960/1970 UNCLOS II took place in 1960 but contributed only in minor ways to ocean management issues. By then, highly technically advanced vessels were fishing harder and longer to maintain catches. The oil industry was expanding in several offshore areas and in 1963, the seabed of the North Sea was divided between the bordering states. With the publication of the study by John Mero the deep seabed was also perceived as an area of profitable mining for manganese nodules, and although prospects were considerably exaggerated at the time new types of ocean mining vessels were designed. This likewise was a period of considerable conceptual contributions, much of which extended the biological thinking of the previous decade into wider dimensions in a more multi-disciplinary way. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s(18) ‘Silent Spring’ stimulated environmental debate and the inception of more NGOs. In 1965 the LSI was founded at Rhode Island, and bodies such as Pacem in Maribus also emerged internationally, especially after the speach by Arvid Pardo. In 1967, Pardo made his plea to the United Nations General Assembly for the application of the concept of the Common Heritage of Mankind to the resources of the seabed beyond national jurisdiction. Pardo argued for centralised management of much of the deep ocean, as against laissez faire, or piecemeal enclosure on the basis of technical superiority and defendable claims. During this period there appeared new schools of legal thinking going beyond ‘black letter law”. The work by Douglas Johnson(19) focused on biological realities and social criteria in fishing policy. In economics, Christy and Scott(20), amongst others, widened economic analysis beyond strict disciplinary boundaries to include biology and law, and Lewis Alexander(21) published his work ‘Offshore Geography of North Western Europe’. This presented in an integrated way the political and economic problems of delimitation and control. Finally, in what was a stimulating intellectual time, Hardin’s(22) ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ appeared, demonstrating the inevitable outcome of permitting open access to a common property resource. These works were well ahead of policy making at national and international levels, and they were crossing the boundaries of established disciplines into integrated approaches. It was the pollution from the ‘Torrey Canyon’ in 1967 which resulted in the greatest public and political pressures, and triggered legislative changes. The resulting 1969 Intervention Convention gave more power to coastal states over vessels on the high seas which were causing pollution. Similarly,

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the 1970 unilaterally declared “Arctic Waters Pollution Act”, which applied to ships within 100 nm of the Canadian Arctic coast, represented action by a coastal state in protection of the environment. 1970/1980 In the early years of this decade divisions between the coastal states and the maritime states became more pronounced with respect to control over resources. In 1972, Iceland extended national fishery limits to 50 nm, and in the same year, Kenya proposed a 200 nm entitlement for coastal states which would give sovereign rights over all economic resources. The 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment(23) was an important event, as was the subsequent creation of UNEP and its regional seas programmes. At this time also, the London Dumping Convention was introduced by IMO. The 1970’s Middle East crises had widespread effects. This brought a 200% increase in crude oil prices, and offshore oil development began to take place in waters of over 3000 metres. New drillships were followed by enormous fixed platforms. These were often fabricated in remote coastal areas. The offshore oil industry now commanded vast capital resources. Rigs, platforms, service and support vessels all competed for space at sea and in ports. The impact was considerable and the conflicting aspects difficult to manage with the high priorities being given to oil. The oil crises had also given impetus to the building of tankers of 250 000 DWT and above for the Cape route; and even more oil, possibly amounting to over 1 million tons per annum, was being discharged into the sea through normal ship operations. The IMO MARPOL Convention of 1973 was aimed at eliminating this by technological changes. The ‘Amoco Cadiz’ grounding off the Breton coast in 1978 brought about massive pollution and an immediate further extension of coastal state controls, when the French authorities required loaded tankers to report their positions to France and prohibited them from coming within 7 miles of the coast unless destined for a French port, and then only in designated tanker channels. These events took place during the negotiations of UNCLOS III which had opened in 1973. They influenced the proceedings, especially in relation to pollution of the sea and the management of marine traffic; although strategic considerations were successful in keeping wellestablished freedoms of navigation.

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1980/1990 The early years of this decade was a period of implementation and consolidation of several ocean management measures, although still primarily on a sectoral basis. The conclusion of UNCLOS III in 1982, although not ratified, legitimised the global extensions of the territorial sea to 12 nm, the 200 nm EEZ, and the jurisdiction over continental margins to as far as 350 nm for wide margin states. The seaward entitlements reduced high seas space by 35%, and brought 90% of commercial fisheries under the sovereignty of coastal states; while the continental margin extensions gave coastal states jurisdiction over almost all offshore hydro-carbon resources and most minerals, with the exception of those of the deep seabed. The 1982 Convention continued to confirm freedom of the high seas for fishing, and freedom of navigation on the high seas and within EEZs. The Convention also laid down what was regarded as being non-innocent passage in the territorial sea. Non-innocence it made clear, related to the behaviour of ships, and not (by implication) to their structural condition, manning, or the nature of the cargoes (or weapons) they carried. In these respects, the Convention followed the orthodoxies of navigational primacy. On the other hand, the resources of the deep seabed were considered out-with the freedom of the seas and open access. They were declared the common heritage of mankind, with guidelines as to how they were to be managed under an International Seabed Authority. In 1982 the principles of port state control, recognised by UNCLOS III, were applied in a Memorandum of Understanding adopted by fourteen countries in North West Europe. The principles were subsequently harmonised with several other states. The objective of the memorandum was to apply the terms of international conventions to all vessels in the memorandum ports, and thus help rid the seas of substandard ships which posed a threat to safety of life and the marine environment. In the early 1980’s, there was a more widespread adoption of traffic separation schemes, archipelegic sea lanes and other routing requirements to reduce accidents through the management of marine space. The early 1980s also saw more resolute management of marine resources under the International Whaling Commission. This was accomplished through increased activities of non-whaling states in the Commission—which ensured the success of the vote for a moratorium on whaling. The same success was achieved with the London Dumping Convention, which through greater participation of states which were not engaged in dumping at sea, was able to extend restrictions to the ocean

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disposal of radioactive waste. The LDC meeting may have been the first application of the ‘precautionary principle’ to ocean management. This required that promoters had to prove beforehand that there would be no adverse effects resulting from their proposed activities, rather than objectors proving that there would be. It should be emphasised that, in relation to whaling and the dumping of radioactive material, the influence of NGOs was very evident. These, along with public awareness of environmental dangers from hazardous substances, increased very substantially during the 1980s. However, it is also interesting to note that the Basle Convention on the “Control Over the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal” did not interfere with navigational rights under innocent passage principles. Ships carrying hazardous substances are not therefore required to seek coastal state consents to pass through a territorial sea. The second half of the decade has seen world concepts of political economy undergoing changes with respect to the environment. It has been demonstrated that the ‘labour theory of value’, which underpinned environmental perception and resource use in the centrally planned economies, was badly flawed. Natural resources were considered as having low value, since in their initial state they did not embody socially necessary labour. Similarly, in capitalist economies, no real account was taken of the value of environmental inputs which supported fish stock; values were determined for fish by the cost of catching and processing them and by market supply and demand. It was not possible either, for free market forces on their own to deal adequately with the externalities arising from many sectoral activities. As a result, intervention by governments in the form of directives or harmonisation policies gained strength, although often in ad hoc forms and without clear underlying principles. The 1986 World Commission on Environment and Development(24) helped in these respects; and also focused on many of the inadequacies in sectoral sea use management. It emphasised the needs for wider, more planned integration in space and time. The report showed the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems to inland human activities, and the linkages of offshore living resources to the coastal ecosystem; and stressed the facts of future population growth and distribution in coastal zones. The principle of ‘sustainable development’ was highlighted by the Commission as a management requirement, and it was adopted by the UN General Assembly. Basically, it meant that economic development was possible if techniques were applied which provided environmental protection, and the use of resources in a sustained way to ensure they could be passed on to future generations.

HISTORY OF OCEAN MANAGEMENT 13

The global scale of environmental destruction and the future impending crises became more apparent in the latter part of the decade and gave added urgencies to the application of sustainable development to sea uses. Environmental Impact Assessments were by now mandatory requirements with respect to many development projects, and were expected to be as much part of the decision-making process as financial appraisals. Another recent development is the spatial unification of some EEZs in fisheries management. The EC Common Fishery Policy now extends over the wide sea areas of North West Europe. The South Pacific Forum states also established elements of fishery management policies. This applies to about 30 million km of the Pacific within combined fishing zones. UNEP regional seas programmes appear to be moving in these directions, and the process is reinforced by the concept of large marine ecosystems for some ocean management purposes. Use zoning, and the identification and promotion of exclusive marine reserves are further advances in ocean management concepts, but practices are still lagging behind. The close of the decade has seen little progress in ocean management in the half of the world ocean still considered as high seas. Concern over drift netting and the consequent destruction of marine mammals directly, and by ghost fishing, is perhaps being resolved, but straddling stocks and endangered species are vital issues, as is the question of deep seabed mining entitlements, which remain unresolved, despite the efforts of the Preparatory Commission. It is not clear either if radioactive dumping has been finally removed. CONCLUSIONS The history of ocean management is partially the history of control over access to marine space and entitlements to the ownership of marine resources. When ocean space was perceived as plentiful and resources as infinite, management requirements were minimal. The prevailing view was of marine resources as common properties and the sea as free. Ultimately, freedom of the sea became a widespread underlying principle in law; and this was reinforced during the ages of imperialism and global naval strategy. Freedom of the sea started to be curtailed as pressures increased on resources and space, as new independent coastal states emerged, and as technology revealed previously unknown ocean resources—as well as the capacity for resource exploitation to the point of extinction. Large areas then passed under various forms of national jurisdiction. Exclusive economic zones could not, however, solve many of the basic problems of common property resources. New technology in turn, gave rise to new

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problems. These included major ship accidents, serious operational discharges, overfishing, oil well blow-outs, coastal erosion and species destruction. Several such events were seen as catastrophic and were the triggers for reactive regulations relating to particular sectors. Government departments implemented the regulations, and with the related industries, tried to manage problems as they arose. In turn, government research bodies provided data and analysis on the basis of sectoral terms of reference. It was evident as sea activities increased, and inter-sectoral conflicts appeared, that the management of sea uses on a sectoral basis could only be partially successful. The evolution towards integrated management proceeded, particularly in terms of new multi-disciplinary concepts and the activities of NGOs. There were also positive roles on the part of United Nations agencies—although several were bound by restricted areas of competence which did not correspond to the realities of the oceans. It was also apparent that European cultural perceptions made it difficult to learn from the integrating practices of other civilisations which had evolved more balanced relationships with the marine environment. It can be concluded that over a few decades, in spite of several positive measures, a gulf appeared between new integrated ocean management concepts, United Nations global policies, and national government sectoral attitudes and practices to sea uses. There are now indications that these components are beginning to come together. This has been brought about by a number of more recent events. There are strong pressures by NGOs on governments worldwide to adopt more proactive management in the face of the environmental crisis. Edward Shevardnadze(25) identifies this as the rise of political-ecology and the driving force for the future. The end of East/West conflicts has also changed several of the main strategic factors effecting ocean policies, opening the way for more controls by coastal states. There are now well integrated global networks and developing GIS facilities which will allow planning on a larger scale ecological basis. Governments are becoming increasingly committed in principle to the stewardship of the marine environment on the ‘common future’ basis. The meeting of UNCED may reinforce these trends. REFERENCES 1. 2.

United Nations, Convention on the Law of the Sea, 7 October 1982. United Nations, Development of Marine Areas Under National Jurisdiction Problems and Approaches in Policy-Making, Planning and Management,

HISTORY OF OCEAN MANAGEMENT 15

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

12. 13.

14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Report of the Secretary General Economic and Social Council, New York, 1987. Gold, E., Maritime Transport: The Evolution of International Marine Policy and Shipping Law, Lexington Books, 1981. Spate, O.H.K., The Spanish Lake, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1979. Sanger, C., Ordering the Oceans, Zed Books, London, 1986. Sanger, Ibid. Hope, R., A New History of British Shipping, John Murray, London, 1990, p. 420. Marsden, The Law of Collisions at Sea, British Shipping Law, Steven & Sons, London, 1961/73. Johannes, R.E., Words of the Lagoon. Fishing and the Marine Lore in Palau District of Micronesia, University of California Press, 1981. Lucas, K., Personal Correspondence, 1990. King, M., Cartwright, I. and Carver, A., Fisheries Development in Pacific Islands: Some Problems in Paradise, in Couper, A.D., Development and Social Change in the Pacific Islands, Routledge, London, 1989, pp. 47–61. Lawson, R.M. and Kwei, African Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth, Ghana University Press, 1974. Alexander Paul, Lessons for the Pacific, Technological Transfer and Fishing Communities: The Sri Lanka Experience, in Couper, A.D., Development and Social Change in the Pacific Islands, Routledge, London, 1989, pp. 63–73. UNESCO/MAB, Traditional Knowledge and Management of Marine Coastal Ecosystems, Biology International, Special 4 Paris, 1983, p. 5. Schaefer, M.B., Some Aspects of the Dynamics of Populations Important to the Management of the Commercial Marine Fisheries, Bulletin of the Inter American Tuna Commission, 1(2), 1954. Beverton, R.J.H. and Holt, S.J., On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, London, 1957. Gordon, H.S., Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery, Journal of Political Economy, 62:124–142, 1954. Carson, R., Silent Spring, Houghton Muffin, Boston, 1962. Johnston, D.M., The International Law of Fisheries: A Framework for Policy-Oriented Inquiries, Yale University Press, 1965. Christy, F.T. and Scott, A., The Commonwealth in Ocean Fisheries, John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1965. Alexander, L.M., Offshore Geography of Northwestern Europe, Rand McNally, Chicago, 1963. Hardin, G., The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, 162:1243–1248, 1968.

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23.

24. 25.

Declaration on the Human Environment, Stockholm Conference, June 1972; in Encyclopedia of the UN and International Agreements, Taylor and Francis, 1985, 780/782. World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, OUP, 1987. Shevordnadze, E., Governments Alone Won’t Turn the World Green, New Scientist, August, 1991.

THEORY OF OCEAN MANAGEMENT HANCE D.SMITH Department of Maritime Studies and International Transport University of Wales PO Box 907, Cardiff, CF1 3YP, UK.

ABSTRACT The theory of ocean management may be characterised as the development of a number of key ideas based on practical issues which have arisen since the seventeenth century, and which are related to specific uses, rather than being an integrated body of theory. The state of the art is reviewed through the progress of the social and natural sciences, and also with reference to traditional societies and the concept of integration. The role of theory in global change is assessed from the dominant development perspective which is partly cyclical in nature, with assessment of the significance of the traditional society, and the concepts of interrelated environmental and human global change mechanisms. Practical management aspects emphasise the primacy of interactions between man and the sea which is the basis of technical management, overlaid by a general management dimension concerned with external influences acting upon the technical management system. Both technical and general management are related to regionally-based cultural and environmental variables to produce regionally differentiated management systems. An important future role of theory is foreseen operating not only within the world of ideas, but through the forging of new maritime traditions and practical management measures in the promotion of regionally integrated management approaches and systems.

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INTRODUCTION In contrast to the discussion of the history of ocean management, to focus attention on the theory may seem presumptive. Ocean management as a practical reality remains elusive—more to be found in the realms of ideas rather than practical management, and thus awaiting clearer definition and discussion in the burgeoning literature. Because of this it is arguably premature to discuss theory in any depth. However, rather than get too involved in the semantics of ocean management, at least to begin with, it is more fruitful to commence with the historical reality of activities which may be classified as ocean management. This paper accordingly commences with a discussion of the schools of thought, loosely defined, which have arisen out of the practical realities of influencing man/sea interactions and their wider setting. The current state of the art is then examined both from narrower scientific viewpoints and wider cultural standpoints. This leads naturally to the present role of theory in the broad concepts of global change which are being used to pull together much scientific effort relating to the environment as a whole. The role of theory in influencing practical management decision-making is then considered with regard to the world of ideas, maritime traditions and practical management, with particular reference to regional geographical implications. A DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS To talk about schools of thought in ocean management implies a scale of holistic thinking on the subject which does not square with historical reality. Rather, there has been a sequence of key ideas relating to the overall concept which has paralleled the history of ocean development. It is thus to the thread of history that we turn in the first instance to gain insight into the nature of thinking in the ocean management field. In doing this it is convenient to highlight elements in the historic pattern and relate these to the emergence of the ideas concerned. Contrary to modern appearances, ideas relating to aspects of ocean management are very old. The role of the traditional societies in this regard has been considered by Couper [1]. Bearing in mind that the traditional society remains predominant or at least influential in much of the globe, traditional approaches have considerable potential. This is especially significant concerning the concepts of closeness and balance between man and the natural environment which lie at the heart of traditional philosophies around the world, and which can surely be incorporated into

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more scientifically-oriented approaches, especially in the developing world [2]. Ideas concerning an order, or law of the sea have of course classical roots in the West. For present purposes, however, the key starting point is the emergence of modem Europe, as defined by historians, beginning with the age of exploration [3] in the second half of the fifteenth century, which in the space of three centuries provided a network of maritime links among all the traditional maritime culture regions, and implanted a development ethos in them all via immigration and transfer of ideas. A useful approach to subsequent developments from a theoretical standpoint is to consider these both as a sequence of structural development stages and part of a periodic, cyclical process. The first development in the ideas field concerned the conflict between the concepts of closed and open seas, out of which emerged the freedom of the seas in international law. It really arose at the end of the first stage of exploration which occupied the first half of the sixteenth century, but attained a progressively higher profile during the emergence of Dutch maritime supremacy after the revolution of 1580. The argument intensified during the course of the seventeenth century as Anglo-Dutch rivalry increased. The strategic use of the sea which in many ways grew out of the concept of maintaining open seas tends not to be regarded as a management activity, but in the evolution of sea use management should be so regarded. The management of naval affairs was aimed at ensuring that the seas remained open—primarily for trade, to maintain international power balances, promote colonial expansion, and even on occasion to regulate the fisheries. The latter in Britain, the primary maritime power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, tended however to be valued more as a source of skilled manpower, to their considerable detriment at times [4]. There was a notable evolution in the patterns of conflict over seapower before 1914 [5], including the Anglo-Spanish conflict of the late sixteenth century, followed by the successive Anglo-Dutch and Anglo-French battles for supremacy, and ending with the Pax Britannica which was maintained in the world ocean from Trafalgar to Jutland. The third set of ideas revolved around the concept of safety in the operation of merchant shipping. This too had its modern origins in the seventeenth century and gained in importance in the eighteenth, especially after the establishment of Lloyd’s of London in 1734, and the Merchant Shipping Act of 1786. It gained ground much more rapidly during the period of economic expansion after the 1840s, when a truly globally integrated economy began to emerge for the first time [6]. This was evidenced in the successive British merchant shipping acts, the

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establishment of coastguards and lifesaving services, elaboration of pilotage, expansion of navigational charting, and the setting up of more classification societies. Unlike the simple concepts of closed and open seas, maritime safety and the navigation management which followed in its wake covered a wide range of diverse and organisationally disaggregated activities which in many ways came more sharply into focus after the Titanic disaster of 1912 and the ultimate establishment of the global Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organisation under United Nations auspices in 1948. A fourth significant development was the growth of pure scientific interest in the oceans in the course of the nineteenth century, culminating in the famous Challenger voyage of the early 1870s, which was followed by a whole series of expeditions both before and after the First World War. Paralleling this was a considerable element of hydrographic surveying for the production of navigational charts, which provided a detailed knowledge of bathymetry, albeit for primarily practical rather than purely scientific ends. The role of marine science as a use of the sea at this time was probably not regarded in a managerial light, although it required a good deal of management to bring it to fruition [7]. However, science was to be put to practical management ends before the scientific exploration of the oceans was fully under way, in investigations into the decline of commercial fish stocks. The fifth topic, fish stock conservation, was the first concept which was environmentally-based in a contemporary sense. This had been notionally on the ocean agenda since the seventeenth century, but the practical necessities arose from the decline of fish stocks in North West Europe, beginning with the Danish plaice fishery. The result was the formation of the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), established in Copenhagen in 1902 [8]. Interestingly, the earlier collapse of certain whale populations in the mid- and late nineteenth century seems not to have generated similar practical responses. These came later, in the 1930s, and with the formation of the International Whaling Commission in 1946 [9]. Meanwhile, there were landmark conventions dealing with overfishing, including the Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1894, and the Pacific Halibut Convention of 1924 [10]. The common feature of the development of all these ideas was their basis in the separate management organisation of individual use groups [11]. The development of the freedom of the seas and the management of seapower of course proceeded in tandem with state evolution and were primarily state responsibilities. Marine science and hydrographic surveying in turn depended on naval activity to begin with, and only towards the end

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of the nineteenth century became more the province of the growing international scientific community. The complex management of navigation had its roots in the private sector, although also the subject of increasing government intervention in the course of the nineteenth century. Fisheries management efforts were pursued by government in association with the scientific interest. All consisted of various combinations of what can now be considered as general and technical management initiatives [12]. Viewed from a geographical standpoint, the primary emphasis was on the spatial organisation of the sea, not only in maintaining its open-ness, but in strategic and navigation management. Interest in the marine environment was born of necessity, through strategic considerations and the needs of allocation and conservation of fisheries resources. After the Second World War, the management system concerned with these issues greatly expanded. It was joined by other hitherto relatively poorly developed areas, in mineral extraction, waste disposal, recreation and conservation. But the emphasis remained on the “separate use” approach until around 1970, although a harbinger of a more integrated view can be discerned in the early stages of the current phase of the evolution of the Law of the Sea in the 1950s and early 1960s. Before considering these in more detail it is necessary to take account of the “background” influences operating on the evolving management system. These influences, termed the external environment by Vallega [13], include environmental, technological, economic, social and political categories. Environmental influences and interactions were of course paramount in certain aspects of safety and fisheries conservation, but constituted only one of several priorities overall. Technological influences have of course been profound [14], notably in the coming of steam in the first instance. Economic and social influences were considerable to an extent which remains to be fully evaluated. On the long time scale which is the focus of this section of the paper, it is likely that long waves of economic and technological development and their accompanying social evolution were of critical importance. Specific political, including military influences can also be discerned but are cumulatively less significant than the trends of economic and social change in which these are in the nature of landmarks. In any event there emerged in the 1970s a sea change in the conceptual approach to sea use management which even began to be reflected in organisational (general) and practical (technical) measures. This was a move towards integration, operating at several levels. First was the conceptual level of a view of interacting uses with the environment, upon

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which both technical and general approaches could be based, including the negotiation of the Law of the Sea Convention of 1982. Inherent in this was a comprehensive approach to the specification of sea use management in both space and time [15]. Beyond this lay the beginnings of organisational change, both administrative and political [16], in which there was a strong emphasis upon the intensely used coastal zones [17]. Behind all this lay important international developments of a multidisciplinary nature reflected in the organisation of both the natural and social sciences at tertiary level in education and research [18]. There were also practical examples, supreme among which was the Great Barrier Reef management initiative [19] and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Seas Programme [20], various coastal management initiatives, including the US Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 [21], and a variety of measures applied to the European Seas. Overall, the nature and complexity of true integration began to emerge and be appreciated. THE STATE OF THE ART The purpose of this section is to examine present thinking and practice, first with regard to disciplines in both the natural and social sciences, followed by consideration of the approaches to be found in the traditional societies, and ending with the concept of integration of thinking with respect to human experience in the field of sea use management. It is appropriate to begin with the social sciences broadly defined to include history, law, sociology, anthropology, economics and human geography. Here it is necessary to distinguish to some extent between the study of the sea generally and the study of ocean management in particular, although the two are to some extent inseparable. The history of sea use management, integrated or otherwise, has still to be written, partly because in an integrated sense it is very short, as in the urban industrial world, or not history in a strict sense, in the case of the oral traditions of traditional societies. There is, however, a large literature in maritime history, especially with regard to commercial shipping, ports, naval history, fishing, and to some extent marine science. In all of this there are notable contributions to what may be termed the history of management of individual uses. This is the case for aspects of navigation [22], naval history [23] and fisheries [24]. Finally, because of the newness of integration, current literature has considerable historical value [25]. The study of the law of the sea has been a practical affair in which academic work has proceeded to a substantial extent in tandem with the

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development of the law of the sea itself [26], and those aspects of law relating to boundary delimitation [27]. Almost by definition, the post-1970 approach to the comprehensive law of the sea is concerned with the practical underpinnings of an integrated approach to sea use management. In the realms of sociology and anthropology, thinking has proceeded mainly by the case study approach, concentrating especially on the fisheries and, to some extent shipping [28]; in other words, upon traditional occupations, and often relating to traditional rather than urban industrial societies. There is a good deal of sea use management value here, not least because maritime traditions are often as not deeply imbued in traditional societies. In economics the central focus has likewise been on the traditional activities of shipping [29] and fishing [30]. As in the case of law, academic work has often been closely allied to practical implementation. Whereas shipping economics has concentrated mainly on the shipping industry, fisheries economics has been concerned both with development and conservation, often from a theoretical standpoint. As with fisheries biology, further mentioned below, it has been the academic and theoretical cornerstone of fisheries management in the second half of the twentieth century. As such, relatively little has been contributed directly to the study of sea use management, although the theory, together with wider developments in environmental economics are of great practical significance. Marine human geography lies at the centre of sea use management studies in providing a bridge between the social and natural sciences. It thus has great integrative potential, despite its relatively recent arrival on the scene [31]. This contribution exists at several levels, ranging from practical approaches based on technical and general management concepts [32] to theoretical approaches based on general system theory [33]. In the regional dimension in particular [34], there is considerable potential for integrating not only the multidisciplinary thinking per se, but also the theory with the practical applications [35]. The natural science disciplines involved include marine biology, geomorphology, geology, oceanography, and meteorology together with marine technology. It is arguably in the marine sciences that the scientific tradition is strongest and most obvious, not least because of the field-based nature of the work in environmental monitoring, engineering and development of theory. Developments in maritime technology, notably in navigation, fisheries and offshore engineering have been allied with considerable advances in both social and natural sciences, because

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technological development has itself provided great opportunities for development and management activities. The classic application of marine biology has of course been in fisheries management, extending back to the second half of the nineteenth century, and receiving a boost with the establishment of ICES. Effort has been particularly directed towards the development of models to explain the dynamics of commercial fish populations [36]. This field is now facing up to the need for the construction of multispecies models, which generally lack sufficient data. Since the 1970s, with the increased importance of conservation, the subject has also developed to deal with the ecology of major marine habitats, including coral reefs [37], mangroves [38] and large marine ecosystems [39]. Oceanography and marine meteorology [40] owe their modem origins in part to the Challenger expedition and have subsequently been built upon the acquisition of data from sea voyages by research ships, monitoring from merchant ships and latterly remote sensing data from satellite observations. Since the International Geophysical Year in 1957, a substantial momentum has been built up using large scale medium to long term “experiments” based on coordinated monitoring and model building. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) in particular may be regarded as the latest stage in this evolutionary process, with a particular focus upon long term atmospheric and oceanic change. In geomorphological and geological terms, the emergence of plate tectonics in the 1960s provided a revolutionary new basis for the explanation of the evolution of the ocean basins, the implications of which are still being worked out in detail in many subfields of the earth sciences. However, all this has taken place against a background in which most of the ocean floor has not been surveyed at all to modern standards [41]. Viewing the state of development of both the social and natural sciences in relation to the study of the ocean leads to the conclusion that there have been large-scale advances, especially in the course of the past quartercentury or so. Although basic exploration and fieldwork have expanded greatly during this period, the emphasis has nonetheless shifted towards integration and model-building, particularly within the confines of individual disciplines. The existence of the IGBP and Human Dimensions of Global Change (HDGC) Programmes further shifts the emphasis towards disciplinary integration, all of which heightens expectations that the next stage must be towards the application of such integrated approaches in specific management situations, at which point it is instructive to look at the knowledge relationships of traditional societies with the sea.

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Traditional maritime societies belonging to the great cultural regions of the globe [42] have always had a vast lore of traditional knowledge, summed up in artefacts such as the design of boats and fishing gear, oral traditions, and a pre-scientific world view in which kinds of knowing other than science are emphasised, inherent, for example in the wilderness concept [43]. In all these traditions, the complexity of inter-relatedness of man and the sea is emphasised, and the holistic, integrated approach to management is inherent in the ways of life, from the South Pacific islands of today [44] to the North Atlantic culture region descended from Viking times [45]. In reviewing the overall state of the art of ocean management a number of points emerge with regard to “theory”. First is the surprising importance of traditional societies, both in population and geographical extent, including the Arctic polar regions within the developed world. Although under attack and open to change, the integrated approach of these maritime traditions must not be lost sight of, and indeed can be capitalised upon in many regions where possible. Secondly the exploitation of the oceans using modem science and technology has reached a stage at which severe imbalances are inherent in man’s relationship with the oceans in almost every major sea use group. It is for a wiser further development and use of science and technology to redress the balance inherent in the philosophy and practice of traditional societies, which have often been thrown offbalance by indiscriminate application of modem science and technology. It is in this context of change that we now turn to the significance of global change. THEORY AND GLOBAL CHANGE The study of global change implies above all the integration not only of fields of knowledge, but also of knowledge with experience, both modern and traditional. This is a great challenge which must be taken up if progress is to be made. In achieving this there are arguably three fundamental starting points, namely the dominance of the development perspective in human affairs, the true significance of the traditional society, and the concept of a natural world of which man is an integral part, symbolised by the idea of “spaceship earth”. With such ideas in mind it is possible to review and grasp the significance of the IGBP and HDGC Programmes in the context of ocean management. The dominance of the development perspective at the present stage of world history can scarcely be exaggerated, despite apparent reactions against Western culture in the major traditional non-Western societies,

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and the predominantly Western concern with environmental issues. Cultural compromises can be varied and difficult to categorise—perhaps the universal adoption of modem technology is symptomatic, while in environmental affairs, the widespread currency of the sustainable development concept is striking. That there should be such a prevalence of the development perspective is hardly surprising. It has to do with the fundamentals of human nature, including the acquisition of material possessions, the advance of science and technology, and the profound social forces evidenced in political and strategic developments. Over against these driving forces stands the panoply of management exemplified by the law of the sea, planning and policy-making. In making sense of this amalgam of knowledge and experience in the maritime field much history is, as elsewhere, narrative in nature. Perhaps rightly so, theory is distrusted. And yet the existence of patterns in what is fundamentally a process of social evolution is incontrovertible not only in terms of historical evidence, but also in the environmental sciences. In plumbing the depths of theory, conventional academic disciplines can be a hindrance rather than a help. The observation of Wallerstein in the social science field that the only real subject is “historical social science” is a useful one in promoting the idea of a seamless web of knowledge and understanding set within a temporal framework. In all this, perhaps one of the most immediate problems of interest and usefulness is to increase understanding of cyclical phenomena, from the stages of Rostow [46] to the various business cycles and long waves. The integrative nature of such work transcends the conventional academic boundaries which nonetheless also serve a useful purpose in promoting integrated management approaches. Such considerations naturally lead on to considering the real nature of the traditional society. In this it is the apparent closeness, even symbiosis of society with environment which can provide much immediate inspiration. The significance of the traditional society’s relationship with the environment in general and the sea in particular is vividly portrayed in the symbol of the erthyrina leaf adopted by the World Wilderness Congresses [47]. This consists of three small leaves reminiscent of a clover leaf. One represents the relationship of person to soil, or environment, in which the concept of balance and therefore sustainable use is inherent, and indeed paramount. This has undoubtedly been the case in the long run in, for example, the relationships of coastal and island communities with the sea in areas as far apart as the North Atlantic fishing communities and the South Pacific island communities.

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The second small leaf represents the relationship of person to person, and can include both individual and wider social relationships. Social relationships also enshrine the concept of balance, from the division of labour among men, women and children and old people in fishing communities; family inter-relationships in small communities; and the strong oral tradition present, for example, in medieval Iceland, or in oceanic island communities today. The third small leaf represents the relationship of person to divinity. Again the philosophical and religious role of the sea in traditional maritime communities is profound. In particular the sea plays a symbolic role, amply displayed, for example, in national languages in which the sea is important to the national culture, such as English. The sea figures prominently in the creation myth as, for example, in the Book of Genesis, and the gods of the sea played a prominent role in the pantheon of both the Greeks (Poseidon) and Romans (Neptune). The imagery of great sea voyages lies at the heart of exploration long before Columbus’ time in, for example, the Odyssey, the Argosy, the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, and many more. In the past two decades or so the environmental values of the traditional societies have gradually come to be appreciated by the urban industrial world. Although much of this appreciation has been fostered by the environmental movement, there are deeper practical roots, most notably through the nineteenth century American conservation movement led by such notable individuals as John Muir and George Perkins Marsh, which led to the establishment of the National Parks. The modem expression of this is to be found in the “spaceship Earth” approaches and, most recently in the Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock [48] which, despite its mystical connotations, has a strong conventional scientific input. It is with these ideas in mind that we now turn to the IGBP and the HDGCP, the latest and, in some ways most elaborate and ambitious in the genre of international scientific programmes which have become a marked feature of the second half of the twentieth century. There are two particularly important ideas at the heart of these programmes. The first is that of integration of scientific effort, significantly encompassing for the first time both the social and natural sciences. The second idea is that of change at global level, in both the natural and social worlds, which surely must be the top priority for the pilots in charge of spaceship earth. It is difficult to exaggerate the profound connotations of this for sea use management. Both integration and change are ideas whose time has come not only—or perhaps mainly—in the context of the world of ideas, but for the world of

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practical management which the rush of events conspires to force upon our attention. THEORY AND PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT In relating the development of ideas to practical management, the focus of the latter on the man/sea interface, as it were, is the primary consideration, as the nature of that interface largely governs the practical management tasks which emerge from it. These tasks can then be systematically considered. Beyond the interactions lie a number of social considerations related to the role of broad social influences upon the technical management tasks, including economic, technological, social and political dimensions. These, together, with environmental influences may be conceived of in terms of a general management function relating the technical management organisation to society as a whole. The marine environment itself has a recognisable management “system”, often clearer in the conceptual domain of the law of the sea, rather than in the day to day routine of management decision-making. In some ways this system is of less immediate concern in itself, than along its boundaries, particularly with land management systems in the coastal zone, and with a rapidly evolving atmospheric management system which is at a very early stage in the development process within the overall environmental management field. The primacy of man/sea interactions is paramount. Here is the focus of the technical management function discussed at length elsewhere [49]. The inputs to the technical management function are based on an empirical classification of existing practice in the field which includes scientific, technological, environmental and social categories. The technical management system has its own specific management objectives shared in various permutations and combinations across the fundamental sea use groups [50]. Of these objective groups, safety, allocation, environmental control and regional development are most obvious; research is more problematical and difficult to define, as it underlies the others and is also a sea use. Within the four technical management inputs there are three basic processes at work, namely information management, assessment of management information, and professional practice. Information management is primarily concerned with environmental monitoring, surveillance of uses and the information technology required for the use of that information in management decision-making, including data bases. The IGBP in particular focuses upon the need for considerable

THEORY OF OCEAN MANAGEMENT 29

development and refinement of marine environmental monitoring, together with the coordination of proliferating data bases [51]. The assessment of management information has begun to develop more sophisticated approaches mainly over the last twenty years or so, particularly in the environmental field, and has become something of a thriving industry, with strong currents of professionalism, unevenly applied among a diversity of professions. The principal categories concerned are environmental, technological, economic and social, together with risk, which again focuses on temporal change aspects of interest to the global change programmes. The professional practice element is focused principally on engineering, planning and law, although other professions such as surveying are becoming increasingly involved [52]. The primary manifestation of this in both public and private sectors is through the organisations concerned, including consultancies, professional firms and bodies, and national and local government departments and agencies. Beyond the technical management system lies the broader influences which assessment procedures are in part designed to cope with. Again set within a framework of change, these include environmental, technological, economic and social (including political) aspects. Thus it is possible to conceive of a practical general management dimesion concerned both with the coordination of technical management functions and dealing with external inputs through policy-making and strategic planning. Such a general management dimension inevitably involves a philosophical approach, which in turn involves the great significance of cultural differences and hence culture regions. This includes not only the division between urban industrial societies on the one hand, and rural traditional societies on the other, but also the great difference among the world’s major culture regions and their sub-regions referred to earlier in this discussion. The large number of coastal and ocean management schemes which are evolving [53] must be considered in this light: there are many ways of arriving at the fundamental, first order technical management objectives, never mind the second order general management objectives required to reconcile the technical management system to the wider world. The marine environment itself also has a profound influence upon the evolution of management systems to deal with it. Thus it is already possible to see rapidly evolving shelf sea management systems in the urbanindustrial core regions including Europe, East Asia and North America, together with other regional seas programmes under UN auspices dealing with ecologically fragile tropical oceans and coasts. The polar systems are differently based, respectively upon the Antarctic Treaty System and the

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beginnings of an Arctic system which may rapidly evolve as East-West conflict wanes in that region. There is also a proliferation of coastal management schemes, largely nationally based, often with UN backing [54] in both urban industrial and traditional regions, the ultimate purpose of which must be to bind together land and marine management systems. Beyond this, the embryonic atmospheric management system is taking shape, which will have further implications for ocean management. Overall, marine management will have to be integrated within an overall scheme of planetary environmental management which is now rapidly taking shape. In this, the marine dimension has been innovatory, notably through the law of the sea convention, regional seas measures, and the marine aspects of the Antarctic Treaty System. CONCLUSION At the beginning of this paper, it was pointed out that the theory of ocean management in a strict sense scarcely exists, at least viewed over any period of time. Rather it is more profitable to consider a series of dominant ideas which have shaped the evolution of the management system, particularly since the origins of the modern law of the sea in the seventeenth century and the contributions of specific disciplines to specific aspects of management, all of which are considered above. In reviewing and analysing future directions, four important themes emerge. The first of these concerns the world of ideas, ranging from world views possessed by all major cultures, to conventional scientific theory. Although to date geography has not been in the forefront of ocean management work, the first major works on the theory of ocean management by Vallega [55] is geographical both in terms of theory and experience. This is particularly appropriate in view of geography’s long tradition in unifying physical and human aspects of the study of the Earth, where it is almost uniquely placed. There remain considerable possibilities for further theoretical advance in and among other disciplines, contributing to a larger and more sophisticated whole, all of which is entirely appropriate on the quincentenary of Columbus’ discovery, and which must be a high priority in furthering practical management measures. The second major theme is that of maritime traditions. In traditional and modernising societies, that is, those which are becoming urban industrial, maritime traditions are the bedrock upon which relationships between humanity and the sea are built, both in the realm of ideas and in practical relationships. Maritime communities based on specific activities

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have over the centuries been among the most durable of social organisations, notably in fishing, maritime trade, naval activity and, more recently (but not geographically homogenous) in marine science. The challenge of the modern urban industrial society whose influence has come to dominate the world is no less than to construct a new maritime tradition which combines the world of ideas with that of practical action. This should encompass the values of traditional societies with regard to the balance between man and the sea, as well as modem science-based values affecting management. The third major theme is that of practical management. The role of theory here is both to inform practical management and be informed by it. The concepts of technical and general management discussed above arise from the analysis of both field evidence and the workings of management organisations and tasks. This third theme alone can both provide a sense of direction for practical management and help in integration and setting of priorities. Conversely, the continued expansion of field evidence, through the process of monitoring global change in both its physical and human dimensions will contribute hugely to development. Finally, when the world of ideas, maritime traditions and practical management are gathered together in a theoretical context, the decisive contribution of theory is to inform the human contribution to the management of the oceans. From a specifically geographical point of view, it is arguably the integrated regional articulation of ocean management which is and will be the main contribution in its regional and global dimensions, incorporating appropriate local, national, supra-national and international influences. REFERENCES 1.

2.

3. 4.

Couper, Alastair D., History of ocean management. In Ocean management in global change, ed. P.Fabbri, Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, London, 1992. Foster, Nancy, and Lemay, Michele H., Ocean wilderness—myth, challenge or opportunity? In For the conservation of Earth, ed. Vance Martin, Fulcrum, Golden, Colorado, 1988, pp. 71–74. Levy, Jean-Pierre, Towards an integrated marine policy in developing countries. Marine Policy, 1988, 12 (4), 326–342. Parry, J.H., The age of reconnaissance; discovery, exploration and settlement, 1450– 1650, University of California Press, 1974. Hance D., Shetland life and trade, 1550–1914, John Donald, Edinburgh, 1984.

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5. 6. 7. 8.

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Mahan, A.T., The influence of seapower upon history, 1660–1783, Dover Publications, New York, 1894. Ashworth, William, A short history of the international economy since 1850. Third Edition, Longman, London, 1975. Schlee, Susan, A History of oceanography: the edge of an unfamiliar world. Hale, London, 1975. Went, A.E. J., Seventy years agrowing: a history of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea 1902–1972. Rapp. Proc.-V. Reun. Cons. Explor. Mer., 165., 1972. Thomasson, E.M., The study of the sea, Fishing News Books, London, 1981. Birnie, Patricia, International regulation of whaling: from conservation of whaling to conservation of whales and regulation of whale-watching. Oceana, New York/London/Rome, 1985. Koers, A.W., International regulation of marine fisheries: a study of regional fisheries organization, Fishing News Books, London, 1973. Smith, Hance D., The management and administration of the sea. Area. 1985, 17(2), 109–115. Smith, Hance D., The application of maritime geography: a technical and general management approach. In The development of integrated sea use management, ed. Hance D.Smith and Adalberto Vallega, Routledge, London, 1991, pp. 7–16. Vallega, Adalberto, Sea management: a theoretical approach. Genova, 1992. Couper, Alastair D., op. cit. [1] above. Couper, Alastair D., Marine resources and environment. Progress in Human Geography, 1978, 2(2), 296–308. Smith, Hance D., op. cit. [11] above. Johnston, Douglas M., Commentary. In The law of the sea and ocean industry: new opportunities and restraints, ed. Douglas M.Johnston and Norman G.Letalik, Law of the Sea Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, 1982, pp. 93–95. Levy, Jean-Pierre, op.cit. [2] above. Alexander, Lewis M., The co-operative approach to ocean affairs: twenty years later. Ocean Development and International Law, 1990, 21, 105. Vallejo, Stella Maris A., Development and management of coastal and marine areas: an international perspective. In Ocean Yearbook 7, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1988, pp. 205–222. Smith, Hance D., The geography of the sea. Geography, 1986, 71(4), 320–324. Smith, Hance D., Maritime geography: applications in coastal and sea use management, Cambria, 1987, 14(2), 105–114. Kenchington, Richard A., Managing marine environments, Taylor & Francis, New York/London, 1990. Hulm, P., A strategy for the seas: the Regional Seas Programme, past and future. UNEP, Geneva, 1983, 28 pp. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Coastal area management and development, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1982.

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22. 23.

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Mankabady, S., The International Maritime Organization, Croom Helm, London, 1986. See, e.g., Mahan, A.T., op. cit. [5] above. For the current situation also see Vigarie, A., Economie maritime et geostrategie des oceans, Paradigme, Caen, 1990. Birnie, Patricia, op. cit. [9] above; see also: Cushing D H., The provident sea, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988. Kenchington, Richard A, op. cit. [19] above. O’Connell, D.P., The law of the sea, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1982. Brown E D., Sea bed mineral resources and the law of the sea, Graham & Trotman, London, 1984–7. Churchill, R.R. and Lowe, A.V., The law of the sea. Second Edition. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1987. Shalowitz, A., Shore and sea boundaries, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington D.C., 1962. Prescott, J.R.V., The maritime political boundaries of the world.Methuen, London, 1985. United States Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Limits in the seas (series), Washington D.C., various dates. Fricke, P.H., Seafarer and community, Croom Helm, London, 1973. Andersen, R. and Wadel, C., eds., North Atlantic Fishermen: anthropological essays on modern fishing, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, 1971. Tunstall J., The fishermanu, McGibbon & Kee, 1969. Thompson, P., with Lummis, T., Living the fishing, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1983. Couper, Alastair D., ed., Development and social change in the Pacific Islands, Routledge, London, 1989. Goss, R.O., Studies in maritime economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1970. Srurmey, S., Shipping economics, Macmillan, London, 1975. Stopford, M., Maritime economics, Unwin Hyman, London, 1988. Anderson, L.G., The economics of fisheries management, John’s Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1977. Lawson, R., The economics of fishery development, Frances Pinter, London, 1984. Cunningham, S., Dunn, M.R. and Whitmarsh, D., Fisheries economics: an introduction, Mansell, London, 1985. Falick, A.J., Maritime geography and oceanography. Professional Geographer, 1966, 18, 283–285. Walton, K., A geographer’s view of the sea. Scott. geogrl. Mag., 1974, 90(1), 4–13. Couper, A.D., ed., The Times atlas of the oceans, Times Books, London, 1983. Vallega, Adalberto, Per una geografia del mare: transporti marittimi e rivoluzioni economiche. Mursia, Milano, 1984. Vallega, Adalberto, Ecumeno oceano: il mare nella civilta ieri, oggi, domani, Mursia, Milano, 1985. Vigarie, A., Ports de commerce et vie littorale, Hachette, Paris, 1979. Smith, Hance D., 1986, op. cit. [18] above.

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32.

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35. 36. 37.

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44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49.

Smith, Hance D., The theory and practice of sea use management. In The new frontiers of marine geography/Les nouvelles frontieres de la geographie de la mer. ed. Hance D.Smith and A.Vigarie, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Gruppo di Coordinamento ’Geografia Umana’, Roma, 1988, pp. 16–32. Vallega, Adalberto, 1992, op. cit. [13] above. Morgan, Joseph R., Marine regions and the law of the sea, Ocean and Shoreline Management, 1991, 16(4), 261–272. Smith, Hance D. ed., The development of marine regions, ibid., pp. 259–338. Smith, Hance D., 1987, op. cit. [18] above. Laevastu, T. and Larkins, H.A., Marine Fisheries ecosystem: its quantitative evaluation and management, Fishing News Books, London, 1981. Kenchington R.A. and Hudson, B.E.T., UNESCO Coral Reef Management Handbook Second Edition, UNESCO ROSTSEA, Jakarta, 1987. Hamilton, L.S. and Snedaker, S.C., eds., Handbook for Mangrove Area Management, United Nations Environment Program/East-West Center, Environment and Policy Institute, Honolulu, 1984. Alexander, Lewis M., Managing large marine ecosystems, In Proceedings of the International Geographical Union Commission on Marine Geography, Meeting at La Rabida, May 1991, in press. See, e.g., Sverdrup, H.U., Johnson, M.W. and Fleming, R.H., The oceans, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1946. See, e.g., The Hydrographer of the Navy, The North Sea—statement on hydrographic knowledge. In Greenwich Forum V—The North Sea: A new international regime?, ed. D.C.Watt, Westbury House, Guildford, 1980, pp. 155–162. Broek, Jan O.M. and Webb, D.W., A geography of mankind, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973, pp. 197–221. Martin, Vance, ed., Wilderness, The Findhom Press, Findhom, 1982. Martin, Vance and Inglis, Mary, eds., Wilderness: The way ahead, The Findhom Press/Lorian Press, Findhom/Middleton, Wisconsin, 1984. Martin, Vance, ed., For the conservation of the earth, Fulcrum, Golden, Colorado, 1988. Couper, Alastair D., ed. 1989, op. cit. [28] above. Marcus, G.J., The conquest of the North Atlantic, Boydell, 1980. Rostow, W.W., The stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1960. Player, Ian, The leaf. In Wilderness, ed. Vance Martin, op. cit. [43] above, pp. 15–16. Lovelock, James, Gaia, Gaia Books, 1991. Smith, Hance D., op. cit. [12], [18] and [32] above. Halliday, J.E., Smith, H.D., The integration of coastal and sea use management. In Advances in

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50. 51.

52. 53. 54. 55.

the science and technology of ocean management, ed. Hance D.Smith, Routledge, London, 1992, pp. 166–178. Couper, Alastair D., ed., 1983, op. cit. [32] above. Smith, Hance D., 1985, op. cit. [11] above. Fritz, Jan-Stefan, A survey of environmental monitoring & information management programmes of international organisations, UNEP/GSF, Munchen, 1990. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Test of professional competence in Marine Resource Management, RICS, London, n.d. Vallejo, 1988, op. cit. [17] above. Ibid. Vallega, Adalberto, 1992, op. cit. [13] above. See also: Vallega, Adalberto, Ocean change in global change: introductory geographical analysis, Universita degli studi di Genova, Genova, 1990.

OCEAN MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE GERARD PEET SEA Division of AIDEnvironment (1)

ABSTRACT History and theory of ocean management have created a basis for a more integrated approach towards ocean management. It is questionable whether integrated ocean management will ever exist in practice. Some countries may be moving towards an integrated management system, other countries may have moved beyond efforts to create such a system. Using some of the basic notions underlying the concept of integrated ocean management (comprehensiveness, coherence, consistency and costeffectiveness) this paper reviews some examples of ocean management in practice. The Mediterranean Action Plan of 1975 provides an early example of efforts towards an integrated approach. It has now moved beyond that and may even reached a stage of disintegration in the approach towards management of this region. The North Sea provides an example of countries jointly moving towards a more integrated approach for the (environmental) management of this area. Here, at least one North Sea state is now moving beyond its efforts to create a more integrated approach of its North Sea policies: the Netherlands. America, the new world, also provides some examples of efforts with respect to ocean management. Canada is making efforts towards a more integrated approach and the United States of America has developed a variety of instruments that are quite useful for a more integrated system of ocean management, albeit without making efforts in practice towards developing a more integrated approach towards ocean management.

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INTRODUCTION The previous papers demonstrated that the history of ocean management has reached a stage in which recent developments have created opportunities for more integrated ocean management to emerge, and that the theory of ocean management has moved towards increasingly integrated management concepts. What has happened in practice with respect to ocean management? Before turning to the practice of management in a number of sea areas, it is useful to recall the description of ocean management as given by professor Couper in the first presentation of this session: What may now be understood as ocean management, if current views are pulled together, is methodology through which sectoral activities and environmental quality in a sea area are considered as a whole, and their uses optimised in order to maximise net benefits to a nation, but without prejudicing local socio-economic interests or jeopardising benefits to future generations. This description implies the recognition that many activities at sea are interconnected and consequently that there is a need for policies based on the various degrees of functional integration in the marine environment. Using this description, and other descriptions or definition for ocean management as given in the literature with respect to ocean management, one might identify four key characteristics of ocean management.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF OCEAN MANAGEMENT

1. 2. 3. 4.

Comprehensiveness of its scope Coherence of its elements Consistency over time Cost-effectiveness of its results

INTEGRATED OCEAN MANAGEMENT? Professor Couper’s description is not a definition of integrated ocean management. It is questionable whether integrated ocean management is possible in practice. Professor Couper noted that what he describes as the objective of ocean management may, overall, be unattainable. Others, too have noted that ocean systems may be too complex to be managed by a single system of integrated ocean management.

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Integrated ocean management may therefore well be a concept that will (or can) never be put into practice. Some countries may move towards a system of integrated ocean management for their ocean space as they become increasingly aware of the necessity to base their ocean policy on the inter-relations of activities at sea and the marine environment. Other countries may have moved beyond efforts to create such a system as they become increasingly aware that one single system of integrated ocean management is unattainable but that the principles underlying the concept of integrated ocean management should be used in their ocean policies. But one single system of integrated ocean management, however, may never exist, except occasionally in the mind of politicians who do not cease to advocate integrated policies at times when they cannot find effective solutions to the problems facing them. The countries moving towards an increasingly integrated approach of ocean management would be developing a more comprehensive basis for their policy, in substance (information base) as well as in organisation (institutional arrangements). These countries would also make efforts to replace ad-hoc short term policies with more consistent long term policies. The countries moving beyond the development of integrated ocean management would generally have a comprehensive basis for their ocean policies, but could be moving away from centralizing management efforts to creating a better coherence between the various elements of their management efforts. Such countries would also increasingly focus their attention on the cost-effectiveness of their ocean management system. Theoretically, this may seem a logical development of ocean management. But again, the question is, what has happened in practice with respect to ocean management? THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA MOVING TOWARDS OR BEYOND INTEGRATED OCEAN MANAGEMENT? As early as in February 1975, sixteen Mediterranean Governments (2) agreed an Action Plan for the Mediterranean (3). One of the main aspects of this Action Plan was the ’integrated planning of the development and management of the resources of the Mediterranean Basin’. This, of course, makes the Mediterranean an obvious choice as the first example of the development towards integrated ocean management in practice. The adoption of the Mediterranean Action Plan by these states was followed by several agreements. In 1976, the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution was adopted,

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together with a Protocol for the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft and a Protocol concerning Cooperation in Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Oil and Other Harmful Substances in Cases of Emergency. In 1980 a Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution from Land-Based Sources was adopted, followed in 1982 by a Protocol Concerning Mediterranean Specially Protected Areas. In 1989, the Blue Plan (4) was published, an effort started in 1977 to make available to the authorities and planners of the various countries in the Mediterranean information which will enable them to formulate their own plans to ensure optimal socio-economic development without causing environmental degradation and to help the Governments of the states bordering the Mediterranean region to deepen their knowledge of the common problems facing them, both in the Mediterranean Sea and its coastal regions. In 1977, the Mediterranean states also decided to develop a Priority Actions Programme aimed at offering a direct practical approach to environmental problems complementary and parallel to the long term strategies of the Blue Plan. For the protection of endangered species, the Mediterranean states developed special action plans with regard to the monk seal, marine turtles, and cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea. New Protocols are under preparation: a Protocol on Exploration and Exploitation of the Continental Shelf and the Sea-Bed and its Sub-Soil, a Protocol and a Protocol with respect to Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (5). All in all, an impressive list of achievements in a wide range of important Mediterranean issues. It should be no surprise that many consider the Mediterranean Action Plan and the Barcelona Convention as a shining example of international cooperation with regard to, among others, ocean management. Integrated planning and management was one of the key concepts of the international efforts with respect to the Mediterranean Sea. The concept of integrated management for the Mediterranean has been put in some perspective by the authors of the Blue Plan when they note that the Blue Plan was never intended as a binding instrument for centralizing economic planning and resource management for the basin as a whole (6). Peter Haas, in his book about the politics of international environmental cooperation in the Mediterranean, notes that Integrated management is the Med Plan’s least successful component (7). One of the reasons for this could have been that the concept of integrated planning and management was never well understood by all parties. The southern Mediterranean countries found the Blue Plan approach too abstract and were interested more in concrete

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projects, directly applicable to their own development efforts. The Mediterranean region may be too complex in its ecology and economy and an integrated system to manage that region may, as observed before, be unattainable. Even the efforts towards an integrated approach of that region may have been too complex for many of those involved. It raises the question how then to characterize the current status of ocean management in the Mediterranean region. Comprehensiveness The Blue Plan is a clear result of the efforts towards developing a comprehensive insight in characteristics and potential developments in the Mediterranean region. Its comprehensiveness encompasses the entire Mediterranean countries and not just the coastal zone or the sea. With respect to the sea the Blue Plan might even be considered as not too comprehensive. In part, this was not a task for the Blue Plan: the situation and evolution of the marine environment were to be studied in detail in the MEDPOL programme (8). However, the Blue Plan is also rather ‘concise’ in its description of important marine economic resources such as fisheries and offshore oil, gas and other resources and fails to address these issues in terms of management. The MEDPOL programme has produced extensive reviews of the state of the environment of the Mediterranean Sea. In an institutional sense, the Mediterranean Action Plan can also be characterized as comprehensive. It has its own organization with a coordinating unit in Athens and additional regional centres for various activities. In May 1990, when Albania ratified the Barcelona Convention, every Mediterranean nation (and the European Economic Community) had joined the international efforts with respect to the Mediterranean region. The Protocols to the Barcelona Convention have also been ratified almost completely by all Mediterranean states (9). In a legal sense, international instruments have been or are being developed with respect to a variety of marine issues of the Mediterranean region: dumping of wastes at sea, pollution emergencies, land based pollution, specially protected areas, exploration and possibly the exploitation of resources of the continental shelf or even the protection of marine wildlife. One important marine issue is lacking in this list: fisheries. In summary, substantial efforts have been made to produce a comprehensive base of knowledge and concepts or strategies for management for the Mediterranean region. This is also true with respect to

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the institutional and legal component of international Mediterranean regional efforts. For the Mediterranean Sea, however, the efforts towards creating a comprehensive knowledge base with regard to the marine resources have been less comprehensive. Whilst extensive attention has been given to environmental (i.e.) pollution) issues (in terms of developing a better basis of information and of creating institutional arrangements and legal instruments), there is relatively little attention at this international level for important marine issues such as fisheries. Ocean management at an international level in the Mediterranean region therefore cannot be characterized as being comprehensive in spite of the truly comprehensive efforts with respect to environmental protection. Coherence The institutional arrangements with respect to the Mediterranean Action Plan helps to achieve coherence between the various elements of the Mediterranean Action Plan. The Blue Plan and its survey of strategies and options was also intended to contribute to stronger intra-Mediterranean cooperation and consequently to more coherence in the various development efforts in the Mediterranean region. The Blue Plan may or may not have contributed made that contribution, it was at least an important and substantial effort to do so. Recent developments, however, may adversely affect the coherence between Mediterranean management efforts. The European Economic Community has initiated its own initiatives with respect to the Mediterranean region. Among these is the so-called MEDSPA programme, adopted by the Council of Ministers in December 1990, that focuses on environmental protection (10). The European Commission also initiated a Conference of Mediterranean Coastal States that resulted in the adoption of the Nicosia Charter in which the European Community and seventeen Mediterranean states agree on actions to be taken with respect to the Mediterranean environment (11). The World Bank and European Investment Bank also participated in this meeting. Whilst the United Nations Environment Programme (and consequently the coordinating body of the Mediterranean Action Plan) was also present at this meeting it is difficult to determine a sense of coherence between the activities of the Mediterranean Action Plan and the European Community initiatives. The progress report of the executive director on the implementation of the Mediterranean Action Plan over 1990 and 1991 only briefly mentions this initiative (12) and announced that the European Community will present a specific programme at the seventh meeting of the Barcelona Convention.

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This meeting, held in Cairo from 8–11 October 1991, did not discuss such a programme as it did not discuss the MEDSPA programme either (13). The European Commission did announce, however, that it had appointed its own Task Force of independent experts to prepare a draft long-term strategy for the Mediterranean that would be discussed at a meeting of the Nicosia Charter parties in April 1992. In summary, whilst the activities and various elements within the framework Mediterranean Action Plan appear to come together in a coherent system, initiatives from the European Commission (a contracting party of the Barcelona Convention!) appear to be detached from this coherence. Consistency The Mediterranean Action Plan has now a history of over fifteen years. The parties to this Action Plan have continued to build upon the original ideas. In 1985, the Mediterranean countries adopted the Genoa Declaration to reconfirm their original commitment and also to accelerate and increase their efforts (14). The Nicosia Charter also confirms these commitments. In its original concept and in its further development the Mediterranean Action Plan has been a long-term and consistent effort. Cost-effectiveness Cost-effectiveness of the Mediterranean Action Plan has now become one of the most important and time consuming issues discussed at meetings of the contracting parties to the Barcelona Convention. The report of the 1991 meeting of the Barcelona Convention (15) hardly reflects the nature of the discussions on this issue. There was a strong undercurrent in these discussions, notably from the French delegation, doubting the costeffectiveness of the institutions of the Mediterranean Action Plan (16). After long discussions (almost three full days out of four days were spent on budget discussions) the meeting agreed on a budget increase for 1992 and 1993 that may not compensate inflation in those years. Some delegations felt that the budget as approved may not be sufficient for the Mediterranean Action Plan to function adequately. Cost-effectiveness has two sides for the Mediterranean Action Plan. France’s claim that too much money is spent ineffectively. The claim by others that the budget is insufficient to adequately fulfil the planned functions of the Mediterranean Action Plan or, in other words, that there is too little money for the Mediterranean Action Plan to be cost-effective.

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There are other ways to look at the cost-effectiveness of the Mediterranean Action Plan. In particular the answer to the question of whether or not the decisions taken within this framework are being implemented effectively could be seen as a measure of its cos-effectiveness. At the 1991 meeting of the Barcelona Convention dr. Mostafa K.Tolba, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme had some interesting points to make in this respect in his statement to the meeting (17). -Only two countries (France and Spain) have completed and sent the questionnaires on land-based sources of pollution which were sent to the Contracting Parties in 1989. This is certainly not the way that the action agreed on by Contracting Parties should be implemented. -No answers were received from the Contracting Parties to a letter sent in July 1990 asking for information on the implementation of existing or new legislation related to the measures against pollution adopted by the Contracting Parties since 1985. It is impossible to assess the efficiency of the common measures without receiving information on their implementation. -Ten countries still do not have national contingency plans which are a prerequisite to any form of intervention on an accidental spill. -Parties are not submitting consolidated annual reports on measures adopted to implement the Barcelona Convention and its related protocols, which is required under Article 20 of the Convention. Only four countries are sending national reports on environmental protection. A fact that strongly suggests that the Contracting Parties should seriously consider the implementation of Article 21 of the Convention on compliance control. -Although considerable progress was achieved in the design and implementation of the national monitoring programmes, which form the basis for the assessment of pollution and the preparation of common measures, several countries are still without a fully operational monitoring programme. If countries are not fulfilling reporting requirements one may seriously question whether these countries are implementing those measures that should be reported. And if such measures are not implemented one may seriously question the cost-effectiveness of the efforts that lead to these measures. That this is at least partly true is also clear from the farewell interview of Aldo Manos, the former coordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), in which he states: Mediterranean governments still need a lot to do. In fact in certain cases they are unwilling to act, which considerably hinders MAP’s work (18). If the Nicosia Charter initiative would turn out to be a duplication of the Mediterranean Action Plan effort one might conclude that that too

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would not be cost-effective. And there are some signals that the Nicosia Charter might be such a duplication of effort. Ocean Management for the Mediterranean Sea The international framework set up for planning and management in the Mediterranean region could all in all be characterized as moving beyond the efforts to create a more integrated approach to the planning and management for that area. A comprehensive basis for planning and management has been created and on the basis of that basis decisions have been taken with respect to priorities (rather than to continue efforts to try and create one single planning and management system). Arrangements have been made to ensure consistency between the various elements of the Mediterranean Action Plan. There is a long-term programme to provide consistency over time. And there is an increasing attention for the costeffectiveness (implementation, etc.) of the programme. With a positive mind one might conclude from this that the Mediterranean Action Plan is still developing positively. Dr. Tolba certainly seems to feel that way when he states that the Mediterranean Action Plan remains a leader among UNEP’s Regional Seas Programmes in many areas of concern, such as monitoring of pollution, the study of the implications of climate change, environmental impact assessments, coastal areas management and others (19). With a more pessimistic mind one would find signs of disintegration of the Mediterranean Action Plan which would be another option for moving beyond integration. What are these signals? The problems regarding the budget of the Mediterranean Action Plan are among these. There is no room to expand the activities of the Mediterranean Action. If inflation would be higher than 20% over 1992 and 1993, the budget approved in 1991 would effectively be cut. This would be in strong contrast with the potentially duplicating efforts of the European Community in the Nicosia Charter. One does not need too much fantasy to see the Nicosia Charter and associated European Community institutions (e.g. the Task Force of independent experts appointed by the European Community that will prepare a draft long term strategy, or the planned meeting of the Nicosia Charter partners in April 1992, only six months after the Barcelona Convention meeting) as an effort to create an alternative framework for planning and management in the Mediterranean region. Ocean management for the Mediterranean Sea suffers from the same (potential) problems. The effectiveness of the implementation of the measures with respect to the protection of the marine environment is

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uncertain. In addition, ocean management is not high of the list of priorities of the Mediterranean Action Plan. In 1989 the meeting of Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention decided that with regard to planning and management, as follow-up to the Blue Plan priority should be given to the integrated planning of coastal zones (20). Ocean management efforts are also lacking a basis of comprehensiveness as, especially, fisheries management is not taken into account. Fisheries management in the Mediterranean Sea is still very much in the realm of national governments. Fisheries interests are a major factor in the fact that only two Mediterranean nations have established a 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone or Exclusive Fisheries Zone (21). It is clear that, at least with regard to fisheries interests, the Mediterranean states are not inclined towards a more integrated approach of ocean management. This is true at an international, it may also be true at a national level. Professor Couper has already indicated in his paper that before multiple activities in sea areas can be managed, it is clearly necessary to establish who has the authority for making rules and setting priorities within a specified space, and what the law is with regard to resource ownership and access. Without the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone, as is the case for almost all Mediterranean states, these conditions for a more integrated approach are not met. In summary, the situation with respect to ocean management in the Mediterranean Sea is not as positive as the numerous publications describing the success of the Mediterranean Action Plan suggest. THE NORTH SEA MOVING TOWARDS OR BEYOND INTEGRATED OCEAN MANAGEMENT? Whereas the roots for the integrated approach for planning and management for the Mediterranean region are to be found at an international level (UNEP), the roots for such activities with respect to the North Sea are to be found in two North Sea states: the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany. And whereas the efforts with respect to a more integrated approach in the Mediterranean region focus on land and sea, the efforts in the North Sea are focusing truly on the sea, on ocean management. The Netherlands’ North Sea policy (22) In 1982, the Netherlands Government published its proposals with regard to the harmonization of its North Sea policy. The proposals were based on

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a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the (Netherlands sector of) the North Sea and were aimed at improving the coordination of the at that time dispersed and uncoordinated North Sea policy in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Government chose a more coordinated (harmonized) approach to achieve more coherence between the policies with respect to the various sectors of relevance to the North Sea. The Netherlands Government at that time rejected a policy of integral management or ‘blue print planning’ as this would be unwise in an area where developments and changes could be overtaking any ‘blue print plan’ very quickly. The harmonized North Sea policy consisted of three elements: -a policy framework with a description of the characteristics of the North Sea and the activities taking place in the North Sea, of the (potential) areas of conflict and problems, of the regulatory framework, and of the overall policy objectives, -an action programme with priorities for action within the Netherlands North Sea policy, and the institutional framework for the Netherlands North Sea policy. The institutional framework is of major importance in the Netherlands North Sea policy. The Minister of Transport and Public Works was appointed as coordinating Minister for North Sea Affairs. Important decisions with respect to the North Sea were to be taken by a newly established Ministerial Council on North Sea Affairs (MICONA). Decisions were prepared within the Interdepartmental Coordination Commission for North Sea Affairs (ICONA) consisting of high level civil servants from all Ministries involved in North Sea policy. Interest groups were given a chance to discuss plans with regard to the North Sea in a special advisory body: the North Sea Commission of the Council for Water Management, an advisory council to the Minster of Transport and Public Works. For Parliamentary debate of North Sea policy or elements of the North Sea policy a special Parliamentary Commission for the Seas was established. This harmonized North Sea policy has resulted in a better coordinated policy with respect to the North Sea. It has been evaluated regularly and is currently again being reevaluated. Progress reports about the effective implementation of the various action points have been regularly published. In 1992, the Netherlands Government will have to make a choice with respect to the continuation of its policy for the North Sea, hence the present reevaluation. The Netherlands North Sea policy can be characterized as comprehensive in its scope. Efforts have been made to achieve coherence between the various elements of this policy. It has been reasonably

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consistent over the years since 1982, and there has been some evaluation of its effectiveness. The Netherlands North Sea policy was quick to move beyond efforts to try and develop an integrated system of planning and chose to use a coherent list of priority actions within a policy framework of long term policy objectives. The Federal Republic of Germany In 1980, the German Council of Experts for Environmental Issues published a report about the environmental problems of the North Sea (23). It was an effort to present a comprehensive review of the environmental problems of the North Sea. Several years later it proved to be the basis for international efforts with respect to the (environmental) management of the North Sea at an international level. International efforts for the North Sea The Federal Republic of Germany took the initiative to organize an international Ministerial Conference for the North Sea in Bremen in 1984, where the Ministers from all North Sea states responsible for environmental protection of the North Sea met to discuss measures to protect the North Sea environment. In preparation of this meeting a report had been prepared to assess the quality status of the North Sea environment that served as a basis for discussions during the Conference. The most important result of this first meeting may well have been the decision to have a second Conference. This second meeting took place in November 1987 in London and resulted in a large number of decisions with respect to environmental protection of the North Sea and a decision to have a third meeting. At the first and second North Sea Ministerial Conference discussions were limited to issues with respect to environmental (pollution) protection. At the third meeting efforts were made to widen the scope of discussion. Issues like the establishment of Exclusive Economic Zones by the North Sea, fisheries, and protection of wildlife and habitats were also put on the agenda (24). The North Sea states also agreed to meet at a fourth Ministerial North Sea Conference in 1995. It is important to note that the Ministerial Conferences have not resulted in the adoption of major new international Conventions for environmental protection of the North Sea. Such instruments already existed before the first Ministerial Conference was organized (e.g. the Paris Convention on Pollution from Land Based Sources and the Oslo

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Convention on the Dumping of Wastes). The Ministerial Conferences proved to be a useful instrument for increasing the coordination and coherence between these international instruments as well as for providing new political impetus for these existing international instruments. At an international level, the North Sea states appear to be moving towards a more integrated approach of North Sea management. The scope of discussions at the North Sea Ministerial Conferences is moving towards an increased comprehensiveness. MOVING TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN Until now attention has been focused mainly on European and North African efforts in the field of ocean management. Ocean management is, obviously, not an issue exclusive to this part of the world. Efforts to develop a more integrated approach for ocean management can also be found at, for instance, the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Caribbean region is following the example of the Mediterranean region. Here too, the United Nations Environment Programme initiated an Action Plan and associated Convention and Protocols. In the United States of America no efforts have been made on a national level to develop a more integrated approach for ocean management in spite of the fact that many publications there have advocated such efforts. However, several instruments for management of ocean resources have been developed in the USA that would be extremely useful elements of such a more integrated approach, such as the system of environmental impact assessment used in the USA or the marine sanctuary programme. Some US states, however, have embarked upon the road towards a more integrated approach to ocean management. Hawaii and Oregon for instance have developed ocean management plans for the waters off their coasts (25). Canada too has made the first steps towards an ocean strategy. In 1987 it published a report on ocean strategy which gave three ‘compelling reasons’ for the development of a Canadian oceans strategy (26): -Canada has extensive ocean territories. A strategy will ensure Canadians can capitalize on the many development opportunities on this frontier, especially during the next five years. -There is currently a broad range of federal oceans policies and programs. A framework is needed to ensure that they are coordinated, effective and efficient.

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-This strategy provides a tangible means of moving forward on major federal priorities— regional development, world-class science and technology, and protection of Canadian sovereignty. An economic overview and inventory of federal government activities with regard to oceans was published in 1987 as well, providing at least a start towards a comprehensive knowledge base for such an oceans strategy. CONCLUSION This paper has given extensive attention to (ocean) management in the Mediterranean region and has briefly touched upon such issues in the North Sea and in North America. Ocean management with characteristics such as comprehensiveness, coherence, consistency and cost-effectiveness is clearly becoming increasingly important in practice even though many of the present efforts are still in their early, yet promising stages. REFERENCES 1.

2. 3.

4. 5.

6.

Gerard Peet is director of the SEA Division of AIDEnvironment in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is also a research associate at the Department of Planning, Design and Management at the University of Technology in Delft and at the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea at the University of Utrecht, both in the Netherlands. He is a guest investigator at the Marine Policy Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the USA. As a consultant to the environmental organization Friends of the Earth International he represents this organization as an observer at, among others, the Barcelona Convention and the International Maritime Organization. Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Yugoslavia United Nations Environment Programme; Mediterranean Action Plan and the Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the Coastal States of the Mediterranean Region for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea; United Nations, New York, 1978 Michel Grenon and Michel Batisse; Futures for the Mediterranean Basin, The Blue Plan; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, p.vii The environmental organization Friends of the Earth International has also prepared a draft text for a possible Protocol concerning the Protection of Mediterranean Wildlife which has been distributed informally to some participants of the seventh meeting of the Barcelona Convention in Cairo from 8–11 October 1991 Michel Grenon and Michel Batisse; Futures for the Mediterranean Basin, The Blue Plan; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, p.vii

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7.

8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13.

14.

15.

16. 17.

18. 19.

20.

Peter M.Haas; Saving the Mediterranean, the politics of international environmental cooperation ; Columbia University Press, New York, 1990, p. 118 Michel Grenon and Michel Batisse; Futures for the Mediterranean Basin, The Blue Plan; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, p.250 United nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Progress report of the Executive Director on the Implementation of the Mediterranean Action Plan in 1990–1991 (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.2/Inf. 3); UNEP, Athens, 1991, Annex II Bull. EC 12–1990, p. 122 Bull. EC 4–1990, pp. 30–31 United nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Progress report of the Executive Director on the Implementation of the Mediterranean Action Plan in 1990–1991 (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.2/Inf. 3); UNEP, Athens, 1991, p. 2 United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Report of the seventh ordinary meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its related protocols (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.2/4); UNEP, Athens, 1991, p. 7 published in, among others, MED WAVES (News Bulletin of the Mediterranean Action Plan Coordinating Unit in Athens); Issue No 3, November–December 1985, p. 12 United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Report of the seventh ordinary meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its related protocols (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.2/4); UNEP, Athens, 1991, pp. 8–11 the author of this paper attended the 1991 meeting of the Barcelona Convention United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Report of the seventh ordinary meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its related protocols (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.2/4); UNEP, Athens, 1991, Annex III pp. 3–4 published in MED WAVES (News Bulletin of the Mediterranean Action Plan Coordinating Unit in Athens); Issue No 22, Winter/Spring 1991, p. 6 United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Report of the seventh ordinary meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its related protocols (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.2/4); UNEP, Athens, 1991, Annex III p. 4 United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan; Report of the sixth ordinary meeting of the Contracting Parties to the

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21.

22.

23. 24. 25.

26.

Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its related protocols (UNEP(OCA)/MED IG.1/5); UNEP, Athens, 1989, pp. 16–18 and Annex V Ton IJlstra; Development of jurisdiction in EC’s regional seas, National EEZ policies of EC member-states in the Northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea; in press see, among others, Ton IJlstra; The organization of North Sea policy in the Netherlands, substantive and institutional aspects; published in Water Law, Volume 2 Issue 4, July 1991, pp. 127–132 Der Rat van Sachverständigen für Umweltfragen; Umweltprobleme der Nordsee, Sondergutachten; Verlag Kohlhammer; Stuttgart, 1980 North Sea Conference; Ministerial Declaration, Memorandum of Understanding on Small Cetaceans; The Hague, 1990 Hawaii Ocean and Marine Resources Council; Hawaii Ocean Resources Management Plan; Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawaii, 1991 The Oregon Ocean Resources Management Task Force; Oregon’s Ocean Resources Management Plan; State of Oregon, 1991 Department of Fisheries and Oceans; Oceans policy for Canada, a strategy to meet the challenges and opportunities on the oceans frontier; Ottawa, 1987

SEA-LEVEL RISE AND ITS IMPLICATION IN COASTAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT Dallas L.Peck and S.Jeffress Williams U.S. Geological Survey Reston, Virginia, USA

ABSTRACT Coastal erosion and loss of tidal wetland habitats have become major problems for many nations around the world due to a combination of complex natural and manmade causes. Sea level, a major factor in coastal land loss, has varied greatly in the last 150,000 years, from—130 m to +7 m relative to the present, and analyses of worldwide tide-gauge data show that eustatic sea level has risen approximately 12 to 15 cm during the past century and apparently continues. Land subsidence along some delta-plain coasts, such as Louisiana’s, has increased relative sea-level rise at almost 10 times the present worldwide average. Accelerations in sea-level rise caused by climatic warming are forecast to be significant during the next century and are likely to have broad impacts on world population and coastal development. Options to mitigate these effects include long term coastal planning and management based on current knowledge of coastal geologic processes. INTRODUCTION Coastal regions around the world are experiencing greatly increased pressures as a result of rapid population growth and accompanying development. Although coastal areas are highly desirable both for their abundant natural resources and habitability, they are also are extremely dynamic environments in which several conditions hazardous to humans

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Table 1. U.S. Coastal States Forecasted Population Changes 1960 to 2010. (From Culliton and others, 1990.)

* Million persons

(e.g., erosion, flooding, pollution) are present. These hazards are increasing at alarming rates as coastal development, recreation, and waste disposal increase, often in direct conflict with long-term natural coastal processes. Historical records indicate that conflicts between our ancestors and nature have long existed in coastal areas. During the past 50 years, however, such conflicts have intensified greatly, and current information suggests that the conflicts will increase during the next century. For example, the 1990 census of the United States shows that 25 of the 30 coastal states have undergone dramatic population increases in the past decade—in fact, several states recorded increases exceeding 30 percent Coastal areas of the United States now have population densities five times the national average, and demographic projections suggest that movement toward the coasts will continue into the 21st century (Table 1) (Williams and others, 1990). Similar population trends are being experienced in many countries around the world. Although many natural processes and human factors are important in shaping coastal landforms, the one that exhibits the greatest influence is change in sea level in relation to the land surface (Table 2). The geologic record at many places around the world shows that sea level has varied by hundreds of meters over the distant geologic past. During the last 150,000 years alone, sea level has been as much as 130 m lower and 5 to 7 m higher than it is at present (Emery and Aubrey, 1991). Today, if all of the glacier ice on Earth were to melt, sea level would rise about 80 m, so the range in sea-level variation from maximum to minimum global glacier-ice volume is about 200 m (Williams and Hall, in press). As sea level has fluctuated in response to changes in the mass balance of glacial ice, coasts have eroded or accreted, seeking to achieve dynamic equilibrium between the land and the forces acting on it (National Research Council, 1990a).

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Table 2. Primary Geologic Factors Affecting Coastal Areas (Modified from Williams and others, 1991.)

During the past 20,000 years, sea level throughout the world has risen relative to the land at widely varying rates, and that rise continues in most regions today. The environmental stresses brought on by rates of current sea-level rise and by coastal development are likely to worsen if predictions of global climate change from greenhouse warming and associated accelerations in sea-level rise, due to glacial ice sheet melting and ocean warming, are accurate (Karpe and others, 1990; Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990). Coastal erosion is already a widespread problem in the United States, affecting all 30 coastal states (Figure 1, Table 3), and along many coasts around the world (National Research Council, 1990). Most conflicts between man and nature can be reduced or the effects mitigated, however, if our understanding of coastal environments is increased by a good knowledge base of earth-science information. Such information should be incorporated into sound coastal planning and management policies for use in guiding long-term societal use and conservation of coastal resources. This paper summarizes sea-level changes that have occurred throughout the geologic and historical record to the present and the dramatic effects these changes exert on coastal environments around the world as illustrated in coastal Louisiana, U.S.A. The implications of present sea-level rise and potential future increases due to global climate change also are discussed. CHANGES IN SEA LEVEL The geologic record contains abundant evidence that sea level has changed frequently in the past and on scales of several hundred meters. Reasons for these changes encompass geologic processes as well as climatic factors. Tectonic movements of the Earth’s crust, including sea-floor spreading, alter the shapes of the ocean basins, thereby affecting their volumes and, consequently, their water depths. Ocean volume is also affected by changes

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Figure 1. Classification of annual shoreline change around the United States. (Modified from Dolan and others, 1985.)

in the volume of major continental ice sheets as well as thermal changes in ocean water (Table 4) (Titus, 1984; Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990). The largest and most rapid fluctuations of sea level have resulted from the waxing and waning of ice sheets in response to climatic changes; some evidence suggests cyclic major glaciations on time frequencies of about 100, 000 years. The last major mild interglacial period occurred about 130,000 years ago when sea level was 5 to 7 m higher than at present. It was followed by the Wisconsin or Würm glaciation, which began approximately 36,000 years ago and continued until about 20,000 years ago, at which time sea level was as much as 130 meters below its present position (Figure 2). Evidence of these major and even some minor cycles of glaciation/deglaciation and accompanying changes in sea level is found in a variety of sources worldwide, including raised and submerged shoreline features, river channels, and deltas; coral reefs; and ocean-floor sediments. Following the end of Wisconsin glaciation, sea level rose rapidly (average 8 to 10 mm/yr) until about 7,000 years ago, when it was approximately 10 m below its present position (Coleman, 1988). Since that time, sea-level rise has continued but at a considerably slower rate of to 1 to 2 mm/yr (Emery and Aubrey, 1991).

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Table 3. Rates of Shoreline Change for U.S. Coastal Regions and States (Modified from Dolan and others, 1985.)

* Negative values indicate erosion; positive values indicate accretion.

Another result of glaciation is overloading of the continents, which results in significant downwarping of the crust. When glaciers retreat, the depressed areas rebound due to isostatic adjustment. Rebounds of several hundred meters have occurred in northern Canada and Fennoscandia since Wisconsin glaciation, and rebounding continues in parts of the Northern Hemisphere but at reduced rates. In these regions, the net effect is often a drop in relative sea level. FACTORS AFFECTING RELATIVE SEA LEVEL Regional Variations Relative sea level is the difference between eustatic, or worldwide, change and local variations in land elevation. Depending upon geologic conditions, land-elevation changes can vary considerably in different

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Table 4. Best Estimates of Climate-Related Contributions to Eustatic Sea-Level Rise (12 to 15 cm) Over the Last 100 Years. (Modified from Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990.)

regions. Worldwide, subsidence of coastal regions is widespread, especially in areas which were marginal to glaciated areas and are now undergoing glacioisostatic adjustment (e.g., northern Europe, eastern North America), and in deltaic regions, which have experienced long and continuous sediment loading and down-warping. Bangkok, Venice, and regions of Egypt, Louisiana, Vietnam, and Bangladesh are examples of areas where deltaic subsidence due to sediment loading and compaction is a large component of relative sea-level rise. This fluctuation of sea level, at local and global scales, is one of several factors which determine whether coasts are stable, relative to sea level, or undergo erosion or accretion and at what temporal and spatial rates (Table 2). Physical Effects of Sea-Level Rise Sea-level rise has vastly different effects on coastlines around the world, depending on the long-term rates of sea-level change and on the geologic and geomorphic character and configuration of the coast. Cliff or headland stretches of coast composed of resistant rock are much less susceptible to the erosive effects of sea-level rise than are coral atoll islands and very flat,

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Figure 2. Curve of worldwide sea-level rise of 100 m during the past 20,000 years, based on radiocarbon dates from seven areas. (From National Research Council, 1987.)

low-relief coastal plains composed of unconsolidated sedimentary deposits, often comprising barrier spits and islands. Examples of these susceptible coastal features are common along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, the German-Dutch coast of the North Sea, parts of Great Britain on the English Channel, and numerous Pacific islands. As Table 2 shows, sea level is one of the main determinants of shoreline location. Erosion and inundation brought on by rising sea level generally cause coastline recession except in unusual instances where the recessionary trend is offset by glacio-isostatic rebound, tectonic uplift, or an abundance of sediment from rivers and erosion of adjacent coasts. Although progradation of the coast is possible with an abundance of sediment, examples of prograding coasts are rare. Most river-borne sediments are deposited in bays and estuaries prior to reaching the coast and manmade interferences on rivers (e.g., dams, channelization) have significantly reduced transport of sand-size sediments to the coast. Because the effects of sea-level rise are altered by factors such as regional differences in sand supply, coastal processes, and storm incidence, coastlines of the world vary greatly in their relative stability. At least 60 percent of sandy coastlines on a worldwide scale are undergoing erosion,

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10 percent are experiencing progradation, and the remaining 30 percent are relatively stable or have shown no consistent trends within historical times (Bird, 1985). Geologic indicators of prograding coasts consist of parallel sets of beach ridges, often topped by large dune fields; an erosional coast is characterized by wave-cut cliffs, scarped beach faces and dunes, and frequent occurrence of back-barrier peat deposits exposed and cropping out on lower parts of the foreshore, especially following storms. Often, coastlines exhibit compound features demonstrating trends that have reversed over the past several hundred to thousand years, such as formerly prograding coasts that are now stable or undergoing net erosion. Most coastlines have concave-upward profiles as a result of a quasiequilibrium between the sandy beach and the wave energy dissipated across the shore zone (Figure 3). When sea level rises, wave energy is shifted upward and landward, and the profile adjusts to the new conditions through erosion of sand from the beach and movement offshore to shoreface and

Figure 3. On a low-relief coast, a long-term rise in sea level causes disequilibrium between the coast and the processes acting on it, leading to shoreline erosion in addition to inundation. Erosion results in sand being moved from the beach to the offshore as well as alongshore. (From Schneider, 1989.)

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inner shelf regions. This process seems logical and relatively straightforward but in fact is often too simplistic to accurately predict actual beach profile changes which occur during rising sea level conditions (National Research Council, 1987). Historical Sea-Level Rise Careful mapping and analysis of shoreline and shelf features and sediments during the last several decades verify that large changes in sea level occurred during the Quaternary period (past 1.6 million years). For documenting sea-level changes that occurred more recently during the Holocene (past 10,000 years) transgression, radiocarbon dating of fossil marine shells and marsh vegetation is useful. Reconstructing coastal archaeological sites is providing critical information on relative sea-level change over the past 5, 000 years. Tide-gauge instruments were developed about 1875 to record automatically water level information useful in operating harbors and maintaining ship navigation. Data gathered by this continuous recording of water levels are useful for computing mean sea level, and for the past century, tide-gauge data have provided the most precise and geographically widespread information available on changes in relative sea level (Figure 4). Use of tide gauges is not without limitations. Only about 250 tide-gauge stations worldwide have sufficient periods of record to allow separation of the signal of long-term sea-level change from background noise (Emery and Aubrey, 1991). In addition, most of these stations are situated in the Northern Hemisphere and few are located on the open coast. Furthermore, tide-gauge data provide sea-level position relative to the land on which the station base is anchored, and the land may be rising or falling in elevation. Nevertheless, the quality, length of record, and volume of information in tide-gauge records make them the most useful and reliable source of data about historical changes in relative sea level (National Research Council, 1990). Using only selected tide-gauge records from stable areas around the world, several investigators have been able to filter out the contributions of crustal movement and obtain mean rates of eustatic sea-level change (National Research Council, 1987). Differences in how the data were analyzed and which gauges were used have yielded estimates varying from 11 to 30 cm rise during the past 100 years, but a consensus currently is that the mean rate of sea-level rise has been about 12 to 15 cm over the past 100 years, caused by thermal expansion of ocean water, melting of continental glaciers and small ice caps, and marginal melting of the

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Figure 4. Tide-gauge curves from Venice show annual and long-term rise in relative sea level From 1880 to 1980, relative sea level increased 24.5 cm. (From Pirazzoli, 1991.)

Greenland ice sheet (Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990). These historical rates are generally consistent with average rates derived from the geological record during the past 6,000 years (National Research Council, 1987; Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990). Human Influences As discussed previously, various geologic, climatic, and glaciologic factors are responsible for changes in sea level. However, during the 20th century —and especially during the past 50 years—man’s actions have contributed significantly to accelerating sea-level rise on a local scale (Table 2). These actions, consisting primarily of increasing the rates of ground subsidence and reducing the volume of sediments reaching the coast, can cause sudden (decadal time scales), substantial (several meters), and mostly irreversible rises in relative sea level. Well documented cases of human-induced subsidence are numerous in the scientific literature. A few of the more notable cases are discussed as follows. Long Beach Harbor, California: From the 1950’s to the late 1960’s, extraction of oil and gas from under Long Beach Harbor resulted in local land subsidence of nearly 9 m, submerging large parts of the harbor’s industrial area and threatening oil production facilities. To combat the

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problem, massive stone walls were constructed to dike out the sea, and many structures were elevated above sea level. Repressuring of the oil field finally halted the subsidence and even caused modest rebounding (Emery and Aubrey, 1991). The costs of diking the area and preserving the industrial facilities, however, exceeded $100 million (National Research Council, 1987). London, England: For more than 100 years, subsidence in the part of London adjacent to the Thames River has been associated with the pumping of ground water. Subsidence of over 20 cm, due to ground-water withdrawal, doubled the rate of local sea-level rise and led to construction of a tidal barrage across the Thames to protect low-lying parts of London during storm surge events. Venice, Italy: As in most cases where land subsidence is associated with river delta plains and often accelerated by ground-water extraction, Venice, sited on Italy’s Po River delta, experienced large-volume pumping from artesian wells from the early 1950’s to late 1960’s (Pirazzoli, 1991). The result was subsidence of more than 10 cm (Figures 4 and 5). Because the elevation of much of Venice was already at or near sea level, many historic buildings and valuable cultural arts were seriously threatened by inundation. When the city shifted to surface-water supplies in 1969, parts of the land under Venice began to undergo rebound, but Emery and Aubrey (1991) have suggested that recovery will amount to only about 20 percent of the total subsidence attributable to ground-water mining. THE LOUISIANA EXPERIENCE The State of Louisiana, which fronts the north-central Gulf of Mexico coast, is experiencing the most rapid and widespread coastal erosion and wetlands deterioration and loss of any region in the United States and possibly in the world. Long-term rates of barrier-island retreat average 4 m/ yr; as much as 30 m have been eroded during single storm events lasting only a few days. Eighty percent of the loss of tidal wetlands in the conterminous United States—an estimated 100 km2/yr—is occurring in Louisiana, which contains nearly one-half of the U.S. coastal wetlands (Penland and others, 1990). In 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Louisiana Geological Survey, began comprehensive coastal studies of the Mississippi River deltaic plain to assess the rapid coastal erosion and wetlands loss taking place and to better understand the causes and processes responsible. As Figure 6 shows, the study area encompasses a 300-km-wide stretch of the coast and inner shelf from the Isles Dernieres, west of the Mississippi

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Figure 5. Venice, already flooded several times each year by storm surges, is threatened by continued subsidence and future accelerations in sea-level rise. (From Pirazzoli, 1991.)

River, to the Chandeleur Islands, east of the Mississippi River. The information base amassed since inception of the study includes digital shoreline and nearshore hydrographic data spanning the past 136 years, high-resolution geophysical profiles, a dense array of sediment samples and 12-m-long vibracores, a continuous 4-year record of storm effects on the barrier coast, and analyses of a suite of tide-gauge records from the past 50 years. Through analysis of this information, a clearer and more complete understanding of the processes responsible for coastal erosion and wetlands deterioration and loss in Louisiana has emerged (Williams and others, 1991). The deltaic plain is the product of continuous accumulation of sediments deposited by the Mississippi River and its distributaries during

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the past 7,000 years as sea level rose to within ±10 m of its present position (Coleman, 1988; Penland and others, 1988). Assembled as overlapping, stacked sequences of unconsolidated sands and muddy sediments, the deltaic plain is composed of six major delta complexes consisting of at least 18 smaller deltaic lobes (Penland and others, 1988). The spatial relationships of the four ancestral (Teche, Maringouin, LaFourche, St. Bernard) and two active deltas (Atchafalaya, Modern) are shown in Figure 6. The geologic processes controlling deltaic plain development require relatively stable sea level and consist of establishment of a prodelta platform in shallow water followed by progradation of the delta and bifurcation of the main distributary channel. The delta construction phase continues until the channel becomes so distended that it is no longer hydraulically efficient. Channel shifting and, ultimately, abandonment of the old distributary channel occur in favor of the shorter, more efficient course to the coast. Cut off from its riverine sediment source, the abandoned delta undergoes long-term subsidence by compaction of the underconsolidated sediments at rates that are a function of sediment thickness. Marine coastal processes then erode, winnow, and rework the seaward margin of the abandoned delta. Sandy headlands and barrier beaches and spits result from the reworking process and continue to undergo transgressive submergence, the result being segmented barrier islands separated by tidal inlets and backed by shallow bays and lagoons (Penland and others, 1988). Along with periodic (±1,000 years) shifts in the course of the Mississippi River, sea-level rise also has been a dominant influence on the development of the Louisiana deltaic plain region. From a maximum low stand at depths of −130 m at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, sea level rose rapidly (>2 cm/yr) in the early Holocene to about −10 m by 7,500 years ago (Coleman, 1988; Penland and others, 1988). Since the middle Holocene, relative sea level has continued to rise, primarily due to compactional subsidence of the thick (>100 m) Holocene sediments that filled the ancestral river valleys. Analyzing an array of tide-gauge records, Penland and Ramsey (1990) have demonstrated that relative sea-level rise across the entire delta plain exceeds 1 cm/yr and is considerably greater than that in adjacent areas of the coast (Figure 7). Comparison with the mean eustatic rise of about 0.12 cm/yr suggests that, on average, the subsidence component accounts for approximately 80 percent of the relative sea-level rise. As a result, south-central Louisiana is experiencing rates of relative sea-level rise almost 10 times greater than the world average.

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Figure 6. The Louisiana delta plain, composed of a series of six deltaic lobes, resulted from continuous sediment deposition during shifts of the Mississippi River over the past 7,000 years. (From Frazier, 1967.)

To deal with the widespread land loss in Louisiana, Federal and Louisiana State agencies are implementing $30 million worth of plans in 1992. Recommendations in a master plan include diversions of Mississippi River fresh-water and sediment into wetlands, restoration of barrier islands, creation of wetlands from dredge spoils, stabilization of banks and channels, and marsh and delta management. ESTIMATES OF FUTURE MEAN SEA-LEVEL RISE The past decade has seen growing worldwide concern that the increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases from usage of fossil fuels could enhance greenhouse warming and raise the Earth’s mean surface air temperature 1.5° to 4.5°C (National Research Council, 1987; Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990). The environmental consequences of such temperature increases would be significant. A best-estimate temperature increase of 2–3°C would approximate the mean temperature at the peak of the last interglacial stage and would likely cause a significant rise in eustatic sea level due to the factors listed in Table 4. According to Warrick and Oerlemans (1990), the

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Figure 7. Histograms of tide-gauge records from three regions along the Louisiana coast show wide variations in the rise of relative sea level, dependent upon geologic conditions controlling rates of subsidence.

combination of thermal expansion of the ocean mass and melting of grounded glaciers and ice caps have been the major causes of eustatic sealevel rise over the last century. Wastage of Greenland’s ice sheets has contributed somewhat, but lack of field survey data hampers precise measures of past contributions or estimates for the future. Determining the role of Antarctica is extremely difficult, but consensus seems to be that a near balance exists between snow accumulation and wastage at the margins. Climate warming over the next 100 years is actually likely to increase snowfall in Antarctica; thus, Antarctica is not thought to be a significant contributor to rise in sea level. The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) in 1987 evaluated various research studies predicting possible sea-level rise due to climate warming to the year 2100 and concluded that, with the considerable uncertainties, three scenarios were possible. In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) evaluated more recent data and research results and suggested three scenarios somewhat lesser in magnitude (Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990).

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Figure 8 shows the NRC and IPCC estimates to the year 2100 and the mean rise rate of 12 cm over the past century. The NRC best estimate is 1 m while the IPCC’s best-estimate forecast is 0.66 m. Although the spread in these estimates is great and the rate of future rise is uncertain, the conclusion is clear—sea level will continue to rise and at rates considerably higher than current rates or those over the last 100 years. IMPLICATIONS FOR COASTAL-ZONE PLANNING As sea level rises in the future, coastal plain areas and low-lying islands around the world will be affected by increased flooding, shoreline erosion, and wetlands loss (Figure 9). Predicting the extent, magnitude, and severity of sea-level rise and its effects on the shore and on coastal development is full of uncertainties, but planning for such economic and environmental impacts should be a high priority for all coastal countries (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1991). Three strategies to deal with future sea-level rise are possible. These methods to deal with erosion and flooding include (1) hard-engineering structures (e.g., dikes, levees, seawalls) designed to protect development landward of the shoreline, (2) erosion mitigation techniques that closely replicate natural shore environments (e.g., beach nourishment, dune creation, shoreline restoration), and (3) retreat from the shoreline by abandoning structures and relocating communities (National Research Council, 1987). Each of these scenarios is technically possible, and the appropriate governmental responses should be determined after carefully evaluating a combination of social, economic, geographic, and environmental factors. Because the first two methods involve expensive construction and maintenance and because the third will not be popular, it seems reasonable to develop setback lines for undeveloped coasts and discourage future development as soon as possible. Dealing effectively with present coastal problems of erosion, wetlands loss, flooding, and subsidence and resolving future conflicts caused by increased sea-level rise will require a combination of coastal zone management and engineering solutions. Because sea-level rise and other consequences of climatic change will affect the world population for many centuries, the methods chosen by each country to address its problems should be based on long-term societal needs and on sound scientific and technical knowledge rather than on emotional responses to short-term desires. Scientific investigations of the Earth’s systems, coastal processes, and possible effects of climatic change on sea level are important, and the

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Figure 8. Sea-level rise scenarios for possible climate change as suggested by the NRC (1987) and the IPCC (Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990).

results of these studies must be effectively transferred to coastal planners, engineers, managers, and, most important, to political decisionmakers and to the public. Only when these diverse groups have the necessary baseline information and understand the range of choices, the total costs (social, economic, and environmental), and the risks associated with each choice can prudent decisions be made on when and how to deal with coastal problems. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Examination of the geologic record from the Quaternary period provides conclusive evidence that sea level has varied greatly, primarily responding to climatic changes that caused cyclic worldwide glaciations (sea-level lows) and mild periods of nonglaciation (sea-level highs). The range of sea-level fluctuation has been from −130 m to +7 m during the past 150,000 years.

Figure 9. Darkend coastal areas depict regions vulnerable to erosion and inundation due to projected rising relative sea levels. Many low-latitude islands, not shown on this small-scale map, are also vulnerable. (Modified from Emery and Aubrey, 1991.)

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There is scientific consensus that, throughout the last 10,000 years, sea level has undergone a long-term rise but at widely varying rates and subject to short-term fluctuations. Also, sea-level rise has been slow but continuous during the past 3,000 years, and analyses of tide-gauge records worldwide indicate that eustatic sea level has risen about 12 cm during the last century. In many places around the world, coastal subsidence contributes to eustatic rates by as much as a factor of 10, yielding much higher rates of relative sea-level rise. The past record of sea-level change in response to climatic and geologic processes and the results from models predicting future climate under the influences of the greenhouse effect indicate that, during the next century, eustatic sea level probably will rise at greater rates relative to the present. A total rise of 31 to 110 cm is possible, the rates being greater in future decades than in the near future. The current best estimate is a 66-cm rise over the next 100 years (Warrick and Oerlemans, 1990). Future sea-level rise and possible increases in coastal storm frequency and severity will result in increased coastal erosion and inundation, loss and deterioration of tidal wetlands, and saltwater intrusion into fresh ground-water aquifers. Broad options available to respond to these sealevel changes include: • Construction of hard-engineering structures to armor the coast. • Use of beach nourishment and shoreline restoration to stabilize the shoreline. • Accommodation and incremental retreat of human development from the coast Although increased sea-level rise and associated land loss are highly probable during the next century, many details are still unknown. Planning for future rise should be incorporated into coastal management activities to minimize the disruption to society; establishing and implementing setbacks for coastal development are reasonable, but emergency measures to combat future rise are not yet necessary. Decisions on managing coastal resources and dealing with impacts of sea-level rise on development should be based on current scientific knowledge, and emphasis should be placed on increasing research into coastal processes and on acquiring additional long-term data on the global ice-mass budget and on worldwide sea-level change and its effects on coastal geomorphology. Information resulting from these research efforts should be communicated worldwide to minimize future impacts of climate change and sea-level rise.

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In conclusion, the IPCC Response Strategies Working Group (IPCC, 1991) for Coastal Zone Management included some of the above in their 10 recommendations, which are worth repeating: 1. By the year 2000, coastal nations should implement coastal zone management plans. 2. High-risk coastal areas should be mapped and assessed. 3. Future sea-level rise should be factored into plans for coastal development to reduce future vulnerability. 4. Plans for emergency preparedness for coastal storms should be strengthened and include future climate change. 5. An international focus on the effects of sea-level rise should be augmented. 6. Technical assistance should be provided to coastal nations in developing plans to deal with sea-level rise and other effects of climate change. 7. International cooperation and education is needed to limit population growth and development in coastal regions. 8. Research on understanding and predicting the impacts of climate change on sea-level rise should be strengthened. 9. A global ocean and coastline-observing network should be implemented. 10. Data and information on climate change and sea-level rise should be widely disseminated and available for preparation of coastal management plans. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Appreciation is extended to James Devine, Richard Williams, John Gray, and Curtis Larson of the U.S. Geological Survey for their constructive technical reviews and to Helana Cichon for assistance in preparing the paper. REFERENCES Bird, E.C., 1985, Coastline changes-a global review, Chichester: J.Wiley, Interscience, 219 p. Coleman, J.M., 1988, Dynamic changes and processes in the Mississippi River delta: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 100, p. 999–1015. Culliton, T.J., Warren, M .A., Goodspeed, T.R., Remer, D.G., Blackwell, C.M., and McDonough, J.J., III, 1990, 50 years of population change along the

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Nation’s coasts 1960–2012: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Second Report of a Coastal Trend Series, 41 p. Dolan, R., Anders, F., and Kimball, S., 1985, Coastal Erosion and Accretion, in U.S. Geological Survey National Atlas: Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va. Emery, K.O. and Aubrey, D.G., 1991, Impact of sea-level/land-level change on society, in Sea Levels, Land Levels, and Tide Gauges: New York, SpringerVerlag, p. 167–174. Frazier, D.E., 1967, Recent deposits of the Mississippi River, their development and chronology: Transactions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, v. 17, p. 287–311. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1991, Climate change-IPCC response strategies: Washington, D.C., Island Press, 272 p. Karpe, H.-J., Otten, D., and Trinidade, S.C., eds., 1990, Climate and development, overview: report of the Hamburg Congress: New York, Springer-Verlag, p. 3–14. National Research Council, Committee on Engineering Implications of Changes in Relative Mean Sea Level, 1987, Responding to changes in sea level-engineering implications: Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 148 p. National Research Council, Geophysics Study Committee, 1990a, Sea level change: Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 234 p. National Research Council, Committee on Coastal Erosion Zone Management, 1990b, Managing coastal erosion: Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 182 p. Penland, S., Boyd, R., and Suter, J.R., 1988, Transgressive depositional systems of the Mississippi delta plain—a model for barrier shoreline and shelf sand development: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 58(6), p. 932–949. Penland, S. and Ramsey, K.E., 1990, Relative sea-level rise in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 6(2), p. 323–342. Penland, S., Roberts, H.H., Williams, S J., Sallenger, A.H., Jr., Cahoon, D.R., Davis, D.W., and Groat, C.G., 1990, Coastal land loss in Louisiana: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transaction of the 40th Annual Meeting, p. 685–699. Pirazzoli, P.A., 1991, Possible defenses against a sea-level rise in the Venice area, Italy: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 7, no. 1, p. 231–248. Schneider, S.H., 1989, Global warming, are we entering the greenhouse century?: San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 317 p. Titus, J.G. and Barth, M.C., 1984, An overview of the causes and effects of sea level rise, in Barth, M.C., and Titus, J.G., eds., Greenhouse Effect and Sea level Rise, A Challenge for This Generation: New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, Inc., p. 1–56. Warrick, R. and Oerlemans, J., 1990, Sea-level rise, in Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.J., and Ephraums, J.J., eds., Climate Change—Intergovernmental Panel on

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Climate Change scientific assessment: Cambridge, U.K., University Press, p. 257–281. Williams, R.S., Jr. and Hall, D.K., in press, Glaciers, in Gurney, R.J., Foster, J.L., and Parkinson, C.L., eds., Global Change Atlas: Cambridge University Press. Williams, S.J., Dodd, K., and Gohn, K.K., 1990, Coasts in crisis: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1075, 32 p. Williams, S.J., Penland, S., Sallenger, A.H., Jr., McBride, R.A., and Kindinger, J.L., 1991, Geologic controls on the formation and evolution of Quaternary coastal deposits of the northern Gulf of Mexico: American Society of Civil Engineers, Coastal Sediments ’91, v. 1, p. 1082–1095.

IMPACT OF OCEAN CIRCULATION ON REGIONAL AND GLOBAL CHANGE ANDRE GUILCHER University of Western Brittany and URA 904 CNRS BP 814, 29285, Brest, France

ABSTRACT Regulation of ocean circulation by wind is first reminded, exemplified by the circumpolar current in the Southern Ocean. Then, impacts of the ocean on climatic events are described, particularly in the Southeast Atlantic and in the South Pacific with ENSO, with a discussion bearing on processes. Other cases in the Arctic and in the North Atlantic Seas show the progress and efficiency of cooperation programmes in that field. Possible practical results in management may be expected. INTRODUCTION Before discussing the topic of this lecture, it is necessary to examine briefly in which way the ocean circulation is regulated by the atmosphere, in other words, to remind how the dynamics of the marine surface currents are a result of the wind field acting over the oceans, the deflection by the earth’s rotation or Coriolis force being taken into account, this deflection being on the right-hand side in the north hemisphere and on the left-hand side to the south of the equator. The shape of oceans and continents is of course essential, and, if the North Atlantic is considered, the trade winds thus determine a southwesterly current—the so-called Canary current— off Western Africa, and the westerly winds result, on higher latitudes, in the Gulf Stream extension. This combination of winds and currents was essential to allow the success of the first voyage of Colombus, whatever

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may be the part of chance and of knowledge in its utilization of the natural forces. WIND MODELLING CURRENT The circumpolar current as an example The causal relation between wind and current, and its modalities, is best exemplified by the circumpolar current in the Southern Ocean (figure 1). It is well known from many expeditions that this current is the most powerful one in the world, as a result of the unique absence of continental barriers at these latitudes, and the possibility of an easterly water flow running all around the world under the influence of the westerly winds. In spite of the stormy weather, it is one of the best known oceanic areas, in which most sophisticated techniques have been used, especially during the International Southern Ocean Studies Program (ISOS), 1975–1980, synthesized in Park (1): a good example of an international cooperation: precise measurements at depth in the Drake Passage between America and Antarctica, in connection with fine spatial resolution hydrological stations; very numerous drifting buoys followed by ARGOS satellite observations in all current areas (fig. 2). The flow across the Drake Passage is evaluated at 130 sverdrups (millions of cubic metres per second) with a range of 120– 140, and not very different results in other areas (118 at 66°30’E, 125–139 between New Zealand and Antarctica, etc). Data have been obtained on the spatio-temporal variability (especially high downstream of ridges and in convergence areas), on the size of the meanders. Maximal variability, occuring in the Drake Passage, is 95 to 158 sv. Emphasis has been made by Gordon (3) on the spatial and temporal variability, with special consideration of the Weddell Gyre, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, where these variations may be a primary factor in the changes in the biology. This remark shows that such studies have large practical impacts. Changes in climatic factors Changes in climatic factors and their impact on oceanic circulation can also be precised and may help to forecast changes in the currents. In the North Atlantic, the eastward extension of the Gulf Stream provides an example in Rui Xin Huang (4). At the end of Winter, if a cold air at about 0°C flows over the narrow front region of the current, all the moving water in the upper layer sinks to the lower layer and mixes vertically with

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Fig. 1. Water transport in the Southern Ocean. After Kort in Dietrich et al., (2), modified. Transport of 20 sverdrups between two lines.

it. The horizontal momentum to the east is thus transported downward during the convective adjustment. In addition, the process creates at middle depth a low potential vorticity water mass. After geostrophic adjustment, water moves southward and creates a high pressure center to the south and a low pressure center to the north. These two pressure centers drive strong recirculations both south and north of the stream, eastward in the north and westward in the south. Although cooling is restricted to late Winter, the pressure centers built by it can persist for a long time. The same process is expected to occur in the Kuroshio extension.

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Fig. 2. Tracts of drifting buoys over the Southern Ocean, 1978–1979. A few ones only are shown. From Park, (2).

IMPACTS OF OCEAN ON LARGE DISTURBANCES Conversely, changes in ocean circulation can result in climatic modifications on regional or larger scales, and we are there in the main topic of this paper. The Benguella current An excellent regional example can be found in shifts of the Benguella current, Southeast Atlantic, and its effects on the climate of the coast of

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Fig. 3 A. Positive zonal component of wind, March/April. Angola south coast dry. (After Hirst and Hastenrath)

South Angola (5 and 6). Usually, this northwesterly cold current, resulting from the trade winds which determine an upwelling of the subsurface cold water, prevents almost completely any rainfall in the adjacent coastal area (less than 20 mm per year between Tombua, formerly Porto Alexandre, and the mouth of Cunene River at the Namibian border). However, it happens sometimes that heavy occasional rainfalls occur during the austral Summer, especially in March: 23 mm were thus recorded in a single day in march 1970 at Baia dos Tigres. From investigations on the interannual variations in the atmospheric and oceanic fields over the South Tropical Atlantic, Hirst and Hastenrath (6) have shown that the atmospheric-oceanic departure patterns on MarchApril are inverse during dry and wet periods on the southern coast of Angola: dry (normal) situations correspond with zonal winds (fig. 3 A) and negative temperatures (fig. 4 A), whereas wet (anomalous) situations correspond with meridional winds (fig. 3 B) and positive temperatures (fig. 4 B). On the other hand, Portuguese investigations in South Angola by Dias (7), supported by Russian surveys (Moroshkin, 8) and discussed by Guilcher (5), lead to the conclusion that, outside the coastal area where cold surface waters result from upwelling, warmer waters are found farther offshore where they are carried from the North by a so-called Angola current (fig. 5). It could thus be assumed that the exceptional rains recorded in March at Baia dos Tigres derive from temporary landward shifts of the Angola current replacing or reducing the coastal upwelling. The satellite imagery, as recorded at CNES, Lannion, Brittany, shows situations in which the Benguella current is actually pressed back by warm water flowing southeastwards.

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Fig. 3 B. Positive meridional component of wind. March/April . Angola south coast wet. (After Hirst and Hastenrath)

Fig 4 A. Sea surface temperature negative departure, March/April. Angola south coast dry. (After Hirst and Hastenrath)

These results are interesting in terms of management, since they seem to give possibilities of short range prediction of rainy events on the south Angola coast, hence prevention of flood effects, etc. El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Yet, the South Angola events are a small phenomenon if compared with those occurring in the South Pacific and known as El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), even if these two events display a parallelism and dose similarities. El Nino is much better known and studied in its effects on a much larger scale and area, and rises larger problems of causality and oceanatmosphere connection. The “normal” El Nino is a southward, warm coastal current flowing periodically along the northern coast of Peru, and appearing in Christmas

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Fig. 4 B. Sea surface temperature positive departure, March/April. Angola south coast wet. (After Hirst and Hastenrath)

time, hence its name, El Nino being the Christ child. This current replaces seasonally the cold waters of the Peru or Humboldt current, a counterpart of the Benguella current in Angola, resulting similarly from upwelling through the influence of the trade winds. Although El Nino occurs seasonally and normally at Christmas, it is subject to very large variations in intensity and duration from year to year, so that the sense of the term El Nino has now been more or less changed by the scientists to apply to the dramatic events associated with the years of great intensity and duration. These events (fig. 6) occur at about four years intervals as an average, but stronger events have been recorded at longer intervals, particularly in 1891, and recently in 1982–83: this last even has been studied with the greatest accuracy and commented in a huge number of papers, especially in Glynn editor (9); see also Rasmusson (10), Cane (11), Guilcher (12). Such an event is coupled with the whole South Pacific pressure system, hence the name of El Nino Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, has been adopted. Figure 7 shows associated disturbances occuring in sea surface as far West as Australia. Moreover, as early as the beginning of this century, Walker (13), director of the Indian Observatories, has attempted to establish a correlation between fluctuations of the Indian monsoon and the Nino events; and it is presently accepted that the ENSO events concern at least the area comprised between Peru and Indonesia, with a decreased rainfall in and around Indonesia, and an increased rainfall in the Central and Eastern Pacific and coastal regions of South America. On Figure 7 B and C are shown, for the area comprised between 100ºE and 100ºW, i.e. between Sumatra Island and Peru, the changes in sea surface temperature recorded during normal and exceptional ENSO, and disturbing the normal temperature pattern found on Figure 7 A. The western extension of the

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Fig. 5. Temperatures at 10m depth off South Angola in March 1971 (austral summer). Angola warm current offshore, colder water (residual Benguela current) nearshore. After Dias, (7).

1982–1983 ENSO has been especially striking in its effects on sea level shifts (Figure 8). At Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, a station which is quite significant for the Peru coast, the sea level evolution reflected closely the evolution (rise) of the sea surface temperature, with a peak of 44 centimetres in early January 1983. At Jarvis Island in the Central Equatorial Pacific, the sea level rose to reach a peak of 30 centimetres during the second half of 1982, and fell a little below normal during the rise in the Galapagos Islands. At Nauru Island, Western Pacific, the sea level reached positive values well before Jarvis, and fell deeply as soon as December 1982, i.e. during the main peak at Santa Cruz.

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Fig. 6. ENSO events from 1939 to 1983, after Rasmusson (10) and Cane (11) in Guilcher (12). —: variation of SST (sea surface temperature) in degrees centigrade at Puerto Chicama, Peru significant for Nino. ......: difference of atmospheric pressure at sea level between Darwin, Australia, and Tahiti Island significant for ENSO. Major events are shaded.

At the same time, whereas the Phoenix and Line Islands in the Central Equatorial Pacific are usually dry, exceptional rainfalls accompanied there the 1982–1983 ENSO: at Christmas Island, 530 mm were recorded from August to October 1982, while the mean rainfall in these months is 74 mm (15). The Tuamotu and Society Islands were struck from December 1982 to April 1983 by a series of six hurricanes of exceptional force, with giant waves 8 to 10 metres high washing the atolls and destroying at Tikehau Atoll corals over 13 millions of square metres, i.e. 80 per cent of the outer slope (16). It is well known since a long time that the exceptional Ninos result, on the Peru coast, in a massive mortality of fishes (principally anchovies), hence a glut of rotten carcases in the coastal waters, and a migration of sea birds deprived of their usual food. But the 1982–1983 ENSO extended widely its biological affects to the Central Equatorial Pacific, with a disappearance of pelagic fishes around the Line Islands, and a correlative departure of birds (15). The disturbance of the normal climatic succession had effects on terrestrial forests, with an unusual dry season affecting the semideciduous forest in Central Panama, and, on the other side of the

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Fig. 7. Sea surface temperature distribution in C along the Equatorial Pacific (L: low H: high) , after Cane (11) in Guilcher (12).

ocean, droughts afflicting East Borneo in Sabah and Kalimantan, where rainfall was one third the average over a ten-month period (Egbert et al. in Glynn editor, 9). Even in the northern hemisphere, deleterious impacts occurred simultaneously with the 1982–1983 ENSO. “The unusual winds in the Tropical Pacific coincided with a deepening of the Aleutian low pressure center in the North Pacific… This resulted in unusually strong westerly winds and a series of severe storms at unusually low latitudes in the subtropical North Pacific, with severe coastal erosion and damage to facilities”. D.V.Hansen, in Glynn editor (9), who relates these events,

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Fig. 8. Variation of sea level (heights in cm) at three islands in the Western, Central, and Eastern Equatorial Pacific during 1981–1983 ENSO. After data in Lucas et al., 1984 (14).

notes, however, that they were not necessarily due to the ENSO. It is a matter of discussion indeed to determine to what extent ENSO results in large atmosphere and oceanic disturbances outside the Equatorial and South Tropical Pacific. Andrade and Sellers (17) have found a positive correlation between ENSO and rainfall in Arizona and New Mexico during Spring and Autumn, but not during Winter or Summer, perhaps (or probably) because ENSO is only one element among others. The distant influence of ENSO remains thus a matter of discussion. Succession of processes in ENSO A major problem is, of course, to determine whether the initial impulse of ENSO is to be found in the atmosphere or in the ocean. Bjerknes (18) thought that it is the atmosphere which determines what he calls a

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“Walker circulation”, because he thinks that fluctuations in such a wind circulation are responsible for the Southern Oscillation: an abnormal amount of cold, dry air transferred from south to north along the Peru coast by the trade winds flows along the equator towards the Western Pacific, whence it comes back at high altitude, after warming and moistening by the ocean, to sink into the Eastern Pacific: hence the abnormal, strong Nino, which would thus derive from abnormally strong trade winds. Although Wyrtki (19) has suggested a rather different process, he thought also that the succession of events is initially due to atmosphere forcing, and other papers reviewed by Lockwood (20) arrive generally to similar conclusions. Attempts have been made by Cane et al. (21) and Schopf et al. (22) to obtain a prediction one or two years in advance; it may be hoped that the international cooperation in the Pacific will be able to reach this target in the understanding of large scale changes. The case of the Norwegian and Greenland Seas Another area where the international cooperation is typical is the Norwegian and Greenland Seas and their connections with the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Since the pioneer investigations carried out by the Norwegians in the early beginning of this century (Helland-Hansen et al., 23) , the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) has coordinated the research on the distribution and variations of the temperatures and salinities, in support of the fisheries, so active in this nordic area. A recent achievement has been the so-called Deep Water Project, carried out in 1981–1982 by a group of American, Canadian, German, Icelandic and Norwegian oceanographers, with the main results published by Clarke ed. (24). The formation of the Greenland Sea deep water was precised, with evidence of separate circulation patterns in each of the deep basins, and precisions on the duration of deep convection and relation with winter air temperature. The investigations were extended to the connection with the Arctic Ocean (Figure 9). A particular attention has been paid to the connection of the Norwegian Basin with the North Atlantic over the Scotland-Iceland submarine ridge. Dietrich (25) has demonstrated that the Norwegian Sea dense deep water can flow intermittently over the ridge, and can be, after mixing, an essential element of the Atlantic deep water. Its way across the complicated topography of the North Atlantic has been followed by Harvey et al. (26), who have shown that a main way of its spreading is the Charlie-Gibbs fracture zone, and the amount of transport has been precised (Figure 10).

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Fig. 9. Example of international survey in the Norwegian Sea, 1972–1984, with three ships in eight expeditions. Simplified after Heinze et al. in Clarke(24)

These studies have thrown a new light on the general circulation in the deep Atlantic, with some modifications in the classic scheme due to Wüst and the German expedition of Vermessungsschiff “Meteor” in the twenties.

Fig. 10. Norwegian Sea outflow water over the Scotland-Iceland ridge and through the Charlie-Gibbs fracture zone (CGFZ) after Harvey and Theodorou (26) Figures in sverdrups.

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Fig. 11. Significant sounds (straits) between the Arctic Ocean and Baffin Bay.

The Canadian outlet of the Arctic Ocean Still another area where variations in sea water circulation can be an element to the understanding of climatic changes is the connection between the Arctic Ocean and the Baffin Bay, hence the North Atlantic (Figure 11), which consists of three sounds or straits across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: the Barrow, Jones and Smith Sounds. The water transport is eastwards, resulting form a sea level difference between the Arctic Ocean and the Baffin Bay. Current mater measurements made in 1981–1983 (Prinsenbere et al., 27) in the Barrow Sound have shown that the volume transport through that strait has an annual mean of 0.5 sv. and varies seasonally from 0.2 sv. in January to 1.0 in August. From other observations, the total outflow of Arctic water through the three passages is evaluated at 0.9 sv. in Winter and 3.8 sv. in Summer for 1981–1982, that is, a significant contribution to the total volume of outflow of the Arctic estimated to be 9.4 sv. The continuation of these investigations will be worthwile because of possible impact on climate of changes in water and heat transport. A case of combined investigations in the North Atlantic Combined studies on the oceanic circulation in the North Atlantic are not confined to the Gulf Stream itself; they also extend to adjacent areas. Such

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is the Polymode Dynamics Experiment (28), carried out by a team of American laboratories during two months (15 May-15 July 1978), in an area 200 km wide centered on 31°05’N-69°30’W, off Georgia, West of the Sargasso Sea. An interesting topic consisted in the study of small rings, less than 50 km in diameter. It was found that these rings belong to various types; they derive partly at least, from the meanders formed in the Gulf Stream, but their cores can derive initially from areas as different as the Labrador Sea and the Caribbean region. Such results can have an impact in climatology, and, perhaps, explain unexpected peculiarities in the influence of the North Atlantic on the climate of Western Europe. The use of remote sensing Investigations on the oceanic circulation will certainly increase their efficiency in using remote sensing. A recent example is provided by results of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in surface transport estimates for the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio extensions (Chang Kou Tai, 29). The method has been based on 25 tracks of Geosat distributed over the four seasons. After these currents have left the coastal waters in their eastward course, both have a surface strength of the order of 90 sv.; they continue to be fed downstream until a maximum of the order of 130 sv. is reached, near 150°E for the Kuroshio and 63ºW for the Gulf Stream. Then the Gulf Stream decays slowly, with 128 sv. at 55°W, while the Kuroshio decays much faster, with 68 sv. near 165°E. These results compare well with those derived from classic methods, but are obtained at much lower costs. They suggest the existence of a seasonal cycle in the intensity of both currents, with a minimum in Winter and a maximum in Autumn. The connection between atmosphere and ocean is thus precised. CONCLUSION This review, which has been selected to some typical examples, shows that the modern study of the oceanic circulation, quite often carried out in international cooperation with multiship surveys, seems to be able to precise more and more the connections between ocean and atmosphere, with interaction of both sources and energy. The case of the South Pacific and South Atlantic Ninos is particularly promising for short range prediction of changes in climate on the nearby coasts and improvement of the management of these areas. The International Council of Scientific Unions, founded in 1931, has been and will continue to be an essential

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instrument of cooperation on global environment between states and disciplines (30). REFERENCES 1. 2. 3.

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Park, Y.H., Synthèse sur les caractères physiques du courant circumpolaire antarctique. Ann. Hydrogr., 1989, 5e ser., 16, 7–32. Dietrich, G., Kalle, K., Krauss, W. and Siedler, G., Allgemeine Meesreskunde, Berlin and Stuttgart, 1975, 3rd ed., p. 455. Gordon, A.L., Spatial and temporal variability within the Southern Ocean. In Antarctic Ocean and resources variability, ed. Sahrlage, Springer Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg, 1988, pp. 41–56. Rui Xin Huang, Does atmosphere cooling drive the Gulf Stream circulation? I. Phys. Oceanogr., 1983, 13, 1146–1157. Guilcher, A., Problèmes climatico-océanographiques du désert côtier d’Angola, particulièrement à la baie des Tigres (16°35°S). Norois, 1982, 29, 507–517. Hirst, A.C. and Hastenrath, S., Atmosphere-ocean mechanisms of climate anomalies in the Angola tropical atlantic sector, I. Phys. Oceanogr., 1983, 13, 1146–1157. Dias, C.A., Preliminary report on the physical oceanography off South Angola, March and July 1971. Internat.Com. Southeast Atlantic Fisheries, FAO, Rome, mimeogr., 1972, 15 p. Moroshkin, K.V., Bubnov, V.A. and Bulatov, R.P., Water circulation in the Eastern South Atlantic Ocean, Oceanology, 1970, 10, 1, 27–34. Glynn, P.W., editor, Global ecological consequences of the 1982–83 El Nino Southern Oscillation, Elsevier Oceanogr. Ser. 52, 553 pp. Rasmusson, E.M., El Nino and variations in climate, Am. Sci., 1985, 73, 168–177. Cane, M.A., El Nino, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 1986, 14, 43–70. Guilcher, A., Ocean et atmosphère: le cas du Nino et de son homologue sudatlantique, Climats et Climatologie, Pagney commemorative volume, Dijon, 1988, 243–249. Walker, G.T., Correlation in seasonal variations of weather, IX: a further study of world weather, Mem.India Meteorol. Depart., 1924, 24, part 9, 275–332. Lucas , R., Hayes, S.P. and Wyrtki, K., Equatorial sea level response during the 1982–1983 El Nino, I. Geophys. Res., 1984, 89 (6), 10425–10430. Doumenge, F., Déséquilibres climatiques et catastrophes dans le Pacifique intertropical, juillet 1982—avril 1983, Ann. de Géogr., 1983, 92, 403–413. Laboute, P., Evaluation des dégâts causés par les passages des cyclones de 1982– 1983 en Polynésie Française sur les pentes externes des atolls de Tikehau et de Takapoto (Tuamotus), Proc. 5th Internat. Coral Reef Congr, Tahiti, 1985, 3, 323– 329.

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17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

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Andrade, E.R. and Sellers, W.D., El Nino and its effect on precipitation in Arizona and Western New Mexico, I. of Climatol., 1988, 8, 403–410. Bjerknes, J., Atmosphere teleconnections from the Equatorial Pacific, Month. Weather Rev., 1969, 97, 163–172. Wyrtki, K., El Nino, the dynamic response of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean to atmosphere forcing, I. Phys. Oceanogr., 1975, 5, 572–584. Lockwood, J.G., The Southern Oscillation and El Nino, Progr. in Phys. Geogr., 1984, 102–110. Cane, M.A., Zebiak, S.E. And Dolan, S.C., Experimental forecasts for El Nino, Nature, 1986, 322, n 6073, 827–832. Schopf, P.S. and Suarez, M.J., Ocean wave dynamics and the time scale of ENSO, J.Phys.Oceanogr., 1990, 20:629–645. Helland-Hansen, B. and Nansen, R, 1909. The Norwegian Sea: its physical oceanography…Rep. Norw. Fish. Mar. Investig., 1909, 2, 1, n 2, 360 pp. Clarke, R.A., ed., Water mass transformations in the Nordic Seas: the ICES Deep-Water Project, Deep Sea Res., 1990, 37, 1363–1511. Dietrich, G., Ueberströmung des Island-Färoër Ruckens in Bodennahe nach Beobachtungen mit Forschungsschiff “Anton Dohrn”, 1955–1956, Dtsch. Hydr. Zeitschr., 1956, 9, 78–89. Harvey, J.G. and Theodorou, A., The circulation of Norwegian Sea overflow water in the Eastern North Atlantic, Oceanol. Acta, 1986, 9, 393–402. Prinsenberg, S.J., Bennett, E.B., Mixing and transports in Barrow Strait, the central part of the Northwest Passage, Continent. Shelf Res., 1987, 7, 913–935. McWilliams, J.C., Taft, B.A., coordinators, Polymode Dynamics Experiment, I. Phys. Oceanogr., 1986, 16, spec. vol, 401–652. Chang Kou Tai, Estimating the surface transport of meandering oceanic jet streams from satellite altimetry surface transport estimates for the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio extension, I. Phys. Oceanogr., 20, 1990, 860–879. ICSU, Report 1991, The First Sixty Years, Sci. International Newsletter. Spec. Issue, Paris, 69 p.

THE IMPACTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE ON CORAL REEFS AND REEF ISLANDS Eric C.F.Bird University of Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT The global sea level rise forecast as a consequence of the enhanced Greenhouse Effect and global warming is expected to revive coral growth on intertidal reef flats. Evidence from studies of upward growth of coral reefs during the Late Quaternary marine transgression, between 18,000 and 6,000 years ago, from measurements of coral growth, from biogeochemical budgets, and from coral responses on submerging parts of tilting and subsiding reefs suggest that a slow sea level rise (<10mm/yr) is likely to be accompanied by matching upward growth of coral reefs, but a more rapid rise will eventually drown them. The response of corals to a rising sea level will also depend on ecological conditions, and especially the effects of human activities in reef areas. Reef islands are likely to be eroded and submerged as sea level rises, unless coral revival on the surrounding reef affords them protection and a source of additional coralline sediment to build them upward. INTRODUCTION Coral reefs are extensive in tropical seas, especially in the western parts of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and also in the Caribbean, where Christopher Columbus encountered them in the during his voyages to the Americas. They include barrier reefs running parallel to mainland coastlines, atolls encircling lagoons, miscellaneous patch reefs,

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and fringing reefs on the shores of headlands and high islands. As Charles Darwin realised, these reefs were built by coral polyps, which extract calcium carbonate from sea water and grow into a variety of skeletal structures to form a framework within which associated growth of calcareous algae and other organisms, and the deposition and precipitation of sediments, make a solid rock formation. Corals can grow and initiate such structures in clear warm seas, where the temperature of the coldest month does not fall below 18° C, and salinity is within the range of 27 to 38 parts per thousand. Their growth is impeded where the temperature rises above about 28°C, where the sea becomes hypersaline, as in parts of Shark Bay, Western Australia, or where it is diluted by fresh water off river mouths. As coral growth is also inhibited by turbidity and sedimentation, reefs are poorly developed, or absent, off river mouths and along deltaic shorelines. Active coral growth occurs to depths of at least 50 metres in clear, warm water, but the fact that coral reef formations extend to much greater depths than this led Darwin (1) to propose his subsidence theory, suggesting that oceanic reefs were initiated as fringing reefs along coastlines and around islands, and that they grew up as these foundations subsided technically to persist as barrier reefs and atolls with sea surface configurations that commemorate ancient coastlines. Subsequent research has refined this picture, acknowledging the influence of eustatic oscillations of sea level as well as tectonic movements (2, 3, 4). Coral reefs have attained their existing form as the result of upward growth during and since the Late Quaternary world-wide marine transgression, which began about 18,000 years ago and brought the oceans to approximately their present levels some 6,000 years ago. This transgression accompanied global warming and deglaciation, and was preceded by a Pleistocene glacial phase when ocean levels fell at least 120 metres, exposing the continental shelves as land areas. Successive marine regressions and transgressions had accompanied the waxing and waning of Pleistocene glaciers and ice sheets, and before that there had been longerterm oscillations of land and sea level through periods of geological time. It has been realised that most coral reefs have had a long history. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, for example, has foundations which embody early Tertiary reefs, and is a structure which has been repeatedly exposed to atmospheric weathering and erosion during low sea level phases, when it became a ridge of limestone at the outer edge of the coastal plain which now forms the Queensland continental shelf. During intervening transgressions corals recolonised the dissected, karstic reef limestone ridge, and grew to enclose and cap it with younger reef material. This geo-marine

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dentistry culminated during the Late Quaternary marine transgression with further reef upgrowth and enlargement, and during the Holocene phase of relative stillstand the reefs have widened to their existing outlines (5). Most oceanic reefs have had similar lengthy histories, but fringing reefs are generally younger and simpler, and some of them may be entirely of Late Quaternary origin. It is against this background of geological evolution that the impacts of a sea level rise on existing coral reefs should be examined; in a sense the sea level rise predicted as a consequence of the enhanced Greenhouse Effect and global warming (6) will be a revival of the Late Quaternary marine transgression, and we can use evidence of what happened to coral reefs during that transgression to elucidate our predictions. It should be borne in mind, however, that the ecology and geomorphology of existing reef formations differ in various ways from conditions 18,000 years ago, when Late Quaternary reef revival commenced on submerging coastlines and preexisting dissected reef limestones; most notably because of the impacts of human activities on coral reefs during the past few centuries. EXISTING CONDITION OF CORAL REEFS As corals cannot endure prolonged exposure to the atmosphere, most coral reefs have been built up to just above low-tide level, and consist of solid reef flats exposed at low tide, with mainly dead corals and various algae, bordered by living and growing coral ecosystems in the intertidal and subtidal zones. Living corals on reef flats are few and scattered, and if killed they are not quickly replaced. The solidity of most reef flats implies not only the attainment of present intertidal levels by upwardly growing corals, accompanied by algal growth and sedimentation, but also a phase of secondary cementation (7). There may even have been some truncation, especially in the Pacific region where reefs built up to a higher Holocene sea level, 1 to 2 metres above the present, about 6,000 years ago (8, 9), have been eroded down to their present horizons. Corals are growing vigorously on the flanks of many reefs below low tide level, and reef flats will expand as they attain their upward limits. It should be noted that although coral reefs show generally similar morphologies through tropical seas there is much variation in the species composition and distribution of corals, algae and other organisms, and in the extent and manner in which they have been modified by human activities.

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EFFECTS OF A RISING SEA LEVEL ON CORAL REEFS A rising sea level can be expected to lead to a revival of upward reef growth, initiated by the expansion and growth of presently sparse and scattered living corals on reef flats. There seems to be wide acceptance of the idea that global sea level has been slowly rising during the past century at 1.0 to 1.2 mm/yr (10, 11), and that present sea level is therefore 10 to 12 cm higher than it was in the 1890s. It should be recalled that this proposition is based on analyses of trends determined from tide gauge records and attempts to extract local uplift and subsidence effects from these trends (12, 13). The global distribution of tide gauges with records spanning more than three decades is poor: Pirazzoli (14) found that of 227 such tide gauges, only 6 were in the southern hemisphere. If sea level has indeed been rising in this way, we could expect that coral reefs, regarded as sensitive to such fluctuations in level, would be among the first features to show indications of it, but there have not been reports of the general spread of living corals or of accelerating coral growth (15). Perhaps few reefs have been mapped and monitored with sufficient accuracy for such a change to be readily detected, but a widespread revival of coral growth on reef flats would surely have been noticed. It could be argued that a threshold has yet to be attained in terms of the extent and rate of sea level rise before such a response will occur, or that adverse ecological factors are impeding the coral response; but it is also possible that the so-called contemporary global marine transgression has been over-estimated, or that there have been geographical variations in the nature and scale of sea level change during the past century rather like the Holocene global sea level discrepancies. Revival of coral growth with a rising sea level will also be strongly influenced by ecological factors, and could be delayed or inhibited where these prove to be adverse. There is no doubt that coral reef ecosystems have been very widely modified by human activities, especially during recent decades. The most obvious damage has been caused by the use of explosives to harvest fish, and by fishermen beating the shallows to drive fish into nets. The use of chemicals and gases to capture fish has also had adverse ecological consequences. Other reefs have been quarried for sand, gravel and building stone, or damaged by the cutting of boat access channels, or by boat anchors. Such activities have generated sedimentary turbidity, impeding coral growth in neighbouring areas. Many reefs have been affected by pollution, including the in-washing of muddy sediment generated by nearby dredging, or material dispersed during drilling for oil.

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In recent decades, deforestation of hinterlands has increased sediment flow into coastal waters, raising turbidity and killing many fringing and nearshore coral reefs by blanketing them with sediment. Around Sulawesi, in Indonesia, coral reefs that were rich in species have been impoverished by sedimentation resulting from soil erosion, the increased turbidity having made them less vigorous, and reduced the number of species, especially near population centres. Excessive nutrients from eroding soils, agricultural fertilisers, and sewage pollution have also proved to be detrimental for coral growth: for example, there is a correlation between high nitrogen and phosphorus levels and reduced calcification of coral reef areas (16). Collecting of shells and precious corals has also impoverished many reefs, and in some countries Marine National Parks have been set up in an attempt to protect coral ecosystems from these impacts. However, the products are still widely on sale, and such controls are not yet effective. Outbreaks of destructive crown-of-thorns starfish on coral reefs may be a response to human activities, but some have interpreted it as a natural cyclic phenomenon. Recent reports of widespread coral bleaching (17, 18) may be a consequence of higher temperatures in tropical seas, notably during the El Niño Southern Oscillation. They are a reminder that increasing sea temperatures are likely to impede coral growth and also modify the productivity of algae such as the sand-producing Halimeda, which plays an important rôle in reef sedimentation. The literature is remarkably thin on improved growth of corals and other reef organisms, or on ecological factors and human impacts that could bring about such improvement. In view of the many and varied adverse human impacts, it may be that the world’s coral reefs are not as capable as they were under the natural conditions of the Late Quaternary to respond to a sea level rise. The response will certainly depend on the rate at which sea level rises. A slowly rising sea should stimulate the revival of coral growth on reef flats, but an accelerating sea level rise will lead to the drowning and death of corals, and the submergence of inert reef formations. Neumann and Macintyre (19) pictured the relationship between rates of sea level rise and rates of upward reef growth in terms of keep-up, catch-up, and give-up reefs, noting that there will be variations in response related to existing morphology and depth variations, as well as ecological composition. As sea level rises there will be an accompanying rise in the depth limit for coral growth. Theoretically, corals should also expand northward and southward beyond their present latitudinal limits as sea temperatures rise, but this is likely to be a slow response.

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Several authors have emphasised the difference between the growth rates of individual organisms forming a reef (which can be quite rapid, the branches of some Acropora species having extended several centimetres per year) and the reef formation as a whole (20). Measurements of mean growth of existing corals are in the range 0.4 to 7 mm/yr (21), with up to 10 mm/yr in favourable conditions (22), and it can be argued that reef formations will grow upward to match sea level rise as long as it within this range. Coral species will respond variously to sea level rise (as well as to increasing water temperature), and it remains to be seen which will prosper as the sea rises. Reefs which sustain rapidly growing corals are more likely to maintain themselves, but as sea level rise accelerates it will drown first the slow-growing coral species, and eventually the whole reef ecosystem, although a slackening of sea level rise could permit some surviving of corals to grow up and others to recolonise as the reef shallows. Similar conclusions on rates of potential reef growth have been reached from analyses of carbonate budgets (23) and chemical indices such as alkalinity depression of reef waters as a consequence of carbonate extraction (24). Studies of reef evolution during the Late Quaternary marine transgression, when the sea rose at an average rate of about 1 metre per century, also support this conclusion (25), typical rates of upward growth having been in the range of 1 to 8 mm/yr. This enabled a variety of growing corals in the reef framework to be within a few metres of sea level when the transgression slackened about 6,000 years ago, and thereafter to extend upward and outward to form existing reefs. Where coral growth failed to attain a sufficient rate, reef structures were drowned. Davis (26) mentioned examples of drowned barrier reefs off the south-eastern coast of New Guinea and in the Fiji archipelago, and there are examples of drowned atolls, notably in the Caroline Islands (27). Further evidence may be sought from studies of tilting coral reefs and atolls, such as Uvea in the Loyalty Islands, where the submerged portion shows rapid, if patchy, upward growth of corals. Tilting reefs are likely to show zones of coral growth responding well to slow submergence (<5 mm/ yr) where upward reef growth is being maintained, passing laterally to zones of more rapid submergence (5–10 mm/yr) where the corals are growing, but are failing to ‘keep up’ with the rising sea, and to zones (>10 mm/yr) where the corals have died and the reefs are drowned and inert (Fig. 1). The evidence from the submerging portion of Uvea (Fig. 2) is a reminder that upward growth of corals does not immediately form a solid reef flat; instead, there are growing ‘reef gardens’, rich in corals and accumulating sediment, but fragile structures that cannot be walked over.

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Fig. 1. The response of coral reefs to a sea level rise may be predicted with reference to changes on tilting reefs or atolls. In this model, reefs are being maintained by upward growth of corals, associated organisms and sedimentation in the zone subsiding less than 5 mm/yr, are still growing upward in deepening water in the zone subsiding at 5 to 10 mm/yr, but are drowned where the subsidence rate exceeds 10 mm/yr.

As existing reef flats are submerged by the rising sea, reviving coral growth is likely to form ecosystems similar to those now found in shallow water to the lee of existing reefs, rather than consolidated reef flats, which evidently require the attainment of sea level stillstand for their completion, if not a phase of down-cutting into established reef limestone. Pelsart Reef, on Houtman’s Abrolhos, off Western Australia, is an example of a fragile ‘reef garden’ of the kind that will characterise a keeping-up reef ecosystem as sea level rises. Fairbridge (28) cited this as a possible example of a coral reef responding to a globally rising sea level, but it is an isolated example, and local subsidence would be a more likely explanation; or the outcome of impeded reef evolution in an area close to the limit of coral growth. It has been pointed out that localised ‘moating’ of water levels behind accumulating shingle ramparts or algal rims can lead to the formation of a slightly higher level of living coral in the form of flattopped micro-atolls without any evidence of sea level change (29, 30): this implies a that a positive response would occur in coral growth if sea level rise became general. It also confirms the lack of a general revival of corals on reef flats, mentioned previously. Experiments with coral transplantation to deeper levels in Singapore and the Philippines may elucidate the response of various species to sea level rise. Apart from corals, reef algal communities have responded to sea level

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Fig. 2. The tilted atoll of Uvea, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, showing an emerged reef on the eastern side and intermittent reefs, the Pléiades du Nord and Pléiades du Sud, growing up from the subsided atoll rim to the west. The Pléiades include segments that have grown up to match the relative sea level rise, with intervening sectors of living reef below low tide level, and a drowned reef beneath the western Passe d’Anemata.

changes, as Cubit (31) showed with reference to migrations of Laurenica papillosa across reefs at Punta Galena, in Panama, in response to annual fluctuations of local mean sea level. As has been indicated, many coral reefs are already under various kinds of ecological stress, and some of the less vigorous will fail to revive, becoming permanently submerged as sea level rises. Fringing reefs are less likely to survive than outlying reefs because of increasing turbidity in coastal waters as larger waves erode the coast. A greater frequency of

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tropical cyclones will accelerate such erosion, and increased rainfall over hinterlands will augment sediment yields and turbidity. EFFECTS OF A RISING SEA LEVEL ON REEF ISLANDS Some reef flats are surmounted by small islands (cays) of coralline sand and gravel eroded from the surrounding reef and washed up by wave action to be deposited in locations and configurations related to wave refraction over the reef. There are also elongated islands (motus) formed where reef limestone blocks and rubble have been thrown up by storms close to reef margins. These features rise only a metre or two above high tide level, and carry land vegetation, usually modified by human settlers. They are well developed on reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where their evolution has been facilitated by emergence following attainment of a higher Holocene sea level and ensuing reef erosion, and where there is often protection by prominent algal ridges along the windward margins. In the Caribbean, where there was no higher Holocene sea level, the islands are smaller, more scattered, and more vulnerable to erosion (32, 33). Low islands on reef flats already show evidence of changes in configuration, even with a relatively stable sea level. Associated beach rock and conglomerate, formed by carbonate precipitation cementing coralline sand and gravel in the zone of beach water fluctuations, have impeded erosion, but patterns of relict beach rock and conglomerate indicate former positions of low islands that have migrated, usually to leeward, or vanished altogether. Stoddart (34) documented the loss of several cays on the Belize barrier reef in the Caribbean, noting that diminution of their vegetation by man during the previous 150 years had allowed hurricanes to become more destructive. Such changes will be accentuated by a rising sea level, when many low islands will be eroded by larger waves approaching through deepening waters, and may disappear, overwashed by storm surges. There is also likely to be an increased frequency and severity of tropical cyclones as sea and atmospheric temperatures rise (35). On the other hand, there is a possibility that, where submergence is slow enough, reviving coral growth on the surrounding reef flats will at least partly offset erosion of low island shores by impeding wave attack. The islands may even be enlarged by accretion of coralline material derived from the growing reef ecosystem (Fig. 3). Freshwater lenses within low islands, upon which natural vegetation and crops depend, and which are important as water resources for local people,

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Fig. 3. Reef islands are vulnerable to wave attack and submergence as sea level rises, but if coral growth revives on the surrounding reef flat they could survive, and perhaps be augmented by coralline debris from the growing reef.

will shrink as they are forced upwards by the rising sea level, and intruding sea water will make them more saline. This will modify the vegetation cover, and ensuing ecological changes will be adverse for human occupance and agriculture. These are matters of great concern in the Maldives (36) and on other oceanic islands, especially in the mid-Pacific (37). CONCLUSIONS This review has shown that there are considerable difficulties in predicting what will happen to coral reefs and reef islands if sea level rises during the next century in the manner predicted by the International Panel on Climatic Change (38). While the impacts of sea level rise on coral reefs and reef islands can be outlined in general terms, the influence of ecological factors and the effects of human interference are more difficult to assess. It is surprising that coral reefs do not already show a response to the rising sea level that many authors have deduced from the analysis of tide gauge records. Mapping and monitoring of reef flats is required to detect the expected recolonisation and spread of living corals. Where they develop and grow upwards to match sea level rise the outcome will be extensive and fragile ‘reef gardens’ rather than solid reef flats. Management of reef areas to facilitate such a positive response to sea level rise should include protection from damaging impacts, pollution control, and the planting of corals to assist their establishment in suitable areas. Apart from ecological considerations, coral reefs are important sinks for carbon dioxide, extracted from the atmosphere by way of marine carbonates, and an increase in coral reef volumes could help to diminish Greenhouse Gases and global warming.

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Reef islands will be vulnerable to quite a small sea level rise, but if the next few decades see a strong revival of coral growth, this would afford them some protection. While a global sea level rise will have many impacts on the world’s coastlines, coral reefs and reef islands are likely to be among the ecosystems most strongly affected by world-wide submergence. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

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Darwin, C., The structure and distribution of coral reefs, Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1842. Dana, J.D., Corals and Coral Islands, Dodd Mead and Co., New York, 1872. Davis, W.M., The Coral Reef Problem, American Geographical Society, 1928, Special Publication 9. Daly, R.A., The Changing World of the Ice Age, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1934. Hopley, D., The Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1982. Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.J., and Ephraums, J.J. (eds.), Scientific Assessment of Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, 1990. Guilcher, A., Coral Reef Geomorphology, Wiley, Chichester, 1988. Chappell, J., Evidence for a smoothly falling sea-level relative to north Queensland, Australia, during the past 6000 years, Nature, 1982, 302, pp. 406–408. Pirazzoli, P.A. and Montaggioni, L.F., Late Holocene sea-level in the northwest Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia, Quaternary Research, 1986, 25, pp. 350–368. Fairbridge, R.W., Mean sea level changes. Encyclopaedia of Oceanography, Reinhold, New York, 1966, pp. 479–485. Gornitz, V. and Lebedeff, S., Global sea-level changes during the past century, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, 1987, Special Publication 41, pp. 3–16. Gutenberg, B., Changes in sea level, postglacial uplift, and the mobility of the Earth’s interior, Bull. Geol. Soc. America, 1941, 52, pp. 721–772. Barnett, T.P., The estimation of ‘global’ sea level changes: a problem of uniqueness. J.Geophys. Research. 1984, 89, pp. 7980–7988. Pirazzoli, P.A., Secular trends of relative sea-level changes indicated by tidegauge records. Journal of Coastal Research, 1986, Special Issue 1, pp. 1–26. Bird, E.C.F., Physiographic indications of a sea-level rise., in G. Pearman (ed.) Greenhouse: Planning for Climatic Change, C.S.I.R.O. Division of Atmospheric Research, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 60–73. Kinsey, D.W. and Davies, P.J., Effects of elevated nitrogen and phosphorus on coral reef growth, Limnology and Oceanography, 1979, 24, pp. 935–940.

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17. 18. 19.

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Williams, E.H. and Williams, L.B., Coral reef bleaching alert, Nature, 1990, 346, p. 225. Brown, B.E., (ed.) Coral bleaching, Coral Reefs, 1990, 8, pp. 153–232. Neumann, A.C. and Macintyre, I., Reef response to a sea level rise: keepup, catch-up or give-up., Proc. 5th International Coral Reef Congress, 1985, 3, pp. 105–110. Hubbard, D.K., What do we mean by reef growth?, Proc. 5th International Coral Reef Congress, 1985, 6, pp. 433–438. Hopley, D. and Kinsey, D.W., The effects of a rapid short-term sea-level rise on the Great Barrier Reef, In G.Pearman (ed.), Greenhouse: Planning for Climatic Change, C.S.I.R.O. Division of Atmospheric Research, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 189–201. Buddemeier, R.W. and Smith, S.V., Coral reef growth in an era of rapidly rising sea level: predictions and suggestions for long-term research, Coral Reefs, 1988, 7, pp. 51–56. Scoffin, T.P., Stearn, C.W., Boucher, D., Frydl, P., Hawkins, C.M., Hunter, I.G., and MacGeachy, J.G., Calcium carbonate budget of a fringing reef on the west coast of Barbados, Part 2: erosion, sediments and internal structure, Bulletin of Marine Science, 1980, 30, pp. 475–508. Smith, S.V. and Kinsey, D.W., Calcium carbonate production, coral reef growth and sea-level change, Science, 1976, 194, pp. 937–939. Davies, P.J., Reef growth, in D.J.Barnes (ed.), Perspectives on Coral Reefs, Manuka, Clouston, 1983, pp. 69–106. Davis, W.M., The Coral Reef Problem, American Geographical Society, 1928, Special Publication 9. Guilcher, A., Coral Reef Geomorphology, Wiley, Chichester, 1988. Fairbridge, R.W., A contemporary eustatic rise in sea level?, Geographical Journal, 1947, 109, p. 157. Scoffin, T.P. and Stoddart, D.R., The nature and significance of microatolls, Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society, London, 1979, B, 284, pp. 99–122. Hopley, D., The Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1982. Cubit, J.D., Possible effects of recent changes in sea level on the biota of a Caribbean reef flat, and predicted effects of rising sea levels. Proc. 5th Internat. Coral Reef Congress. 1985, 3, pp. 111–118. Stoddart, D.R. and Steers, J.A., The nature and origin of coral reef islands, in O.A.Jones and R.Endean (eds.), Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs, Academic Press, New York, 1977, 4, pp. 59–105. Stoddart, D.R., Coral reefs and islands and predicted sea-level rise, Progress in Physical Geography, 1990, 14, pp. 521–536. Stoddart, D.R., Coral reefs and islands and catastrophic storms, in J.A.Steers (ed.), Applied Coastal Geomorphology, London, Macmillan, 1971, pp. 155–197.

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35. 36. 37.

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Emanuel, K.A., The dependence of hurricane intensity on climate, Nature, 1987, 326, pp. 483–485. Pernetta, J.C. and Sestini, G., The Maldives and the impact of expected climatic changes. UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies, 1987, 104. Nunn, P., Recent coastline changes and their implications for future changes in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuata and Western Samoa, in J.C.Pernetta and P.J.Hughes (eds.), Potential Impacts of Climatic Change in the Pacific. UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies, 1990, 128. Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.J., and Ephraums, J.J. (eds.), Scientific Assessment of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

OCEAN SCIENCES AND MANAGEMENT ANDRÉ VIGARIÉ Professor Emeritus Nantes University 12 Avenue Stuart—44100 Nantes, France

ABSTRACT Global change requires special attention. This paper examines the scientific basis of management and determines to what extent the understanding of global change and associated oceanic processes call for a precise scientific knowledge and an interdisciplinary approach. Global change is a scientific problem en soi; the sciences of the interface between atmosphere and seas are analysed; then the problem of disequilibrium in the oceanic nature is indicated, and finally the necessity of new scientific informations to manage fishing and maritime transports is shown. INTRODUCTION Management means a general attitude from men, and generally speaking from all authorities who have responsibilities to administer the richness of ocean and to preserve for the next generations its natural qualities to ensure a better living for mankind. It is a difficult task requiring a very varied knowledge of many sciences because the problems to be solved are numerous and interpenetrated. What sort of sciences? All those that are considered fundamental, dealing with physical characters and the living world of which man is a part, so human sciences and many applied ones have to be taken into account; and perhaps it may be said that management is one of them, with data processing, models, patterns, etc.

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This need of knowledge is not new. It appeared as soon as men tried to go on sea; it increased during and after the Great Maritime Discoveries; it increased to in the XIX Century when currents charts were made (Maury, Humboldt, Coriolis) together with climate studies (Beaufort…). Oceanographic expeditions were undertaken, of which Challenger’s (1871) was a kind of interdisciplinary research. In the XX Century, these activities were systematically international, as a final point in the campaigns for the knowledge of the ocean. Why so many attempts to know more? The reason was and still is the transition from onshore to offshore. Man ceased to conceive the sea from the land; now it conceives it in itself more than before, he penetrates all parts of the seas: over, under, and down to the seabed; he lives on them permanently; he begins to feel the limits of their possibilities. These new attitudes require a renewed knowledge. Users are numerous, and with more new users, new conflicts arise with coastal industries, transports, fishing, mineral exploitations of the waters or on the ocean bed. This leads to a defence policy for the environment, and new ways to put man and sea together: it is a matter of a new behaviour for societies towards the ocean. But this precise understanding calls for a large diversity of sciences. It is useless to mention all of them now: they will appear below; and today no scholar is able, as was the dream of August Comte and his positivist philosophy, to summarise in his own head the whole knowledge to organise and manage the sea as land is managed now for the use of men, to add, to juxtapose, to reinforce knowledge is a needed vast and collective duty: a common work for mankind, which is only at its beginning, which requires its special forms of learning and thinking to succeed in the integration of all sorts of scientific understanding. The transition from onshore to offshore, which has managerial aspects, is in a phase of synchronization with the appearance and the development of global change: one strengthening the other, and making urgent the scientific knowledge just mentioned. Such is the subject which will be dealt with in this paper. GLOBAL CHANGE AND SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS The consciousness of the oceanic change It is well known that a small but lasting increase in the temperature of the globe has been noticed for a few decades; and its consequences are very

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varied: on climate, sea level, vegetation, land and marine biology. In the long term, it will modify the conditions of life on land and in the ocean. First appears the uncertainty of the rhythm and magnitude of this increase, of which public opinion has been informed. Under the control of the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), a world-wide programme of research about the climate has been worked out to study this temperature increase, the anthropic influences upon it and its consequences for mankind. A little later, in 1986, ICSU decided a new international programme named International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, or global change programme. Some directions of research were the analysis of the threats for the whole world, processes dealing with climate evolution, and links with geosphere and biosphere, interweaving links between ocean and atmosphere, biological aspects of water cycle. Ocean problems were in the middle of all these projected works to utilise or to protect, taking into account all modifications with this global change. In another context, a group of international experts had to study the evolution of the climate; and their first report was given in Geneva on 31 August 1990. It concluded that this temperature increase is the most important since the Wurm glaciation, and it has been observed that the increase ranges from 0.1 to 0.5°C for each decade during the XX Century. The foreseen consequences are the modification of water cycle (clouds covering, rain and snow…), the change in vegetation in the middle latitude in Northern hemisphere, the change in the carbon cycle and the transformation in many ecosystems, including marine ones. There have been many other programmes and other research groups in which sea and climate, and their joint effects on environment were to be analysed; many countries took part in collective programmes or in programmes of their own. The French Ministry for Research and Technology organised coordinated studies on climate and global environment, of which ECLAT (Evolution du Climat et de l’Atmosphère) is known. EEC subsidizes this general research. There have been also specific studies on ocean observations (1), conceived with a view of favouring human utilisation. First the TOGA programme to analyse atmospheric influences and currentology in the intertropical zones of the Pacific ocean; it has given a better knowledge of the El Niño current and of the opposite one El Niña, and on other subjects too. The WOCE programme (World Ocean Circulation Experiment; 1990–1995) will probably have the aid of two satellites: TOPEX POSEIDON in cooperation with France and the USA (NASA) in 1992, and ERS1 from European Space Agency. WOCE will give new

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information on temperature of waters, salinity, surface and deep currents with their speed, absorption capacity for carbon monoxide analysed through freon reactions with a view to understand movements, heat transport and exchanges, etc. A third programme is named JGOFS (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, 1993): it deals with exchanges and absorption of organic carbon by biological activities; as J.F.Minster (1) said, it is an attempt to a better knowledge of the primary basis of life in the oceans through the consumption of this carbon by primary organisms, through the evolution of biomass and the change of this primary life according to currents that modify temperature and carbon distribution. Such are the origin, the main aspects and the first attempts to know more on the natural modifications happening in the oceans today, and the first attempts to know their consequences for human life. It is necessary to remember that the need of a better evaluation of global change is reinforced by the systematisation of links between men and seas. The permanent presence of men on all the oceans of the world has been enlarged by the Montego Bay Agreement (10 December 1982) either for international waters or for Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ); it is known that in the latter as far as 200 nautical miles in width, rights to exploit marine resources are given to maritime nations; and all countries begin to understand that these resources have narrower limits than previously believed. Inside or outside EEZs, new problems are to be solved by juridical, biological, and physical sciences. To codify them is also a difficult task, and management has to deal with it. Before they can be used, oceans have to be explored, charted and surveyed This is the first step of management, and it seems we already have a lot of maps and charts to use. Really, a renewal is necessary through scientific means. The International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) is working to this aim, and each maritime nation has to prepare new charts for its coastal zone according to the same basis commonly established in the 70s. But the main difficulty is to map the relief of the sea bed; naval authorities need this sort of charts for their submarines, especially nuclear ones, and deep mining societies too (see below); and it has been shown that there are correlations between these reliefs and the anomalies of the level of the sea. To know more about these subjects and to make good charts, satellites are also used: for the precise, determination of latitude and longitude (satellite TRANSIT launched in

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1969), for the position of ships or all other things, and for the forms and extents of relief by reflection on the sea beds. Generally speaking, satellites are more and more used for the physical knowledge of the ocean. Many programmes have been planned and often successfully for the study of physical particularities. SPOT and LANDSAT have supplied a data bank for numerous pieces of information and for satellite photographies; CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) is a project started in 1985: it will work on land cover and will be used for sea farming, salt marshes, delimitation of coastal areas (very important in some countries as France, for instance), and for the typology of the waves on coastal zones or offshore; it would be the useful tool in case of algae proliferation. The above mentioned studies deal with qualitative pieces of information. However, it is possible to obtain quantified ones. The SEACAT satellite is able to give the temperature of the sea water with an error of 0.5°C or so; it is able to determine where there is phytoplankton, and its content in chlorophyll, the height of the waves, swells, and tides, the direction and speed of the winds. Because they are so useful it is easy to understand that some nations tried to subsidize and launch these sorts of satellites: both in the United States and Europe; France has been working for the TUPEX, POSEIDON, ERS1, METEOSAT and partly for the ARGOS system. Through these general attempts, for instance, Miami University succeeded in getting more knowledge about the Gulf Stream, its layout, its whirlpools, its masses of tepid waters, and their consequences on the climate (it has been said that in the winter the temperature would be 4°C lower in the South West of Britain if this current did not exist). Useful though satellites may be, they do not replace the observations it situ, which remain the best to define quantification, to pass on instantly precise measurement taken in all places in the world; so appears the leading role of war or merchant ships which send twice a day meteorological information about their position at midday and midnight (2). All these means put together give more and more possibilities to integrate all information into modelling and to synthesize in the shape an oceanic basin. So, global change is now the subject of many sciences and is now partially known in its general aspects. However, a great deal remains to be done, and particularly about the consequences on man’s life. Basic information begins to be gathered on the most suitable aspects, namely the attitude of man towards the ocean and its physical transformations. Among the fields in which progress of knowledge is needed, some questions will be raised below, dealing with the geophysics of the globe,

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with the interface between sea and atmosphere, with the natural disequilibriums coming from man’s behaviour, and with the more usual forms of economic exploitation of the seas (fishing and shipping). So we shall try to identify the scientific basis and the interdisciplinary research, without which a rational management of all the seas would not be possible. SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THE PHYSICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE OCEAN Facts on geophysics. It is useful to remember the conceptions about the internal structure of the globe as they are given now, to determine some of the attitudes of man towards the sea bed. The ideas on this subject are summarized by Figure 1. The main facts are: i. The study of the sea bed from a geophysical point of view is recent. It has revealed that it is not flat: there are ridges, or submerged mountains, simple and easy to observe in the Atlantic, more complicated elsewhere, with rifts in the middle, from where basalt materials are flowing; basalts come from the inner part of the globe where materials are melting; there are no marks of life inside basalts, no fossils: they are azoic. ii. Continents are irregular plates of another sort of material coming from deposits on the bottom of the seas (for the main part), in the geological periods, with marks of ancient life, fossils are associated and also mineral forms of energy (such as coal and oil). Inside or through these plates, granite forms intrusive rocks which are azoic too. iii. On the ocean bed hydrothermal springs were discovered a few decades ago. They supply a lot of metallic products. This simple enumeration leads to a better understanding of which two examples are given here. The relief of the ocean bed is very complicated and men have to study it (see below). Specialists from Delft University (Netherlands), using information from GEOSAT, have succeeded in establishing a mathematical model for the reconstitution of the bottoms; it would be used in the future for economic exploitation, and for research of very precise distortion in the upper level of water. The Russian scientist Gnibidenko (quoted by A. Guilcher) (3) on the above said basis, has established a geological transection crossing Japan sea; he has shown the thin plate of sedimentary rocks in Hondo and in Hokkaido, the thinness of detrital materials on the bottom of this sea, and the enormous mass of

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Figure 1. Geophysical structure of the globe. 1: ocean level; 2: continents (sediments and granite); 3: basalts; 4: submarine mountains and rift; 5: epicontinental sea (such as Japanese Mediterranean Sea); 6: astenosphere (melting materials)

granites and basalts under the sediments: this state of things explains why Japan has a few possibilities to find crude oil in or around its territory, since the presence of oil is linked with some sorts of fossils. Sciences and management: the exploitation of mineral resources Directly or not, this exploitation depends on the knowledge of geophysicist, and of other scientists too. The polymetallic concretions (nodules) have been studied for several decades (4). The rational utilisation, that is to say the management of these mineral resources is dependent on geology, geophysics, geomorphology, currentology of deep waters, marine biology for benthic life. The future exploitation of these resources requires technical solutions at three main levels. First, the exploration of the reliefs of the ocean bed. The content of nodules in nickel and copper is increasing when the depth ranges from 3 to 6 kilometres, but mining is more and more difficult; and it is also difficult to locate the pavement of nodules at such great depths: “The precise location is a very difficult work which has not yet been done”. Secondly, exploitation: technical means have not yet been found, bringing up, stocking offshore, processing onshore for it is not exactly the same as for land ores. And thirdly: the juridical statute of mining, for the Montego Bay Agreement laying down as a principle that the production comes from international waters, states that richness is the common property of mankind; so products must be given to developing countries, but only industrial countries would be able to face production. According to J.R.Vianney (4): “Nodules are a scientific stake”. For the next decades onwards a lot of researches in basic, applied and human sciences will be necessary.

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Figure 2. Organization chart of marine pollution, synoptic table. Columns: types of pollution. Lines: places or consequences. A dot where or when pollution or disturbance exists: large or small according to the importance of danger or discomfort. Dots indicate also usual length of time or duration of the pollution factors.

The crude oil offshore production is a well known fact, and depends on the data of many sciences and technologies. It begins with difficult location of geological structure propitious to the production of oil, in sedimentary materials in continental margins; this is within the sphere of geoseismic drilling from dynamically positioned ships, or from rigs and platforms; in 1988, drilling was made down to a depth of 2,394 meters; the sludge had to be identified in a laboratory; and perhaps production will be able to begin in spite of other difficulties and technical activities. The whole is really needed: 23 per cent of the world production of oil comes from offshore plants. Other mineral products come from the seas; some are traditional ones; but they keep on buzzing the scientists, even for the very old production of salt. A large part of tin (25 per cent of the world output) comes from dredging in South Asia; some deposits of ilmenite are used on the Sri Lanka

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coast and these deposits are renewed by currents and storms; plants are built to desalinate the sea water; iodine is often extracted from algae. In the next century, nuclear energy will come from the fusion of deuterium and tritium atoms commonly taken from sea waters. In each case, scientific information and management are or will go side by side. THE SCIENCES OF INTERFACE BETWEEN ATMOSPHERE AND SEA The processes resulting from contacts between air and ocean are most important for men’s activities on seas and more generally for life, all sorts of life, on continents, for these contacts have direct effects on climate. As above said, international organisations have been set up to study this question; and satellites and other apparatus have been launched: ERS1, METEOSAT, etc.; and measures have been automated. We start to know more about the climate, but we never know enough. The need of a keen knowledge A lot of information has been obtained so far (see above). Winds have been studied: SEASAT launched by NASA (1976) gave in a short while indications to draw a Global Surface Wind Field Map, that is to say a synoptic table of air masses and of their movements; the main question is the thermal relationship water-air with a view of following the increase in the temperature of the globe, which is the starting point of the global change programme. An important progress has been the measurement of the differences of accumulation of solar heat between the upper and lower parts of sea waters: in the upper 5 yards, the ocean stocks as much heat as the whole atmosphere. This helps to understand some climate mechanisms: thermal exchanges are complicated, they are modified by currents, with wind friction; the thermohaline circulation (the driving down of waters in middle latitudes, when they are cooled, and their reappearance after a more or less unknown course) has a great effect on these exchanges; the physical particularities of water masses have a low changing rate, but they have an evolution cycle according to seasons for the upper parts, or to decades for the deeper parts: J.P.Minster (1) thinks that those physical changes especially for temperature will take perhaps 1,000 years for the very deep parts of the oceans in contrast with a few days for the lower part of the atmosphere.

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These are some of the general problems; but it is also necessary to have new scientific facts on regional mechanisms, particularly on tropical zones where thermal exchanges are stronger. On these aspects, much was done in the last ten years. El Niño is better known: it appears when abnormal atmospheric temperature and pressure settle on the West Pacific Ocean between Australia and Tahiti, and repercussions are observed on Peru coasts when the current appears; and this current—El Niño—affects fishing and through it a large part of the national economy and social activities. Knowledge of these processes is useful for meteorology and weather forecast; they give information on cyclonic and anticyclonic zones so that specialised services are able to determine the storm areas, the courses of cyclones and hurricanes, and to build solid equipments such as those that Japanese harbours have built against storm tides, and storm waves. Greenhouse effect is another question: it is partly due to the abundance of carbon dioxide of anthropic origin in the atmosphere (consumption of mineral energy such as coal and oil, industries of all sorts, transports, etc.); this is a reason for the increase of temperature of the air. But public opinion is not exactly informed on the identical role of methane; the latter is abundant in the environment, but its production has been developed by human works; it can also absorb infrared radiations coming from the ground and returning to the atmosphere; it is another cause which explains increasing heat, but in a complex way: methane combined with air oxygen gives components which accentuates the greenhouse effect, and which can have influences on the ozone. Scientists think that 40 per cent of the increase of air temperature come from methane and its consequences. Sea level changes This level has registered many oscillations during geological periods, and a partial explanations is known for this long term; it is not the same for the short term; since the Wurm glaciation (10,000–15,000 years ago) and at the present time. The question is twofold: it is necessary to describe and to measure. For the first aspect, a coordinated scientific campaign began with Project 61 of the international Programme for Geological Correlation (1978) under the aegis of UNESCO; it led to new problems: how is the correlation of the raising of the level between different areas in the world? Are there not other causes for local changes, such as isostasy, or geological faults, or up and down movements of continents? What are the relative changes between seas and continents? In the Nivmer magazine (January 1979) H.Faure develops the idea of a “dynamic hydro-eustatism”

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according to which each maritime area has its own dynamics, its own level change. A synthesis for the whole globe is a difficult question. Satellites give a better evaluation on these eustatic movements. They allow to measure the water surface at 3 centimetres or so with reference to the Globe Centre, and with an annual variation ranging from 2 to 3 millimetres. They allow to observe the variations of level according to the atmospheric pressure between two parts of the same ocean (see El Niño in the Pacific Ocean), or in two different seas: so there is a difference of 20 centimetres between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic west of Spain. These satellites give precise informations and measurements; and the raising of the ocean level is now scientifically proved: from the end of the last century this raising has reached 15 centimetres, perhaps more, of which 5 centimetres owing to the expansion of waters (which are a little warmer), and 7 centimetres owing to the melting of continental glaciers. According to the geophysicist Meier, the raising would be from 34 to 42 centimetres in 2050. J. Bourgoin (6) thinks that coast lines will be drawn back, and grow higher because they will receive more erosion materials, swell and waves will be stronger, etc. All these consequences seem dangerous for some coastal areas which are crowded; and colloquia are organised to study those consequences. Glaciers also play a role in these processes. Glaciology: a science for the record of past periods Glaciers contribute to the lifting of the sea level in a complicated way. Greenland inlandsis is partly melting; others glaciers are meeting too; their part in the raising would be 70 per cent till 2050; but at the same time, Antarctic glaciers will extend because of winds and local climate which will bring more snow; and the result of these general mechanisms is that the sea level will rise due to Greenland ices, and it will lower due to Antarctic ones. In another way, glaciers give useful knowledge on palaeoclimatology in the pre- and post-wurm periods, through the analysis of the composition of the air bubbles inside the ice particles (carbon monoxide particularly) and of dusts, volcanic materials, etc. This information has to be compared with the one given by the silt of the ocean bed where can be found micro-fossils and oxygen isotopes brought up by deepdrillings; isotopic formation changes with glaciation periods. The phenomena which characterize air-water interface have many consequences on the continents life and on the conditions of presence and

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attitude of men towards the world oceans. They have to be analysed through past periods (glaciations, palaeoclimates, palaeobiology, and others) for they help to understand the present one and on the changes which happen just now, changes coming from natural evolution or from human influences. And the latter take numerous forms. SCIENCES OF THE DISEQUILIBRIUM IN THE NATURE OF THE OCEAN It is quite difficult to define what is an equilibrium in the oceanic environment, since in it everything is mobility and variability. However, in this field, two important questions need examination. The carbon cycle Carbon is one of the components of living matter. Primary animals take it from sea waters. The ocean stores heat: in the same way it accumulates carbon which exists in particles which are the form taken by living organism; zooplankton is one of the most important, for it is at the beginning of the trophic chain; 90 per cent of water carbon is absorbed in a biological way; and 10 per cent falls down to the seabed. Where does this carbon come from? Part of it comes from biological and geological processes which take place in the continents; another huge part is due to anthropic activities. Some scientists say that from the XIX Century, by biological process and sedimentation, the ocean would have absorbed from 30 to 50 per cent of the carbon produced by industry and urbanization. Now these mechanisms are pretty well known; but it is not so for the quantification or the influence of the overproduction of carbon monoxide. Geochemistry tries to measure the flux of carbon particles in sea waters, to know the physical changes due to the increase of oxide in the atmosphere; but we know next to nothing about its biological effects. J.F.Minster (5) succeeded in making a scientific model for carbon exchanges in one ocean depending on depth, and exchanges between several oceans; and the penetration of carbon in the deep waters of the world oceans has been known through occasional dispersion of tritium and other isotopic matters. It was useful for knowledge and for biological research.

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The numerous problems of coastal and marine pollution Pollution is a starting point for scientific researches in many new fields. As Liebig said (1840), disequilibriums come from modifications on the natural components existing in sea waters, nitrogen, phosphorus, silica…, by shortage or by excess; they come also from interrelationships among these components. Among others, two types of disequilibriums are especially studied. The first is eutrophication, which is an excess of food (nutrients) made of nitrogen and phosphorus. This excess comes from terrestrial and coastal areas (fertilizers, cattle breeding, large cities…): it is an overfeeding for phytoplankton and other forms of life leading to blooms and proliferations of green, red, yellow algae, diatoms, etc. Some are toxic, and poisonous for fish, shellfish and other sea food and also for marine mammals among which many died in the North Sea in 1988. It is known that these components mostly come from agricultural activities in coastal areas. A part of nitrogen deriving from fertilizers goes up into the air through the absorption process of vegetation, and so does not go directly to the sea. But phosphorus remains in the ground and by washing and running off goes to coastal waters; a large part of phosphates comes from urban areas through rivers and streams. It is also a management problem. Anoxia is another form of disequilibrium in sea waters and is often linked to the previous one. It is a shortage or a lack of oxygen without which life declines and disappears; this may come from an excess of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) or because the deep waters are not regularly renewed when oxygen has been absorbed. There are many examples of this situation. In the Baltic Sea, surface waters have a low degree of salinity, deep waters a larger one: mixing is difficult and there is no exchange in depth; in the North Sea 15,000 square kilometres are in a state of anoxia; in the Adriatic Sea, in 1989, a disastrous bloom happened in which algae and plankton absorbed all the oxygen: it was a serious threat to fishing; for one reason or another, the same can be observed in Japan, in the Chesapeake Bay, in the Santos Bay (Brazil), in the Azov Sea, etc. Evidently management has to face these disequilibriums: it is necessary to understand the exact nature of their mechanisms. Other forms of pollution exist. An insidious form is when some dangerous metals, such as mercury, cadmium, lead…are discharged into the sea by industrial plants or urban wastes. Rain in large cities brings back to rivers some lead used in gasoline for motor cars; everything goes to the

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sea and in some areas, shell or fish diseases indicate that metals are found in their organism; and this goes to men all along the trophic chain; a very dangerous example has been seen in Japan with the Miinamata disease. After having been in sea waters, for a while these metals accumulate in deposits and silts. This last indication gives an opportunity to remember the role of sediments for managing the marine environment. They are a part of ecosystems for numerous aspects of primary biology; and biomass indicates the important part they play in the starting point of the trophic chain, but they contain polluting agents, metals or products of organic synthesis; and either by natural erosion or dredging they can cause those agents to escape. These sort of pollution spreads slowly offshore towards the sediments of deep oceans. It would be useful to give here an analysis of petroleum pollution; but this is a well known topic, although remote consequences are not always studied. Which are the responsibilities of scientists facing these numerous sorts of disequilibriums and pollutions? First of all, their task is to analyse and understand the mechanisms involved: understanding is the first step to cure; but this depends on the sort of damage and deterioration caused (see Figure 2). In many cases, this requires works in marine biology about numerous species, each of them having their own reaction to pollution; this leads to measure the pollution intensity, to establish parameters for good qualities of water; all this is done in specialized laboratories. In fact, things are more complicated. In case of oil pollution after a shipwreck, after some years it is necessary to know the diffusion of petroleum inside layers of sands and silt and dispersion by currents and winds; and their consequences on ecosystems are not well known in the medium term: biodegradation of some parts of oil seems to be profitable to some sorts of animals (crustaceans). The question of pollution control has been put forward in the English Channel between France and Great Britain and in other areas; those seas are abounding with fish, but pollution is strong; a suitable protection is difficult to achieve, for scientists have to determine: the course of polluting agents (and it is not the same course according to different agents), the capacity for self depuration, the areas of trapping or concentrated the species self defence…, it is an illustrative case of a necessary interdisciplinarity between current studies, sedimentology, biology, hydrodynamics, chemistry (chemical reactions and solubility) etc. A specialised team succeeded in modelling the problem for the Channel after

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using many indicators among which there were radionuclides from the French nuclear plant of La Hague. From another point of view, marine pollution involves indemnification which is within the scope of the juridical sciences; and the negotiations can last several years between different countries (see Amoco Cadix), with conflicts between experts and scientists. Generally speaking, a science of clean seas must be created by grouping all needed disciplines, including medicine (for sea water therapy), bacteriology (for all sorts of germs on overcrowded beaches). Japanese have understood this need for they have organised the advertising for their harbours by claiming that “they have a swimming quality of water” (Nagoya). Along this conception the U.S. Geological Survey published a map of the world marine ecosystems: a starting point for a further international organisation of researches. Indeed, some countries have tried to have a rational management for their coastal waters, either in the form of international plans (for instance RAMOGE between Italy and France), or in the form of integrated planning. Such are SAUM (plans for managing and using the sea) and SMVM (plans for rational using of shortsea), elaborated in France by specialised teams; these plans, especially organised for marine areas, include coastal as well as maritime economics. SCIENCES AND THE TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC USES: FISHING AND MARITIME TRANSPORT Men have a millinery experience in these forms of utilisation; then why do they need help from scientists? And what sorts of scientists? Fishing: a privileged field for marine biology For many centuries, fishing has been purely and simply the act of taking fish out of the water; but given the needs resulting from increased consumption, and the enormous capacity for catching fish, there are many indications that men have reached the limits of the renewal of marine species. Numerous questions are to be asked the solutions of which must come from science. The first one is about the management of the living stocks, that is to say the equilibrium between catching and the capacities for the renewal of species. More progress is needed in the field of fish genetics, in the environmental conditions and speed of reproduction. Some species have

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disappeared (as marine mammals). Some secular cycles of fish-renewal, such as European herrings, are not understood very well; fisheries in Peru show the importance of these problems. Variations in the production lead to the attempts to compensate hazard through marine culture and breeding: good results have been achieved with molluscs, with some sorts of fish and algae; but some questions remain, dealing with species biology, ecophysiology, pathology, water quality, coast morphology, market economy. In the same way, technical development has to be underlined: engineers know how to build new boats, in which all sorts of up to date equipment are gathered on the bridge to locate shoals, on the inner deck for the canning factory. And new proceedings appear or are more widely used: pelagic trawling, drifting nets (some are 100 kilometres long); and sometimes fishing becomes destructive for non commercial species. And what about men? The problems of fishermen are now studied by the sociologists; there is a lot to know about both human groups in developing countries, or in industrial nations where social evolution is more developed. Sometimes negative effects have taken place when new technologies disrupt the economic or social structures: the common use of turning seines in the Guinea Gulf greatly disturbed the groups of Ghanaian fishermen scattered on hundreds of kilometres of coast; sometimes there were positive ones: new communities of fishermen have developed the expense of previous poor rural ones along the Mexico Gulf coast. Through all these subjects, an international management of fishing areas seems to be desirable in order to organise a rational utilisation of stocks and to prevent social and economic difficulties: an attempt has been made with European Bleue (1982) within the European Community. In another way, many conflicts exist with EEZ frontiers, which have to be solved. Everywhere, the sound advice of specialists and scientists is needed for they give a huge diversity of observations, knowledge, laboratory analysis, in the field of basic, applied and human sciences. Maritime transport economy Maritime transport is undoubtedly the most important economic aspect of the utilisation of the ocean: 75 per cent of the international trade depend on it. To summarize the contribution of sciences in this huge activity, four aspects only will be indicated below. In shipbuilding, engineers are carrying out researches about the ship of the year 2000. There are many reasons for this research: competition is

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very hard in international trade between shippers, and they need very productive boats; and new techniques are constantly appearing with combination of roll on-roll off, containerisation, new forms of propulsion, etc. So in several countries, contracts or associations are made to group specialists such as shipbuilders, shippers, shipowners and all sorts of engineers to seek for some new forms of vehicles either of the floating or the hovercraft way, for merchant fleet (goods or passengers) or for military purposes. Light alloys are tried after special studies in metallurgical factories; new forms of hulls are studied. Shipbuilders use computers for valuations, test new systems in hydrodynamics, try to solve cavitation problems. In the propulsion field, some attempts are made to the wind energy; marine motors have now a very high power due to metal alloys, which can resist very high temperature and pressure; nuclear motors are used and improved in some fleets. In merchant ships, giantism is still sought after; container ships are more and more powerful: even the limit of the Panama Canal is overstepped; since the American Oil Pollution Act (1989), double hull is imposed for oil transport toward the U.S. ports; but many think that it is not a good solution, and they are seeking for a better one. In nautical sciences, progress is also rapid. The main objective is the reduction of crews to the expense of a better qualification and a higher automation. The latter can achieve new developments, but the problem is to find the right point where manpower is cheaper. Satellites and telecommunications give help for steering; all pieces of information are now integrated in a total navigator which is computerised; with electronics and computer sciences, the bridge is changed in CODEM (operation Centre, command place, economic use and maintenance unit). The internal organisation of the ship is adapted to a new type of life for the crew: physical work is lessened, time on duty too; collective life with fewer men has to be thought of: in some new liners, something like a village green is organised to which all common rooms converge. This social life is quite different from what it used to be in the past; men ask for compensation when calls are reduced to some hours only. Future ships are to be reconsidered through technical and human sciences. These technical sciences are applied to ports and harbours too. The functional conception of commercial ports has been developed with the twofold revolution of products and computerises utilisation. Loading and unloading of containers are now automated to accelerate the ships turnround; in the near future the identification and destination of the goods will be made by “lecture optic” (automated reading); the movements of ships and freight are computerised. Trade, bank, customs documents are dealt with by automated means too, with an international computerised

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language standardised in the whole world: Edifact. Now, it is possible to follow a boat, from one port of call to another, in real time due to special links between big ports; nets of communications have been organised with computerised terminals able to resume all sorts of information (price of goods on foreign markets, evolution of stock exchange…). World Trade Centres (WTC) were built during the last two decades; they are now out of date in comparison with téléports which are a superior form of world wide information and document banks; only some very great ports have one: they are the highest aspect of “high-tech” due to a new generation of scientists: electronics engineers, computer scientists, etc., and finally managers. So human sciences appear which have strong links with harbour activities. Researches in economy have much improved in many a field: added value to goods by maritime and port services, statistics, managing methods (in which EEC would have a homogenization). In another way, the law of the sea and maritime laws have changed since the Montego Bay Agreement (1982), and transport organisation has been modified with “Code de conduite des conférences” and the rule of 40/40/20 imposed by developing countries. Juridical science is more necessary than ever. The life in a port is made of many visible and attractive activities: movements of ships, unloading goods, flux of travellers, sliding and gyration of cranes, trucks on quais and sheds… But behind all this, for the functioning of this complexity, a great amount of scientific research and help is needed, and many a specialist will have to work very hard to achieve such wonderful results. Science and management With oceans and seas, even the pleasure of holiday time is dependent on scientific activities. The number of sciences which have been quoted or only mentioned in the previous pages is impressive: the sea bed must be a pavement of required scientific knowledge. This multiplicity is in itself a great problem; but there are also two other main difficulties. The first one is that sciences which bring so much, are not enough if they do not favour interdisciplinarity. In ocean water, air, seabed, coastal areas, all phenomena are connected and interdependent; life also in each part is dependent on the others; and research has to reflect this interdisciplinarity. But each science has its way of thinking, its language, its rules of reference: a strong pressure is needed to meet other sciences; and this pressure must come from the absolute necessity to keep to oceans and seas their natural characters and the possibility to be wisely used for mankind.

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The second difficulty is that interdisciplinarity is not enough yet. Transnationality is the real point which sciences and management must reach. Grotius said the sea is a common property for mankind: defence against disequilibriums, preserving, decisions against misuse cannot be the fact of one country, and sometimes of a small group of countries. Without going as far as a universal management, though this sort of management has been thought for the ocean bed resources in the Montego Bay Agreement, international conventions must be established according to each situation, and to face each problem. International scientific research leads to international forms of management. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Minster, J.F., L’Océan fait la pluie et le beau temps. Sciences et Avenir, 1991, 83, 84–89. METMAR, Revue de la Météorologie Nationale, Paris, Quarterly. Guilcher, A., Chronique Morphotectonique de la Mer du Japon. Norois, 1980, 106, 317. Vanney, J.R., L’exploitation des nodules polymétalliques: une convergence de difficultés. Norois, 1980, 106, 31. Minster, J.F., Les modèles en géochimie des océans. Courrier du CNRS, 1989, 72, 37–38. Bourgoin, J., Les niveaux de la mer. In Atlas du littoral français, ed. J.P.de Monza, 1992. Carbonnel, J.P., Editorial. In REED-Sretie-Info, Ministère de l’Environnement, Paris, 1991, 34, pp. 1–2.

REMOTE SENSING IN OCEAN MANAGEMENT RENATO HERZ University of São Paulo, Oceanographic Institute Physical Oceanography Department (LASER) São Paulo (SP) Brazil, ZIP 05508 P.O.Box 9075

ABSTRACT The last thirty years of Remote Sensing research have developed several methodologies in scientific applications of multispectral data for oceanographic processes systematic and synoptic surveilling. Specific instrumentation where created to study the impressive extention of the oceans by aerial platforms and orbital vehicles to obtain an integrated view of the surface oceanographic phenomena. Digital processing of the sensor data became available to produce the essencial information to a readily understanding of the physical, biological and chemical interactions of the sea with the ocean floor, the continental transitional frontiers and the atmosphere. From space remote sensing oceanography a variety of measurements can be made by optical, ultraviolet, infrared and microwave sensors in a continuous observation program to monitor the dynamical phenomena of the ocean and promote a diagnosis to the conservation and policy of the environmental resources management. THE OCEAN CHALLENGE The development of the human history and philosophy is a short period when compared to the most part of circunstances related to the large scale phenomena of the geological time table of the planet environmental evolution.

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Ocean basins are a remarkable memory of sequential alterations of the Earth’s environment stability of the water global distribution as a direct effect of the climatic heat balance, responsable for the sea level fluctuations during glacial and interglacial events in the last five hundred thousand years. Actually the sea resources used by man gave an important support in the subsistence of a variety of world population groups. Distinct historic periods had registered social and economic relationships due to the management of energetic and food resources produced in the ocean. The recognition of the strategic importance fo the ocean space to the development of ancient communities became in the renascentist governments of Europe, as an important tool in the economic stretch out introduced by foreigner commerce of speciaries and prime materials of importance in the artesanal activities. A new dimention in this field was introduced by the navigation support of transoceanic technology development, expanding the continental frontiers in the recognition of the new world of the 15th century geography. In this soberb structure, the monarchies and imperial power constituted the polarization of economical subside as a help to the intelect in the decay period of hierarchized medieval corporativism of State Cities artisanal activity. By the medieval age phylosophers of the Aristotelic culture has motivated a false image of the renascentist by his planned truth and dogmas by means that all can be justified in principles of time and space. In the basic progression of thinking, enormous transformations appeal to the misticism of a platonic conscience, and by this spirit the renascentist have induced that the ideas are connected in an evolution of cultural stages in which new discoveries may be admited. In this inspiration great navigations period revealed exponential figures of the ocean challenge like Columbus discovering the new world: America. The modern conception of the World enlarged the planetary surface to a new dimension of marine space, distinguishing that the Earth is a limited environment isolated in his own geoidal form. Five centuries of mapping and surveilling practice created multiple representation in the specialized cartography, by wich it is possible the production of the desired information compatible to scale generalization and actualization in time. In the renascentist representations cartographers has tended to be in reality the producers of essential information to realize the world wide transoceanic navigations made by the old world civilization. The macroscale used the navigation charts included the continental forms and distances and also the morphological details of the transitional zone in contact with the ocean basin extention important to the strategic interest.

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The new world vision has adopeted a diversified conception in the planet’s geography knowledge by the approach of the economical exploitation of natural resources of the primitive populations of colonizated lands. To the success of the overseas governments, mapped information was the only way to the management of the resources and protection of new territories. In more recent times cartography is responsable for the communication of maritime, aerial and spacial applications of data acquired by traditional methods and advanced capability by remote sensing, acquiring the speed of information consume by human modern activities. The world progress in this field is capable to understand the environmental characteristics of different space scenarios that can by transformed in a dynamical approach by advanced technologies of data acquisition and processing of geographic information systems and interactive image computer analysis (HERZ, 1989). Many countries have installed specific centers to generate information needed by his governments to plan and monitor the spatial organization of sustainable ecossistemic function to ensure a hollistic understanding of the natural distribution of the surface resources of the planet. United Nations Organization promote in this complex systematic approach, special programs in wich will be recognized the Global Change terms and studies of the effects of the uncontrolled development. Coastal and Ocean space research is a requisite of the modern knowledge of the seas by scientists and politic makers. The Earth is reduced to a limited surface when we compare the human communities increase in the last century with dependence of energy and food that we may produce by potencialization of natural resources and modern technologies of exploitation and production. Unfortunately sea resources are not the final solution to mankind even that the sea surface represents more than 65% of the geoid amplitude, for the distribution of a volume of 1,37× 1024 Km3 of salt water. But a sharp control of this environment is basic to the maintenance of the water quality and organic production of animal and plant communities. Remote sensing iniciated a new technological solution to the acquisition of data and informations in short periods of time. Satellites moving in orbital tracking are capable to recognize in a few hours what the five hundred years navigation development didn’t produced by the classic methods of oceanographic studies. Autonomous space vehicles and sensor instrumentation give to men an effective solution to monitor his own habitat in real time.

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From the information production by remote sensing activated in space platforms, the feeling of the old navigations five hundred years ago discovering new lands and seas is today incorporated in the spirit of the environmental researchers using orbital data and images. In a few seconds big surfaces covered by satellites in synoptic and systematic tracking are recognized by multispectral selective electromagnetic radiation modified in each environment by interaction with organic and mineral components. The registration of these multiple effects in temporal sequences is indispensable to the understanding of the intensity and extention of natural processes specially in water resources and marine environment. OCEANOGRAPHY FROM SPACE Remote sensing of the sea is a recent aproach to the development in the scientific methodologies on oceanographic research. Several years of space and airborne measurements have acumulated quantitative data to a valid application of the fundamental principles of electromagnetic radiation interaction in the marine water environment. It is necessary to point out some especial considerations about a particular tendence of the understanding in the remote sensing studies for land applications in the last twenty years of airborne and satellite data collection. In the conventional oceanography the recognition of the effective help of these advanced technology is not a definite question or in the recent time nothing more than an artefact. More than a color picture can be made to produce a quantitative information that cannot be observed by the classical equipments used in modern oceanographic ships wich are restricted to local samples and profiles without the essencial filling of the geoid surfaces. In a scheptical consideration, oceanography from space promote the synoptic view that never could be produce by surface equipments and methods in a hundred years period of international effort. In a quarter of a century of the ocean observation by space platforms many high altitude rockets and spacecrafts three decades ago demonstrate that it was necessary the stablishement of specific programs with autonomous satellites and manned space flights to the systematic observation of the Earth’s surface. The first colour photographs of coastal and oceanic regions developed the real distribution of the qualitative effect of the interactive physical and biological, by the improvement of the geographic features in the visible patterns of a wide range of oceanic parameters. Modern instrumentation of space data collection include several multispectral sensors capable to produce systematic ocean surveillance of

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surface temperature, optical ocean colour by chemical composition suspension sediment and plancton and a variety of spatial and synoptic horizontal structures like surface roughness from waves trend to swell waves or larger scale phenomena. Satellite orbital frequency introduced the possibility of repetitive observation of the surface of the ocean by visible and infrared sensors with some limitations in cloudy atmospheres. The development of microwave sensors in the last decade have iniciated a new perspective in the global knowledge of the oceans by the production of continuous images independent of the atmospheric conditions of different oceanic regions. The last few years of this century are decisive in the production of planned vehicles to improve technologies and methods of remote sensing applied to the marine environment, reducing limitations in the time-sampling capabilities to have an effective contribution in the study of high-frequency temporal processes and strong depths looking to the understanding of a tridimentional distribution of energy and matter in the marine production and water dynamics. REMOTELY SENSED DATA IN OCEANOGRAPHY Technological limitations of the actual sensors resolution to a tridimentional scientific vision is an inappropriated reason to reject the remotely sensed data in oceanographic research. This pessimist view of many oceanographers is not compatible with the quality and advanced results of several applications to the understanding of the marine environment in the remaining years of this century. Even in a two dimention, the effective use of the airborne and satellite data represents a new observational tool to the classical researchers, wich covers only small areas of the ocean surface by the incapability of the oceanographic vessels in a synoptic coverage of the ocean to the study of the movement and geographical distribution of the marine processes. The development of methodologies in remote sensing applications to oceanography, induced scientists to change their logical thinking structure, normally deduced from the integration of the information produced from a discrete sampling in a time-space limited scale. Many of the most important discoveries of sea processes in the last twenty years of oceanographic investigation are connected with great significance to digital processed information produced from remote sensing sistematic and repetitive data acquisition of the ocean. In this period oceanographers learn about qualitative and quantitative ocean

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surface data looking from space the complex phenomena with a synoptic capacity never seen by means of the utilization of ships and conventional oceanographic instrumentation. From the late 1960s some meteorological satellites named TIROS series produced images from the sea in cloud-free conditions with a poor spectral and spatial resolution to the discrimination of the termal surface dynamics of the principal zones of uppwelling and convergence of tropical and polar waters. Ten years latter, NOAA series began another phase with a consistent approach to oceanographical data produced by high resolution visible and infrared sensors selected to this objective. This potentially useful information processed by computers carried out a precise understanding of the surface temperature gradients in the regional oceanic systems of the world. From meteorological satellite applications oceanography developed the first evaluation of spectral and spatial resolution useful in the remote sensing process to applied studies of the marine environment. Seasat, launched by NASA in 1978, begins the surveillance of the ocean with especific sensors operated in the microwave region of the eletromagnetic spectrum with advantages in limitating the effect of a cloudy atmosphere. This orbital platform have produced a variety of measurements from space by infrared and radar, including the heat budget, general circulation surface patterns of currents, surface height, ocean wave parameters and surface roughness. Nimbus satellite series with collaboration between technologists and oceanographers in this same period carried visible sensors to observe synoptically ocean colour (CZCS) and sea surface temperature in the visible and microwave bands. The ESA technical effort become of considerable amount to the international community in 1977, when METEOSAT satellite series began a systematic evaluation of solar radiation distribution in the Sunsat project. This results, integrated with infrared data colected by sensors from radiation reflected from Earth surfaces and water content of the atmosphere, revealed many of the interrelationships needed to the understanding of the global and regional features of interest to oceanographers probably large enough to be seeing by other classical methods. Some particular development by national agencies like NASA and ONES promote the construction of ERTS/LANDSAT (1973) and SPOT (1986) satellites having a significantly participation on the coastal regions data production to coastal management of natural resources and use of the ecossistems.

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Other satellites produced by the asiatic countries contributed in the regional surveilling of the coastal zone management, preservation of natural resources and ocean space monitoring. The main thing of this orbital vehicles is the MOS, launched by the Japanese in 1986, used to survey oceanic regions of the Pacific to giving a support to the oceanographic research of interest for fisheries and other important research fields related to marine water studies. Limitations in the visible and infrared data to the surveillance of oceanic waters is a fact that strongly affect the global understanding of the ocean structure by remote sensing. A long period of experimental projects looking for the application of microwave sensors represent a major progress in the continuous oceanographic information needed to the interpretation of the ship-collected data. This approach certainly will give in the coming few years an operational and regular acquisition of analog and alphanumeric data with a synoptic coverage of the state of the oceans over the world in a effective and precise geographical distribution. ERS is a new generation technology satellite designed to microwave sensors in the surveillance of global parameters in a geometric high resolution, essencial to monitore and policy of coastal waters and the ocean. TABLE 1 Oceanographic parameters related to sensor application

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In this European program ESA established an active interchange with developed and undeveloped countries in Africa, America and Asia. With numerous advantages the use of this information in real time will help in many environmental activities of the marine domain and also in the social and economical need of the management of sea resources. In the routing aids the near future promises a revolution in the navigation knowledge when ships will be informed by oceanographic satellite data to reduce travel time, consumption and many other components related to damage, confort and cost. THE NEAR FUTURE OF REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS IN MARINE SCIENCE From the first views of the space photography manned flights could look down in 1961 and forward to the future of the remote sensing technology applied to the investigation of environmental structures and processes of Earth’s surface. In 1973 the SKYLAB experimental package provided the necessary information to the development of new scanners and high resolution sensors in operation on satellites available in the last twenty years of remote sensing. Planned and operational American and European spacelabs like Atlantis, Columbia, Hermes and MIR in order to increase the understanding of the advanced technologies that will be incorporated on the near future satellites or space manned stations promises a revolution in the argumenting of research techniques. Much specific information production to a regular and global diagnostic of sea processes interaction with land and atmosphere environments, is the main objective of remote sensing programs in the last decade of this century looking forward to benefits derived from space platforms tending to decrease the cost of data by multiplication on its use. Some limitations of the remote sensing instrumentation operational today will be complemented in the near future by the implementation of buoy-to-satellite data relays that can produce subsurface systematic information impossible to have by mean of conventional oceanographic methods and high resolution satellite sensors. Future manned space stations projected at this time after the initial dificults of funding will give an in-orbit infraestructure to the realization of research missions and a routine applications of monitoring the dynamical trends of the ocean to the foreseen years of the next century.

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In this implementing arrangements the technical requirements and experiments in development come from the United States of America, European Countries in community and Asiatic countries specialy Japan, China and India. May be during the tree thousands space missions will be transformed in a convergent activity of a world community working together to a better understanding and policy of Earth resources and interactive processes of energy in the ocean. In the forth coming century environmental conflicts in the oceanic space and coastal scenarios must be managed by data centers supported in real time specific information generated from remote sensing orbital platforms. The oceanographic phenomena measurable from space by satellites will provide the future with the necessary information on the contribution of the effective understanding of planetary environment. In order to realize the controlled applications of sensor products to the marine environment several implementations mult be helded in the present decade to eliminate difficulties in dissimination and data processing. Sensor technology has been spectacular to the profit satellite programmes for the next twenty years but the governments contribution cannot insure the success of remote sensing in the same level of development; research and exploitation activities must be able to use the regular information produced in time to the direct application improving the efficiency in the management of marine processes and resources. In favourable conditions satellites promises to argument and in some cases supplant the classic methodologies in oceanography by the ability of real time coverage of thousands of square miles in a multispectral selective aquisition of measurable physical and biological characteristics of surface and subsurface distribution in the sea. From the viewpoint of sea surface total area the progress of remote sensing research in the world has made it an available tool of enormous potential benefit compared with the last hundred years of marine sciences research. The result of this effort exceeded the capacity of the traditional significance of the oceanographic thinkers and by this reason many scientists have an objection to satellite oceanography. The remote sensing technology gradually, beyond the pessimism and enthusiasm, has shown a new horizon to practicize oceanography in a new approach seeing the Earth as a whole and not in particular and limited interrelationships. The new inventoring and monitoring possibilities by these technologies provides the new generation of conscient oceanographers to the use of remote sensing data to inventoring sea resources and monitoring changes

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in a compatible capability of time-and space-sampling where ship provides a limited logistic with only a few point samples. REMOTE SENSING SUPPORT TO COASTAL AND OCEAN MANAGEMENT The first applications of satellite remote sensing of the ocean where made at the end of the sixty’s by the use of meteorological data generated TIROS/NOAA. AVHRR sensors at this time indicate cooler and warmer gradients in black and white contrast over the temperature ranges of oceanic fronts; sharper differences of sea surface water temperature marks the instantaneous position of the water masses in convergence fronts. During fifteen years the progress in this field become a fact by the large number of surface temperature charts prepared in diverse regions of the world where this phenomena was studied by conventional methods of oceanography. In the same way upwelling close to the coastlines are important surveilling surfaces because its importance to the identification of favourable waters to commercial fisheries activities and biological studies related to the primary productivity in dependence to the surface temperature patterns geographical distribution. METEOSAT VISSR also helps in this applications in disavantage of geometric resolution by large pixels if compared with AVHRR high resolution of 1,1 Km. It is widely accepted in marine studies the surface temperature distribution information processed from satellite data readily calibrated and corrected by simultaneous measurements at the sea and atmospheric effect. Quantitative series of charts are available today in a variety of oceanic regions and a sequence of thematic results are used to video composition dinamization of seasonal movement of surface waters temperature variation. More recently TM infrared images from LANDSAT enlarge the possibility of local application in estuarine and coastal waters with an excellent spatial resolution of 120 m, supposed to be by better in the ATSR images from ERS satellite. In the second level of information acceptance by researchers of the marine environment, images of water turbidity, optical properties and chlorophyll in marine plankton are used to the observation of dynamical trends in the transportation of suspended particulate matter capable to change water color by concentration or dispertion. MSS and TM spectral scanners from LANDSAT satellites and HRV operated in SPOT have produced a large quantity of qualitative data to the perseption of

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sedimentary processes and primary production in lakes, rivers, estuarine and coastal zones. Identification of transportation trends are directly related to erosional and depositional processes of mineral and organic matter of the transitional zone in the interaction of continental and marine environmental functions. CZCS visible wavelength sensor operated at a NIMBUS platform was designed to the study of the geographical distribution of the primary production by phytoplankton in the world’s seas. All these colour variation of sea surface related to sediment and plankton dispertion in the waters can be used as a natural tracer to develop the study of dynamical features of transportation trends related to tides, waves and currents. The analysis of this thematic results at the present time are in a descriptive phase and a basic theoretic support must be constructed from the formulated questions by the multidiscipline professionals working in oceanography. LANDSAT and SPOT platforms are important on coastal planning and resource management in a systematic monitoring of the land and water uses for developing countries governments. Many important coastal management programs are operating remote sensing centers to produce a low cost information to identify pollution and degradation of ecossystemic structures. The spatial resolution of 30 m and 20 m enhanced and reprocessed by statistical algorithms provide the geographical information systems actualization in different information classes. Identification of spectral patterns in the physical structure of coastal ecossystems are essencial thematic methods to a diagnosis of the functional components to define scenarios and the projected use planning in a correct evaluation of the resources stress limitations. SEASAT temporarily demonstrates the high potencial of microwave data to measure tidal rise and fall by altimetry sensors and the consequent dynamical trends of currents originated from surface slope of water topography. Also by altimetric application relative to the geoidal data bathymetric anomalies can be detected and correlated to geodetic/ gravitational references of Earth’s surface. Describing the theoretical principles for active microwave sensors the SAR instrument become available to observe sea surface roughness in response to wind field variability, physical-chemical properties of water, in films and sliks currents affecting waves frequency and amplitude, littoral and bottom geomorphology or ship displacement. In this applications the scatterometer has been usefull to survey wave and wind direction representing a very great improvement in data coverage for larger areas of marine surface.

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On the same way the ERS is operating similar sensors in a new generation of microwave sensors to detect information of the sea state parameters and sea-ice in a spatial resolution of 30 m. SAR images for example are a important tool to the understanding of dynamical processes and coastal environment in regions every time covered by clouds. In the future a combination of passive microwave and active microwave sensors must operate together to produce the consistent information needed by the world’s oceanographers community. Many aspects of oceanography can be aided by remote sensing space technology and dividends of scientific development will show the feasibility of application to social and economical operational costs reduction in direct activities with marine resources. REFERENCE CITED 1.

Herz, R., Coastal Ocean Space Management in Brazil. In Coastal Ocean Space Utilization: proceedings of the First International Symposium on Coastal Ocean Space Utilization (COSU’ 89) held May 8–10, 1989 in New York/editors, Susan D.halsey and Robert B.Abel. Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 1990. p.29–47.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF REFERENCE 1.

2.

3. 4.

Ewing, G.C., Chairman. Ed. Oceanography from Space: proceedings of Conference on The Feasibility of Conducting Oceanographic Explorations from Aircraft, Manned Orbital and Lunar Laboratories. Woods Hole, Massachusetts, April 1964. Johannsen, C.J. and Sanders, J.L., Ed. Remote sensing for resource management: proceedings of a National Conference of the Same Name, held October 28–30, 1980, at Kansas City, Missouri. Soil Conservation Society of America, 1982. Ordway III, F.I., Adams, C.C. and Sharpe, M.R., Dividends from Space. New York, 1971: Thomas Y.Crowell Company. Robinson, I.S., Satellite oceanography: an introduction for oceanographers and remote-sensing scientists. Published by Ellis Horwood Limited, Chichester, 1985.

INFORMATION AND DATA PROCESSING FOR OCEAN MANAGEMENT ADAM COLE-KING and CHANDRA S.LALWANI Department of Maritime Studies and International Transport University of Wales PO Box 907, Cardiff, CF1 3YP, UK.

ABSTRACT The management of marine resources and the marine environment is a complex interaction of many sectoral, national and international interests. The information systems which exist to support marine management decision-making are correspondingly complex. This paper examines the requirements of ocean management information systems and reviews the major components of existing marine information systems. The processing of data into management information, with particular emphasis on geographic information systems is discussed, and finally some key issues in the future development of integration in ocean management information systems are identified. 1. INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to discuss the provision of ocean information to marine environmental and resource management decision-makers. Globally to locally, the decision-making process is driven by both scientific and political forces. This paper does not seek to explore the complex issue of the relative contributions of political and scientific processes to marine management decision-making, but to focus on the role played by marine information. Dale and McLaughlin define an information system as:

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“a combination of human and technical resources, together with a set of organizing procedures, that produces information to support a managerial requirement”. [1] In the context of this paper, the term “information system” refers to the whole mechanism by which information about the marine environment is provided to decision-makers. It thus includes consideration of how primary data are obtained, how they are converted into useful information, and how that information is conveyed to decision-makers and disseminated. This paper consists of three main elements. The first discusses some of the requirements of a comprehensive ocean information system. The second part examines the nature of existing systems, from the point of view of their functional components (primary data collection, secondary compilation and data dissemination). Particular attention is given to the role of data processing and geographic information analysis in improving the usefulness of data. Finally, some of the key issues for the future development of information systems are identified, in the context of moving towards greater integration in ocean management and the information which supports it. 2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Ocean management is a complex interaction of many different organisations and interests, local to international, sector by sector, governmental and commercial [2,3]. Describing the requirements of an information system to support these structures is a correspondingly complex task, and there is space here only for general discussion. System requirements can be categorised into subject-related, technical and administrative. Subject requirements Five major use systems can be identified about which information for marine management is required; spatial organisation and use of marine space, biological resources, non-biological resources, waste disposal and pollution, and aesthetic appreciation. Smith and Lalwani identify five groups of primary objectives of sea use management: safety; allocation of resources; environmental control; social and economic objectives; information gathering and understanding [4].

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Figure 1. First Order Information Matrix

In highly conceptualised terms, a comprehensive ocean management information system must include information on all these subject areas, and support all groups of objectives. Figure 1 represents these activity sectors and management tasks as a matrix. Within each square of this “first order” matrix, it is possible to define more detailed second order matrices, a hypothetical example of which is given in Figure 2. Lalwani and Smith develop this approach as a basis for designing a sea-use management information system for the North Sea [5]. The first key feature is that the system is comprehensive, the second is that it is hierarchical. Comprehensiveness means that the system includes information on all marine activities. Implicit in this is that information on any activity can be compared with information on any other, a necessary functionality for resolving conflicts between use groups. The hierarchical requirement is a reflection of the decision-making functions which the system is designed to support. Ocean management takes place at many “levels”, from long term policy making by international agencies, to realtime crisis response by local bodies. Different levels of decision making will need to access the information system at different levels of detail (as it were, different order matrices, as in Figures 1 and 2). Technical Requirements The study of environmental phenomena frequently places heavy demands on data handling systems, due to the diversity of types of data and the

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Figure 2. Example of Second Order Information Matrix (*)

complexity of models needed to adequately represent environmental processes [6]. Added to this is the large and almost exponentially increasing amount of marine data. In marine information systems generally, therefore, there is a need for large databases and, more importantly, the facilities to use them effectively. These issues will be discussed in more detail later. Improving information availability is not just a question of building large databases and developing good data handling techniques. Data collected by certain organisations are of direct use to many users not involved in their collection and not immediately able to access them. In many situations it is not appropriate or feasible to exchange data themselves, and users are more interested in obtaining so-called “metadata”; that is, data about data. A detailed description of a dataset and the ways in which it can be accessed is as useful as the data themselves. This catalogue or data referral system approach is a major element of any large, multi-user information system, and is frequently the precursor or accompaniment to a data exchange system. Administrative requirements Adherence to standards is a fundamental requirement of a comprehensive information system. Self-contained (in computing terms) information systems serving small user communities can operate effectively under tailormade conditions with regard to data quality, data processing methods,

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error recognition and assessment. However, if these isolated systems, which may be isolated geographically, by subject, by administrative function or by hardware type, are to be incorporated into an integrated information system, it becomes critical that they conform to common standards with respect to the ways in which data are collected, processed and made available. If the purpose of data exchange is to increase the utility of data and broaden the scope for analysis of environmental phenomena, data must conform, for example, to common spatial referencing systems and measurement accuracy criteria. Both devising and applying standards are complicated processes, and there are those dubious of its necessity and feasibility, due to the costs and practicalities of designing a system which will satisfy the multitude of interests which need to be represented [7]. If standardisation per se is not possible, it is essential that standard documentation methods be developed and formalised, so that users far removed from original sources can be aware of the conditions under which data were collected and processed. Standardisation and documentation should, at least at the system design and planning stages, be considered administrative rather than technical issues, since they need to be implemented at all levels of the information system. The needs of end users must be reflected in the conduct of primary data gatherers. 3. EXISTING SYSTEMS There is no single organised system for ocean management, and correspondingly no central focus for the structure of ocean information systems. Prior to the nineteenth century, ocean information provision was largely the concern of navigators and scientists seeking to understand marine processes. As technological developments enabled man to have detectable impacts on large sea areas [8], information became necessary for managers seeking to deal with problems arising out of the use and misunderstanding of the marine environment. The historic sectoral orientation of marine science and information has produced a fragmented system where order and structure are applied after the event, as it were, rather than in any overall design process. Because of this relative lack of integration, it is useful to examine the existing structure of ocean information from the point of view of functions rather than institutions. The principal difficulties with classifying information system components from an institutional point of view are

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that it is a necessarily subjective process, and many institutions fulfil multiple roles. Three major groups of functional components can be identified, namely (a) primary data gathering programmes and databases, (b) secondary data compilations, and (c) data and information dissemination systems. Primary data gathering programmes and databases These tend to be organised along sectoral lines, and are primarily the responsibilty of national government departments and agencies. Also significant are the databases built for commercial purposes by the private sector, notably the offshore hydrocarbon industry. Several key distinctions with respect to ocean data collection can be made: (a) Local, national, regional, global. Local data collection programmes are frequently multi-disciplinary, aimed at specific management tasks for small coastal or estuarial areas and characterised by intense data gathering programmes (of fine spatial and temporal resolution). They may often be the responsibility of local authorities, which have localised concern for numerous issues. The majority of marine data collection programmes conducted at national level are the responsibility of national government departments or agencies with sectoral remits, such as fisheries, oil and gas, pollution inputs and water quality and marine geology. These government databases constitute an enormous global pool of primary data. Regional data collection programmes are frequently in place where appropriate environmental or resource management areas are in the political jurisdiction of more than one country. The North Sea presents good examples of this, such as the Joint Monitoring Plan of the Oslo and Paris Commissions [9], and the North Sea Community Research Project [10, 11]. Truly global primary data collection programmes are few in number. The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, through its long history of bathymetric surveying and charting, effectively maintains a global database of nautical information. Lloyds of London keep records of all registered shipping movements. Several international scientific projects are global in nature, notably in the oceanography field, such as the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) [12]. Many of the global databases are generally the result of secondary compilation of national or even local datasets [13]. (b) Describing the environment, describing human activities. The distinction here is between “pure” scientific investigation of natural

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phenomena, such as physical oceanography and meteorology, geomorphology, habitats, and information which describes human activities and influences, such as resource exploitation levels, pollution, shipping, recreation. The use of the term “pure” here does not necessarily mean non-applied, since much scientific investigation of natural phenomena is an essential part of the management task, through the establishment of baselines against which human influences can be judged. Since the oceans are in a relatively uncontrollable state, much of the former type of information is geared to prediction and warning [14], whereas it is over human activities that ocean management exercises control. (c) Short term, long term. Short term or ad hoc data collection exercises with specific decision-making or scientific goals are usually part of the reaction to a perceived specific crisis or immediate planning need. In these cases, there are frequently limited time frames, and surveys and associated databases are often highly specific to the task in hand, with little attention given to including long term considerations in survey and database design. Long term programmes are usually routine data collection and database maintenance for resource management, and the production of regular statistical publications. Large databases are also developed by basic scientific surveys, such as geological surveying, weather observation, marine habitat classification. There is a strong element of strategic planning in such programmes, and the incorporation of a wide range of considerations in survey and database design, such as international coordination and predicted future environmental or resource management issues. Secondary data compilations Significant activities in this area are conducted both by national statistical agencies and international organisations. They can either deal with single activity sectors or scientific disciplines, or be concerned with a range of economic, social and environmental subjects. Examples of international organisations include the UN Fisheries and Agriculture Organisation, regional fisheries commissions, International Council for the Exploration of the Seas and the Oslo and Paris Commissions. These organisations rely heavily on routine submission of data from national government collecting agencies. Secondary data compilations are characterised by aggregated datasets, and are often geared to producing statistical publications. Many countries have national government statistical agencies with responsibility for compiling and disseminating all types of government data, in various forms, to users inside and outside government. In many

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instances, individual government departments produce their own secondary data compilations. Of particular relevance to marine affairs are fisheries departments, departments concerned with offshore minerals and energy, and environment departments producing statistical reports on the condition of the marine environment [15]. The development of global scientific projects is producing secondary databases of global extent. Examples include the World Data Centre system under the auspices of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), concerned mainly with physical and earth sciences, including oceanography and meteorology [16], and the World Digital Database for the Environmental Sciences, a joint project of the International Geographic Union (IGU) and International Cartographic Association, to produce a single global dataset of physical terrain and other spatial data where available, for use by the environmental sciences [17]. In the marine field, there is the GEBCO chart series (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) organised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) [18]. Many of these international projects are associated with the IGU’s Global Database Planning Project, part of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme [19]. There are several important aspects of these secondary data compilations. Published statistical digests are a readily useable means for a wide range of users to obtain summary data. Internationally, they can enable comparisons to be made between countries and regions, and can be used to detect global trends, and monitor environmental systems which are global in spatial extent. Statistics compiled by international bodies often form a significant input to international agreements on a range of marine issues, such as fishing Total Allowable Catches (TAC’s) and quotas, industrial emission controls. The validity of international comparisons of course depends on the compatibility of the methods used in collecting and aggregating data over space and time. The demands of important secondary compilers regarding data collection methodologies, units of aggregation and data processing techniques, can filter down through the information system, and set standards for information derived from wide ranging sources. The coordination of monitoring under the auspices of the Paris Commission [20], and the “scientific component” of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Mediterranean Action Plan [21] are examples. Similarly, The Global Resources Information Database (GRID) [22], and the Harmonisation of Environmental Measurement Project [23] of UNEP aim to develop standards for the measurement, spatial referencing and

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format of environmental data, as part of the Global Environment Monitoring System. Data and information dissemination We are concerned here with all systems connected with the exchange of both data themselves and the dissemination of meta-data. (a) Technology of data transfer. Data can be disseminated in printed form, on mobile storage devices (magnetic disks and tapes, optical disks), or directly between computers via networks. It is beyond the scope of this paper to describe the range of computer networking facilities involved in some way with the exchange of ocean information. A comprehensive review of those in Europe is given in a recent report to the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) [24]. The two basic approaches to dissemination of digital data are (a) on-line acccess to a central repository of information from remote terminals, which obviously depends on suitable network arrangements, or (b) many distributed copies, periodically updated from the “master”. Both approaches have advantages and drawbacks [25], which depend on the type of data and its precise applications. Data that need to be frequently updated are more suited to the former arrangement, but where users are continuously interacting with the database, the latter arrangement can be more suitable. A comprehensive information system would probably need to include both approaches to data dissemination. The main technical issues in the movement of data through networks are related to the compatibility of different systems, and the adoption of universal standard formats for the data being transferred. Notable progress in this area has been in the development of transfer formats for geographical data generally [26], the need for which has arisen out of the increasing recognition of the value of exchanging geographic data between different application fields. Of particular importance to ocean information exchange is that networking develops along international lines, and that existing national facilities are connected to international networks. (b) Data catalogues and referral systems. A highly significant component of large information systems is the data catalogue or data referral system. The aim is to provide users with summary data in combination with meta-data, in other words descriptions of datasets. Many traditional statistical publications fulfil this role, but these data catalogue systems are considered separately here since they are in the computerised environment and have potentially a lot more to offer than their printed predecessors. Of course, depending on the level of detail

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required by users, catalogues may be regarded as constituting data distribution itself. Examples of on-line data referral systems include The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service operated by NOAA in the USA [27], the Marine Information System (MARIS) of the Netherlands government [28], and the French Maritime Institute’s Centre Europeen de Documentation et d’Information Mer (CEDIM). Examples of distributed catalogues include the FMG Database (Bay of Fundy, Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank) developed by the Canadian government and St Mary’s and Dalhousie Universities in Nova Scotia [29], The United Kingdom Digital Marine Atlas Project [30], and the European Marine Atlas project currently under development [31]. (c) exchange of data. A theoretically logical extension of the data catalogue is a mechanism to actually transfer the data from provider to user. There are however many institutional barriers to be overcome before this process can be applied to ocean information, such as ownership and copyright issues, confidentiality, legal responsibilities and pricing mechanisms. Huge quantities of data are already routinely exchanged between organisations and countries, but there is comparatively little development in the automated on-line exchange of detailed data. Many of the catalogue appplications go as far as informing the would-be data user about the availability, confidentiality and costs of the data concerned, but any actual exchange of data is a matter to be dealt with by bilateral arrangement. The enormous number of issues and interests involved would seem to militate against the development of an automated means of acquiring data on any and all subjects, although some success has been achieved with global bibliographic databases. The proposed European Ocean Data Applications Network of the CEC [32] is one initiative which ultimately seeks to establish a system whereby registered users of oceanographic data can access them directly via a European network. At a global scale, UNEP’s GRID is developing systems for the international exchange of integrated environmental datasests [33]. It is perhaps easier to envisage such systems for purely scientific applications than for data which has direct economic value, and where there is interest vested in restricting the availability of data.

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4. DATA PROCESSING: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ANALYSIS Ocean management requires the making of decisions, which requires information. Consideration of marine information systems should therefore include examining how the information needs of decisionmakers are met. The term data processing is used here as a general term for the conversion of data to information. Information is what management decisions are based upon, rather than data. It is possible to define information as data in the context of other data. Clearly, data processing encompasses an enormous range of activities in science and management. Virtually all data will undergo some form of processing before they are used as the basis for any kind of management decision. A conceptual classification of data processing could include such functions as: – – – – – – –

reformatting: no transformation of content or meaning quality control, error checking aggregation detecting significant patterns modelling: determination of relationships production of new information presentation of information

It is difficult to describe data processing more specifically without examining individual scientific or management tasks. However, a rapidly expanding field of data processing, which involves most of the above functions, is the use of geographic information systems (GIS). GIS technology is given particular consideration here due to its wide applicability in a great range of environmental and resource management applications. All environmental data include some form of spatial reference, and the importance of GIS is that they greatly enhance the ability of analysts to include physical location as a variable in the analysis of phenomena. They do not replace other “data processing” systems, such as models of environmental or economic processes, but can add to their capabilities. Very simply stated, the principal functions of GIS are the integration of data on different subjects and from diverse sources, the production of new information based on spatially analysing those data and the presentation of this information in a meaningful way.

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Availability of data The proliferation of GIS applications generates a large requirement for digital data. The two aspects to this are whether the data exist, and whether they are in a form suitable to the GIS user. It is not an overgeneralisation to state that most data collection programmes now produce digital databases. However, there are still large datasets in hardcopy form awaiting conversion. For example, many of the world’s seas were last charted long before the advent of computers and digital chart production; these hardcopy charts could represent a huge untapped resource for the marine GIS user. Data documentation and quality of output It is the nature of GIS technology to perform often complex operations so that original data rapidly become highly modified. It is important that data are thoroughly documented all the way from source to end user, so that the end user is aware of what transformations have been effected [34]. This documentation needs to include details of how the data were primarily gathered (such as sampling frequencies, measurement techniques) and what processing they have undergone (such as classification, aggregation). Maps always have a tendency to be eminently believable, since they show exact boundaries and discrete classifications of attributes. They do not lend themselves well to critical appraisal by those not trained in their use. The same applies to maps generated in a computer environment, perhaps more so. As GIS technology becomes more widely used, non-specialist users need to be aware that the attractive map before them is only as accurate as the data that were used to produce it, and that the information is probably in a highly derived state. This is particularly important where GIS-produced information is used as an integral part of management decision-making. Applications to marine management tasks Most GIS technology has developed in relation to land applications [35, 36], and marine applications are comparatively few in number. The UK Natural Environment Research Coucil (NERC) has reviewed some marine science requirements of GIS [37]. In examining the contribution of GIS to ocean management information systems, there are a number of areas of consideration:

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(a) Scale. The spatial scales at which a marine GIS may be required to operate are as numerous as the range of potential aplications. The operational management of a small enclosed coastal sea requires detailed data with which to model interactions between human activities and the environment at large scales. In contrast, many oceanographic phenomena are at scales of hundreds or thousands of kilometres, and their study places different demands on a GIS, such as the ability to handle data values sparsely scattered over large areas. (b) Remote sensing. Related to the scale of oceanic phenomena is the importance of remotely sensed data to many scientific and management tasks. Remotely sensed data constitute an input to many areas of marine management [38], partly due to the difficulties and costs of direct observation at sea and the large size of many ocean phenomena. Its particular usefulness to GIS is that it produces data already in digital form [39]. (c) Temporal data. The dynamic nature of marine systems is not especially well suited to GIS, which is oriented to dealing with spatial rather than temporal variations. Many marine science applications are concerned with very dynamic phenomena, and their understanding requires temporal analysis capabilities, and the integration of environmental modelling with GIS. (d) Three-dimensional data. Many potential marine applications involve three-dimensional phenomena (such as the study of thermohaline variation, movements of marine organisms or seabed topography). Many GIS’s available now have the capability to handle three-dimensional data, but often in only a limited way. One of the largest problems to overcome is the enormous increase in the size of spatial databases when the third dimension is added. 5. MANAGEMENT ISSUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OCEAN INFORMATION The late twentieth century is a time of considerable global change, no less so than in ocean management. Information about the oceans is increasing in response to a combination of factors: the improving technology of data collection in such areas as remote sensing and geophysical surveying; the increase in demand for ocean information as marine environment and resource issues receive greater attention; the evolution of more holistic approaches to marine management decision-making, leading both to more information and wider access to it.

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The existing highly complex information systems have evolved over a long period to serve often specific user requirements. It is becoming increasingly necessary for marine management decision-making to adopt a more coordinated approach to the resolution of conflicts and the response to environmental damage. To support this, there are some major developments needed in ocean information systems. An interdisciplinary approach to marine environmental issues Marine scientists and managers need to continue to take advantage of specialist knowledge, but also to develop common interests. There are initiatives aimed at developing more interdisciplinary approaches to environmental issues [40]. For instance, many marine environmental problems originate on land and there is a need to study land use and industrial activity as marine pollution matters. It is particularly important that scientists adopt the attitude that the data they collect should be kept in forms which will enable their widest possible use after the primary use has taken place [41]. Coordination of data collection A system for allocation of data collection responsibility to avoid gaps and duplication of effort and databases is needed. Gaps in data are seriously hindering our understanding of marine processes, while duplication is excessively wasteful; data collection and data capture are the largest cost element in almost any information system. The collection of environmental information, particularly marine information, generally benefits from economies of scale, since the systems are so large, the technology of measurement so expensive, and the number of variables so great. In the UK, the Chorley Report identified data sharing, and associated sharing of data collection responsibilities, as an opportunity for cost saving [42]. However, proper account must be taken of the costs of coordination, and it is important to avoid situations where valuable research is prevented because the researchers are unable to determine whether it has been done before. The development of widely distributed research-in-progress databases, as developed by the UK Department of the Environment and the North Sea Task Force, should contribute greatly to this. The extensions of coastal state jurisdictions associated with the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention has not obviated the need for

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cooperative programmes. It is a cliche to state that political boundaries are not environmental ones. It follows from this that legal jurisdictional boundaries are not generally suitable as the sole basis for defining national responsibilites for marine data collection. Decision-making and information An issue that has received much attention from information managers and technologists, but relatively little from marine managers, is the need to be able to deal with uncertainty and inadequacy in data. Few environmental phenomena can ever be fully “mapped” on land [43], let alone at sea, where environmental data collection generally is more difficult. This is not entirely due to the limitations of monitoring technology but is also imposed by our limited understanding of environmental phenomena themselves. Decision-making procedures need to take account of the fact that most data collection programmes result in imperfect representations of the real world and that environmental management decisions are necessarily based on probabilities, not hard facts [44]. Standardisation A common set of standards needs to applied in a systematic way throughout the management information system. Due to the important spatial element in ocean information, the development of common, or at least compatible and easily convertible, spatial referencing systems is essential, for instance where data originating in different countries and from different modes of collection are to be integrated. Standards also need to be applied to the definition of geographic and environmental features and boundaries, so that attributes measured by any agency apply to the same units and different datasets are compatible. Clearly much work needs to be done in defining these features in a way suitable for multi-disciplinary study. What is a shoal to a hydrographer may be a fishing ground to a fisherman or a sandwave to a geomorphologist. Large scale monitoring programmes relying on the contribution of many different agencies require that the data collection equipment and methodology conform to a common standard, otherwise the veracity of the resulting datasets is questionable. This applies equally to the measurement of environmental variables using monitoring equipment and to the manual recording of data in logbooks. It is particularly important where the

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purpose of the data gathering programme is to determine relative contributions of adjacent countries to particular environmental conditions. Uncertainty over the basis for comparison merely adds to the political difficulties of adopting a course of action. Abler argues that a pragmatic approach should be taken to standardisation, and it should only be applied where they are enforceable, likely to satisfy all users of information, and cheaper than dealing with nonstandardisation as it occurs [45]. However, the difficulty in assessing the cost of not standardising, in other words the foregone benefit of standardising, is that potential future uses of the data may not be presently forseeable, and lack of standards may create a legacy of poor information utility. Data registers and referral systems The means of circulating meta-data is a vital component of the development of ocean information systems. It is obvious that before scientists can obtain and use data originating from other sources, they must be aware of its existence and suitability. It is likely that considerable effort has been wasted and datasets duplicated in the past because of the difficulties of ascertaining what work has been done by others. Academic institutions generally have a long history of international cooperation, and national governments need to adopt more internationalist approaches to information dissemination. As far as the technology is concerned, the development of rapid communication via international computer networks has already alleviated many of the physical impediments to information exchange, and it could be argued that most of the remaining barriers are institutional and political or administrative. Administration of information referral systems includes dealing with questions such as transfer formats [46] and charging policies, and defining legal responsibilities for data accuracy. Data and information ownership issues If data registers and information referral systems are to result in any actual exchange of data, issues of data ownership, copyright and confidentiality need to be addressed. Forward thinking scientists are by and large in favour of free exchange of data; the many international projects in oceanography, meteorology and geophysics, dating back to the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58 and before are testament to

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this. However, a great deal of science is not independent of its institutional setting, and many institutions regard data as property to be restricted in its availability [47]. This is perhaps more understandable for commercial organisations in competitive situations, than for government departments holding data collected at public expense. Long term development of geographic information handling technology GIS and other information technology developments need to be seen as integral parts of the information system, from data collection to decisionmaking, with the whole system development being driven by the needs of decision makers. If data processing is to act as a bridge between monitoring of environmental conditions and environmental decision making, it must convey as much meaning in the data as is required by the decision maker. GIS in particular represents a major advance in data handling in environmental science and management. However, its rapid development to date has been driven as much by the desires of software manufacturers to promote their wares as by the needs of managers. The early development of GIS was as an aid to land use mapping and planning but its potential in many other fields was quickly recognised. Towards the end of the 1980’s it became widely apparent that if GIS technology was to achieve its full potential, some form of national and international strategies for its development were needed [48, 49]. In the marine applications context, research is particularly needed into the integration of remote sensing with GIS [50, 51], the development of three-dimensional modelling and analysis capabilities, and the analysis of highly dynamic phenomena. Many of the standardisation issues discussed above apply particularly to the development of GIS applications. The paucity of standards in GIS processing techniques is due to its rapid growth and its application in so many different disciplines. Information management Information management is a term that can broadly be used to describe the functions associated with planning and managing the collection, handling, distribution, quality and utility of data and information. It is not generally explicitly recognised as an activity in itself, but is the implicit function of the activities of many organisations.

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The creation of an ocean management information system is not a database management or information technology or even marine policy activity, but a gigantic exercise in information management Most activities that presently contribute to marine information management are not specific, but arise from concerns with scientific data generally and, increasingly, geographic data. Important “information managers” include international statistical agencies, such as the United Nations and European Statistical Offices, standards institutions, like the International Standards Organisation and the Comite Europeen de Normalisation. The ICSU’s Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) is involved with numerous issues concerning data quality, presentation, information utility and accessibility and is arguably one of the few institutions explicitly and primarily concerned with the overall management of scientific information [52]. The development and implementation of standards for spatial data are the concern of organisations such as the National Committee for Digital Cartographic Data Standards in the USA, and the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) in the UK [53]. In adition to these general information management activities, there are sectoral concerns, notable in the marine field being the International Hydrographic Organisation, which aims to enhance and coordinate international exchange of hydrographic data, the IOC’s Technical Committee on Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE), concerned with all aspects of the coordination and exchange of oceanographic data. 6. CONCLUSION Many writers have argued that the existing sectoral orientation of marine research and management is actively inhibiting the development of an integrated, proactive approach to resolving resource-use conflicts [54, 55, 56] . What are the implications of this for ocean management information systems? It is axiomatic in information technology and information management that the needs of the decision maker, in other words the user of information, should determine the nature of information system development. However, in the case of the integration of ocean management, the integration of information systems supporting it could in some ways provide the opportunities for the desired changes in policymaking, as well as respond to them.

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This paper has attempted to show that the creation of a integrated ocean management information system is far more an institutional and information management issue than a technological one. Substantial data sets, the means to convert them to information, and the means of dissemination already exist or will do in a short space of time. Few would seriously suggest the establishment of an enormous new world database of all ocean information. What is needed is the integration of existing systems, and factors which would contribute to this have been identified. Ocean management has the potential to set an example for the integration of the ways in which the human race deals with environmental issues. It is inceasingly being recognised that the global environment is a single complex entity and needs to be studied and managed as such. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world’s seas and oceans. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to express their gratitude to Hance Smith of the University of Wales for his invaluable advice during the drafting of this paper. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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Dale, P.P. and McLaughlin, J.D., Land Information Management, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988, p. 8. Smith, H.D., The Regional Bases of Sea Use Management. Ocean and Shoreline Management, 1991, 15(4), 273–282. Peet, G., Ocean management in practice. In Ocean Management in Global Change, ed. P.Fabbri, Elsevier, London, 1992. Smith, H.D. and Lalwani, C.S., The North Sea: Sea Use Management and Planning, UWIST Centre for Marine Law and Policy, Cardiff, 1984. Lalwani, C.S. and Smith, H.D., Modelling an information system for North Sea management and planning. Proceedings of the Summer Computer Simulation Conference, Denver, Colorado, 18–21 August 1982, pp. 409–413. Masser, I., Applications: Overview. In Handling Geographical Information; Methodology and Potential Applications, ed. I.Masser and M.Blakemore, Longman Scientific & Technical, Harlow, 1991, pp. 117–121. Abler, R.F., The National Science Foundation National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis. International Journal of Geographical Information Systems, 1987, 1(4), 303–326. Couper, A.D., History of Ocean Management. In Ocean Management in Global Change, ed. P.Fabbri, Elsevier, London, 1992.

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INTEGRATED MARINE POLICIES: GOALS AND CONSTRAINTS STELLA MARIS A.VALLEJO Ocean Affairs/Law of the Sea Officer United Nations Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea 2 United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017, USA

ABSTRACT Following a historical review of the evolution of marine affairs in the last five decades, the paper examines, at the global level, the constraints and the problems faced by countries in their attempts to formulate an integrated national marine policy. It includes a discussion of specific measures needed to strenghthen the policy-making capabilities of countries, with particular attention to the institutional framework, as well as suggestions to enhance the managerial capacity of countries to deal with marine/coastal issues in the decade of the 1990s. INTRODUCTION Twenty years after the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and ten after the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC), the responses of countries regarding the formulation and implementation of an integrated national marine policy appear to be extremely slow. The objective of this paper is to examine, at the global level, the constraints and the problems faced by countries in their attempts to formulate a national marine policy. In order to do so, this paper will, first, review the evolution of marine affairs in the last five decades, tracing those factors and issues which, in one form or another, have shaped past and present marine/coastal development and have, at the same time, exerted a marked influence over marine policy

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interests—domestic and international—having elicited sectoral or integrated policy initiatives. Second, it will discuss the causes for the absence, in the majority of countries, of a clearly articulated national marine policy. The aim is to analyze the effectiveness of current policy-making structures and procedures vis-a-vis the specific characteristics of the process of marine development and the emerging policy issues of national and international importance. Third, based on the discussion of past and present trends in marine/ coastal development examined in Part 1, and the lessons learned through the experiences analyzed in Part 2, Part 3 will include a discussion of specific measures needed to strenghthen the policy-making capabilities of countries, with particular attention to developing countries. This includes some suggestions on the critical issues that should be addressed in the years to come, the institutional framework for policy making, and specific measures to enhance the managerial capacity of countries to deal with marine issues in the decade of the 1990s. I. THE EVOLUTION OF MARINE AFFAIRS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARINE POLICIES The dynamic transformations that affected the world of marine affairs in the last five decades, have resulted in considerable problems of adaptation, on the part of countries, to a new and complex policy agenda and to the management requirements involved in the development of marine resources and the protection of the marine environment. Thus, in order to discuss current problems and to examine new options for marine policymaking, it is necessary to understand the leading factors of change and the conditions underlying the present situation. Four factors of change have dominated the world of marine affairs in the last five decades: * The formulation and implementation of a new comprehensive law of the sea regime; * the emergence of a prominent concern for the protection of the marine environment; * the rising demand for marine resources and the recognition of new resource potential, and associated technological developments; and

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* the contribution of marine science and the academic community to the development of knowledge, innovative ideas and conceptual tools. The relative input of each of these factors, influenced by some focussing events, varies according to different phases. It is posible to identify four main phases, distinctive but not inclusive, representing an evolutionary process that is indicative of past, present and future trends. The Closing of an Era: The 1950s A number of concurrent and antecedent events starting in the late 1940s fortold the end of an era in which the ocean areas where ruled by traditional costumary law. The 200-mile doctrine originated in South America, where in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s the CEP states (Chile, Ecuador Peru) separately and then jointly, claimed extensive offshore zones. Also, in September of 1945, the Truman Proclamation asserted jurisdiction over all the mineral resources in the lands beneath the oceans, out to the end of the United States continental shelf. Another early extensive offshore claim was the 1946 Argentine decree asserting national sovereignity over the epicontinental sea and the continental shelf, which later in 1966 was reinforced with a 200-mile claim (1). Other claims followed throughout this periord and continued up to the adoption of the LOSC in 1982, as ilustrated by the case of Indonesia where the main law of the sea developments since independence have been the extension of the territorial sea to 12 miles in 1957, the re-drawing of the archipelagic baselines in the 1960, legislation on the continental shelf in 1969 and 1973, and the 1980 Indonesian declaration of a claim to an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), soon followed by the enactment of a law concerning the EEZ in 1983 (2). In the 1950s, the international community embarked upon the task of codification of costumary law which led to the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions of 1958. However, some of the provisions of these Conventions were based on past practice and appeared obsolete. There weaknesses were compounded by the political and technical developments which were to take place in the next decade (3). A new vision of the importance of the ocean for the national economies was also forged under the pressures of an explosive growth of the world population, together with an increasing use of the oceans. For example, the exploitation of offshore oil and gas, which later became one of the principal agents of transformation in sea use patterns, gained momentum. In the

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United States, the question of ownership of offshore oil and gas resources dominated the marine policy agenda (4). Concurrently, there was a quest for the improvement of knowledge of the ocean at the global level, in the form of a growing interest in ocean science. This was centered in the International Geophysical Year, one of the most relevant marine science programs that brought together, in 1957, more than seventy nations in an international, inter-disciplinary geophysical study of the oceans. It had a profound impact, not only in the field of science, but also on future marine science policies, and overall marine and coastal policies, that participating countries formulated in later years. This was clearly exemplified, some years later, by the case of Colombia (5). The Pressure for Change: The 1960s Preparation for the formulation and negotiation of a new ocean regime continued, spurred by, among athers, the new ocean resources opportunities associated with advances in marine technology which encourage, on the other hand, the notion that once unattainable uses of the ocean space and its resources would very soon be within reach (6), and allowed a true intensification and diversification of the uses of the seas with their concomittant policy implications. This was shown in the case of the North Sea, where the pressure by the international oil industry produced, among others, the relatively rapid agreement among the North Sea states for the establishment of median line agreements, which were concluded between 1965 and 1971 (7). Moreover, at that time the world witnessed the accession to independence of a large number of countries previously under colonial rule. These new members of the international community were eager to review the existing body of law that they perceived inadequate, and to exercise their sovereign rights in shaping it more according to their needs (8). Also, environmental disasters—the Torrey Canyon off the coast of Cornwall in March 1967, and the Santa Barbara Channel oil blowout in 1969—mark a turning point at which environmental problems were elevated in the governmental policy agenda worldwide, and as a result, environmental protection emerged as a major policy area that touched many interests, including land-based concerns. For example, Europe’s industries, especially in their German and Scandinavian bases, have come under growing pressure to “clean themselves up” from the late 60’s onwards (9).

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The response to environmental problems arrived promptly in the form of various legal instruments. The first international instruments were the Agreement for Cooperation in Dealing with Pollution of the North Sea by Oil, of 9 June 1969 (Bonn Agreement), and the International Convention Relating to the Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties, of the same year. However, as expressed by Lee and Fraser, during the 1960’s, “it became aparent that traditional, customary law, as codified in the four Geneva Conventions of 1958, was no longer adequate to cope with rapidly escalating use of the oceans and the aspirations of newly independent states”, “…and would no longer suffice to ensure an equitable balance of competing ocean uses through peaceful means” (10). The impact of these developments were well translated into the initiatives undertaken during the next phase. The Emergence of an Integrated Approach to Ocean Development: The 1970s This period witnessed a plethora of initiatives on all fronts. Two developments have been the principal factors behind the great transformations that affected coastal state authority, the patterns of ocean use and its policy implications: the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment and the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which started its substantive work in 1974. The first had an enormous influence in developing international awarness of the need for environmental protection, and thus an understanding of the ocean as a system, a concept that was re-affirmed and further conceptualized in 1987 through the Report of the World Commisssion on Environment and Development (WCED), entitled “Our Common Future”. The second, UNCLOS, initiated a long process of negotiations towards the development of a more comprehensive and progressive legal regime for the regulation of all ocean space, as well as towards raising awarness of the new management responsibilities emanating from the new rights and obligations acquired by coastal states, later in 1982, under the new ocean regime. This was a time of remarkable activity and achievement in the law of the sea, in environmental law, in re-defining the areas of national jurisdiction as well as in setting out a wide range of issues that countries had to confront such as jurisdiction related to pollution and scientific research. This was also, a time of rapid expansion of coastal states claims for fisheries jurisdiction. Moreover, UNCLOS brought to the attention of most nations the reality of modern-day management of marine affairs which involves an

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array of multi-disciplinary skills, well reflected in the composition of national delegations to the Conference (11). As well, UNCLOS provided many nations with a suitable frame of reference in which to evaluate their national involvement in marine affairs and their potential to develop a comprehensive marine policy (12). A center piece in this new ocean development era is the concept of the EEZ as an internationally accepted multi-purpose regime to cover all economic uses in one system (13). Under the EEZ concept a common geographical boundary encompassing all marine resources in an extended marine area was created for the first time in international law, and served to emphasize the need for an integrated, multiple-use management approach (14). This intensive activity at the international level created a favorable political climate for the adoption, at the national and regional levels, of a wide range of legislation and policies related to the protection and management of ocean resources as well as specific actions to tackle priority problems. Examples of these initiatives include the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuary Act of 1972 of the United States and at the regional level, the Convention on the Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific, Apia, of 12 June 1976. As for specific actions, for example, the French Government implemented in 1970 the Polmar Plan, as a response to the Torrey Canyon disaster and aimed at protecting the most “sensitive” areas of the coast. An interministerial commission was set up for this purpose, probably a direct precursor to France’s Ministry of the Sea (15). The Stockholm Conference also started a long process of institution building of public administration bodies dealing with the environment, as demostrated by the fact that a pre-Stockholm overview of administration in 138 countries, indicated that in 1971 there were national environmental agencies or ministries in 11 countries, of which only two were in developing countries. In contrast, current figures show 123 countries having environmental agencies at various levels of the governmental structure. These impressive numbers are a rough indicator of the escalating political priority accorded to environmental affairs in developing countries (16). But it was the expansion of economic activities, with the concommitant appearance of conflicts between traditional users of the sea and new activities of increasing complexity, that prompted the need for integrated management of the marine resources and uses. In that context, the coastal and nearshore areas became the focal point of attention of governments and of international organizations. This resulted largely from the concern

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of developed countries, over the quality of their coastal and marine environments. As a result, bouyed by the concepts of coastal area management and ocean management, which originated in the early 1970’s, governments were prompted to enact such laws as the U.S. Coastal Management Act of 1972, and various European countries took specific measures with respect to coastal area planning and management. Other related measures, both in developed and developing countries, comprised mainly institution building efforts to support these early efforts toward the formulation of integrated coastal management plans (17). International organizations echoed and promoted these concerns through a number of new programmes and activities in the field of marine science, coastal area management, environmental protection, resource development, etc. They had a considerable influence in mobilizing human resources in government, private industry, academia and citizens groups, and in forging new approaches towards coastal and ocean matters. One of the most salient is the Regional Seas Programme of UNEP, which was launched in 1974. Since then nine regional action plans have been adopted, with the explicit and overall goal of the protection and development of the coastal and marine environment and its resources, in geographic areas covered by the action plans. Though the initial focus of the action plans was on marine pollution control, the focus gradually shifted from a sectoral approach toward pollution control to integrated coastal zone planning and management, as a key tool through which solutions are being sought (18). Meanwhile, the idea of sea-use planning (also refered as ocean planning and management) began to develop since 1970. In 1973, the Fabian pamphlet and a debate on sea-use planning in the British Parliament introduced, for the first time, the use of the term in a political context (19). Other countries, particularly The Netherlands, followed the idea and worked out a conceptual basis, producing a series of papers and publications that enriched the literature and filled a serious gap (20). This early, preparatory work would later be the foundation of the current ocean management plan of The Netherlands. Moreover, the development of a solid conceptual basis for the integrated management of the oceans would later became the technical foundation for the integrated management of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

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The Challenge of Implementation: The 1980s and Beyond The early 1980s witnessed the climax in the negotiations toward the formulation of a new ocean regime which culminated in the adoption of the LOSC. It marked a turning point, from multilateral negotiations concerning national interests regarding to the law of the sea to actions by states individually, bilaterally or at the regional level under the new jurisdictional regime. In this respect, the response of countries to the challenges involved in the new ocean regime show wide variations. At the national level, efforts have been concentrated on the updating of existing laws and regulations or the establishment of new legislation and of specific rules and principles to deal with matters likely to arise in the regulation of waters under national jurisdiction. However, these new regulatory and management-oriented actions have been largely sectoral and problem-oriented in nature (e.g. fisheries, marine pollution, marine scientific research, etc.). At the bilateral level, measures were aimed at the resolution of issues that have transboundary implications, such as the settlement of maritime boundaries, as well as new cooperative arrangements. An excellent example is given by Australia’s Torres Strait Treaty with Papua Guinea, which involves an innovative attempt to deal with maritime jurisdiction problems between nations on a multiple-use basis (21). The treaty balances the interests of all parties involved by establishing a “protected zone” with different demarcation lines for fisheries and sea-bed resources to facilitate bilateral administration of the treaty regime (22). All these legal and managerial developments were also paralelled by the appearance of a compelling, new conceptual framework for managing the world environment, based on “sustainable development”. It had enormous repercussions and generated a new wave of efforts towards the application of comprehensive approaches to ocean management. Another key feature that characterize the early 1980s is a marked trend toward a regional approach to many aspects of marine resource development and the protection of the marine environment. This approach has taken different forms. For example, the early initiatives taken by the Commonwealth Heads of Government of the Asia/Pacific Region (CHOGRM) in 1982, called for a comprehensive examination of priority problems facing governments in that maritime area (23). The efforts of the Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Cooperation (IOMAC) Conferences towards adopting a strategy for enhancing the national development of the Indian Ocean States through the integration of ocean-related activities in their

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respective development processes, and a policy of integrated ocean management, represents a further step in a regional approach to ocean development (24). Yet another form of addressing regional issues is the case of the North Sea. In respect to environmental protection, the Conferences on the Protection of the North Sea of 1984, 1987 and 1990 have been characterized as the most significant comprehensive attempts to coordinate all efforts for the proteccion of the North Sea (25). The 1980’s also witnessed a good number of initiatives toward the formulation of coastal area management programmes, particularly in developing countries. As a result, a broad range of national experiences are available for analysis, reflecting a variety of technical approaches and institution building initiatives (26). Nontheless, the application of the concept of integrated ocean management was left behind, in comparison with the steady growth of coastal area management, and despite the encouraging efforts of a few countries: the Netherlands having the most advanced ocean management system in the world, which started in 1977; New Zeland’s maritime planning process established by the Town and Country Act of the same year, but currently only applied to estuaries and harbours located near ports (27); and the most recent experience of the State of Oregon, USA, which completed in June 1990 the Oregon Ocean Resources Managament Plan for ocean resources and uses within the 200mile EEZ, and the Territorial Sea Plan, a more detailed plan to manage resources in the Oregon’s territorial sea (3 miles) originally mandated to be completed and adopted by the State and Land Board by July 1991 (28). This is the only plan that addresses the challenge of integrating coastal and ocean planning under a single policy and governance system. Other countries, unfortunately very few and confined to Japan, the United States, Canada and Norway, have devised national ocean management systems but not as integrated as in the case of the Netherlands (for details, see the paper by E.Miles in this volume). II. THE FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTEGRATED NATIONAL MARINE POLICY: PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS The need for the formulation and implementation of an integrated national ocean policy arises as one of the principal outcomes of a long, evolutionary process of change that has deeply affected the way decisonmakers view their national ocean interests.

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Up to a decade ago, countries have put their efforts into the formulation of an international ocean regime that secured the recognition of national jurisdiction, and the right of coastal states to take decisions about resource allocation, use and preservation of the marine environment. Currently, they focuss their attention on the establishment of a domestic regime that reflect their national and international concerns. However, the way countries undertake their new responsibilities show wide variations. There are those countries that have taken an assertive position, and have started to design and implement new marine development schemes. Other countries, in fact the majority, are quite aware of that need, but do not have the resources nor the means to undertake this task, indeed quite complex, costly, and sometimes politically difficult, since experience shows that the introduction of a marine policy within the public policy arena, a very recent phenomenon, appears to be a very difficult process. A number of concurrent factors have conspired to delay the development of national marine policies. The basic problem is the fact that currently, marine affairs are not at the top of the public policy agenda, neither do they capture sustained public attention, with the exception of environmental disasters or accidents at sea. Equally important, is the fact that the political momentum generated by the Law of the Sea Conference appears to have declined after the adoption of the 1982 Convention owing to the increasing complexity of world affairs that has characterized the last ten years. Meanwhile, governments have had to face other matters having higher priority and thus, marine interests were diluted within the pressures of poverty, trade deficits, underdevelopment, inflation, etc. As a result, of these complex underlying conditions, the “marine dimension” as a whole, has not as yet being fully incorporated into the national development strategies of countries, despite the importance attached to the opportunities that resources exploitation could offer within the context and objectives of national economic and social development. Traditional Ocean Policy Systems: Structural Problems Structural limitations arise out of the location and sectoral fragmentation of marine-related activities within the governmental hierarchy. The low political stature given to marine affairs is translated in the location of the activities at a low level within the governmental bureaucratic hierarchy, into administrative linkages with more powerful agencies whose authority/

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functions are not traditionally associated with marine affairs, (e.g. fisheries under the ministry of agriculture), as well as into resource allocation patterns (limited personnel and low levels of funding) that mirror the limited political power exercised by agencies having marine related responsibilities (29). In the majority of countries, marine-related matters may easily fall within fifteen to twenty-five sectoral divisions, generally associated with a variety of marine and coastal resources and uses. Each resources/use is under the jurisdiction of a different ministry/department each of which is charged with the implementation of their specific policy mandate through its respective network of subordinated agencies, among which the responsibilities and authority for planning, control, regulatory functions, etc. are distributed, providing for all the sector’s policy formulation and implementation tasks (30). This produces fragmentation of efforts, sometimes duplication, as well as difficulties in decision-making. Thus, marine-related policies are formulated and implemented on a sectoral basis without interagency consultation, and therefore are not structured within an overall perspective of marine development priorities, since currently, the majority of countries lack the necessary mechanisms for a coordinated approach to the formulation and implementation of a national marine policy, as well as the administrative tools to mobilize the existing resources to meet the demands of marine development. Further constraints are added by ad hoc/crisis response approaches in policy making and implementation. The result are marine policies and associated activities many times motivated by short-term objectives which in the long run may even be counter productive to the nation’s interests (31); (32). Structural problems are further exarcerbated in countries having a federal system of government where there is also a jurisdictional split among local, state, and the federal government, having jurisdiction over the shoreline, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone, respectively. Consequently, the planning and management of activities traversing or having an impact on these jurisdictions is quite complex, particularly in the absence of effective mechanisms to coordinate the input of all levels of government. Also the problems of the allocation of costs and benefits among the different jurisdictions has received considerable attention in some countries (33); (34).

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Traditional Ocean Policy Systems: Procedural Problems Problems of a procedural nature are associated, among others, with the managerial and technical capability of national institutions to undertake new and expanded functions. Unfortunately, traditional sector-oriented management approaches prevail, since most countries do not have the knowledge and experience of applying the concept of integrated ocean management. This raises four questions. First, the sectoral approach sufficed when ocean activities were limited to fisheries, maritime transport, and military activities. However, since the number of marine functions has increased—as has increased the variety and number of parties having interests and perfoming activities in the ocean—a multiple-use approach is required. Moreover, each of these users have a different perception of their needs, as well as of the real or potential gains they can achieve from the coastal and marine areas. Thus, from a policy-making perspective, an ocean policy decision-maker has to deal simultaneously with multiple demands and expectations never adressed before. Second, these demands, however, come not only from marine users but also from broader policy constituencies having, in most of the cases, greater political weight. In the absence of comprehensive policy objectives and of designated priorities that should emerge after the consideration of the interconnection between marine policy and other national policies, the trade-off desicions—sometimes entailing high economic, ecological and social costs—may be painful for all parties concerned. In this respect, useful lessons can be extracted from the experience of coastal area management projects where a myriad of sometimes conflicting interests, at all levels of government, the private sector, the scientific community and citizens groups, have to be factored in the policy planning equation in order to succeed, politically as well as technically. Third, when the operational and the spatial requirements of user/users are incompatible with those of other users, they result in multiple-use conflicts. Present policy-making approaches are rigid and do not permit the development of approaches to deal with multiple-use problems/ opportunities. Also, there are no conflict anticipation or conflict resolution mechanisms, nor formally established procedures to examine, in advance, cross-sectoral and cross-resources implications, thus augmenting the limitations of the policy-making system. Fourth, there is a lack of, or insufficient, information and knowledge of the coastal and ocean systems and the complex processes therein, necessary to take decisions concerning the use and the conservation of resources, and

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the protection of the marine enviuronment. On the other hand, in some countries, although the basic components of a marine and coastal information infrastructure are in place, a number of deficiencies have to be addressed. Moreover, the majority of countries lack the human resources having the skills and knowledge necessary to formulate and implement an integrated marine policy, which is a complex process that deals with competing and often conflicting uses and values, and where social and political issues frequently overshadow technical issues (35). III. THE DECADE OF THE 1990s: TOWARD AN INTEGRATED MARINE POLICY There are three major factors of change now acting at this stage. First, the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development will create new political momentum, and thus focuss the attention of govenments to the global dimension of the environmental problems, and the role of the oceans in this equation. Moreover, a new focus is provided by reinforcing the link between environmental concerns and development issues in which the marine/coastal component plays an important role. Second, the coming into force of the LOSC which is expected to occur in the near future, would reinforce the responsibility of countries towards the rational use, protection and conservation of ocean resources and the environment. Third, an intensification of coastal and marine activities is expected. About half of today’s population lives on the sea-shores or their immediate proximity, due to the advantages offered by the coastal and nearshore areas, a trend that is expected to continue. Also, there is an increase in the use of the marine and coastal areas for maritime transport, exploitation of offshore oil and gas resources, fisheries, tourism, mariculture, etc. the full potential of these areas having yet to be developed (36). The above trends, together with the problems examined in Part 2, point to a key prerequisite, namely, that the formulation and implementation of an integrated national marine policy will rely on effective institutional and managerial support. The next section explores some options to remedy current limitations.

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Strengthening the institutional framework for integrated marine policy There is a need to devise an institution building strategy by which (37): (i) Ocean affairs are elevated within the public policy agenda so marinerelated policies may be discussed with a view to formulating an integrated national ocean policy; (ii) policy objectives and national priorities set forth in the national ocean policy are effectively integrated within national development planning; and (iii) all levels of government as well as all interested parties, whether in the private of public arena, are involved in the formulation and execution of an integrated ocean development plan, or EEZ plan. A national marine policy must be consistent with the national development policy. Thus, the two should be viewed as the two sides of a coin: on the one side it projects the objectives of national development policy over the marine sector; on the other, it seeks coherence and consistency with all other sectoral policies in force (38). There are a number of institutional options to address these challenges. At the policy level, an interministerial, interagency board or council, at the highest political level, presided over by the minister in charge of the lead marine-oriented agency of the country, may be the option. The objective is, first, to secure political will and a firm commitment, at the highest levels of government, to marine development, while at the same time provide the necessary leadership, the opportunity and the leverage for policy priority setting and interagency coordination. To give operational effectiveness to marine policies, responsibility for strategic marine/coastal planning and for investment planning should be located at the highest level of the govermental hierarchy. Thus, the highest planning body of the country is the ideal choice for providing overall direction at the national level. The technical work of formulating and implementing the plan should reach down all levels of government and non-governmental entities who should actively participate in the planning and implementation phases. However, when the structure does not cover the required decison-making functions and competences, the mandates of existing institutions should be extended, as required by programmes and projects. Follow-up and evaluation of plans and programmes is required in order to be able to translate the implementation experience into new policy criteria, if necessary.

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Building new management systems, and the institutional capacity for the implementation of a national marine policy A well articulated ocean management system should provide for (39; 40): * Implementation of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea; * Harmonization of economic development with environmental protection as they relate to the use of coastal/ocean resources and space; * Provision of all means to ensure safety in all marine operations; * Allocation of sometimes scarce resources and space for different uses, including preservation and conservation; * Provision of multiple-use management criteria, and mechanisms for the anticipation and resolution of conflicts among incompatible actions affecting coastal/ocean resources and the use of space; * Regulation and control of activities that have an adverse impact upon the environment or upon other resources and uses. * Provision of regional development schemes as need arises out of the impact of offshore development, upon the coastal and nearshore areas The above array of new and expanded functions involved in the formulation and implementation of a national marine policy calls for the expansion of the institutional capacity of countries to deal with ocean issues in a sustained and knowledgeable manner. Institutional capacity refers then, to the ability and commitment to develop, staff, and sustain institutions capable of dealing with marine policy issues (41). Among the measures of capacity are the ability to: (i) anticipate and influence change; (ii) make informed policy decisions; (iii) develop programmes to implement policy; (iv) attract, absorb and manage funds; and, (v) evaluate current activities to guide future action (42). However, as mentioned before, in the majority of countries one of the major constraints for the development of a national infrastructure is the shortage, or in some cases, the complete lack of trained personnel with the knowledge and skills necessary to formulate and implement an integrated marine policy. Ocean issues require both generalists as well as a high degree of specilized scientific and technical personnel. At the policy formulation stage, high priority should be given to the development of expertise, particularly in the field of interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral approaches to policy formulation. For example, when setting specific goals for the marine policy, technical studies will be required in support of

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policy planning and investment decisions. Consideration must be given then to the conditions and characteristics of the development process of other economic sectors, and how they impinge on the attainment of ocean policy goals and vice-versa. Also there is a need to develop the necessary integrated planning expertise, to deal with the complex technical, economic, legal and social issues involved in the development of marine/coastal areas, and to translate them into a comprehensive EEZ development plan. This includes e.g. the improvement of the information available to decision-makers in the form of, among others, the establishment of appropriate data bases. At the implementation phase, particular skills, knowledge of and familiarity with technical options are also required in order to take decisions regarding, e.g. technological requirements, as well as other means to conduct, for example, marine and coastal inventories and environmental assessments, enforce regulations and monitor development to effectively implement the plan. CONCLUSIONS Coastal countries face formidable challenges in the coming decade. Meeting these challeges successfully will require moving well beyond the law of the sea policies of the 1960s–70s, and the early attempts of the 1980s, to establish a domestic regime, into an era of integrated marine policymaking oriented to medium-and long-term goals, and closer cooperation at the bilateral and regional levels. The review of problems and constraints that affect current policy-making structures shows that the core of the matter resides in the need to re-adjust the existing institutional framework for integrated marine policy-making while building up new management systems and the institutional capacity for the implementation of a national marine policy. Structural re-adjustments may not be difficult, since the existing institutional structure can, with appropriate support, perform many or most of the functions involved in marine policy formulation and implementation. Consequently, most of the adjustments needed are of an operational nature, through the strengthening of the decision-making processes and the provision of effective mechanisms for improving the linkages among the various components of the marine governance system. What might prove to be more difficult is the provision of the necessary means to perform additional functions as well as to build-up the managerial capabilities required. This will require a long-term comprehensive strategy aimed at strenghthening the scientific and technical

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infrastructure for marine development; upgrading policy-formulation, planning and management skills of individuals and institutions; and providing a solid information and knowledge base on which to make decisions. This is not an easy task nor a short-term task. On the other hand, the limited experience that exists in marine policymaking indicates that we are only at the beginning of the development of a new field of knowledge that needs innovative ideas, creative solutions and in-depth research. There is a need to devise new approaches to tackle emerging policy problems as well as innovative analytical tools to assist decision-makers in their tasks. Also, there is a need to develop a strong base of knowledge about the extremely complex, sometimes intricate, policy-making processes taking place at all levels of government. Despite the above shortcomings, it is expected that, in the near future, a new generation of national marine policies tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of countries, will appear. Since there are no fixed marine policy models, considerable variation in the design and operation of new marine policy systems will occur. Moreover, it appears that theoretical and practical developments will go hand-in-hand, re-enforcing each other, and the decade of the 1990s will witness a new wave of efforts towards the formulation and implementation of integrated marine policies. (Opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations) REFERENCES 1.

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Morris, M.A., EEZ Policy in South America’s Southern Cone. In Ocean Yearbook 6, ed. E.Mann Borgese and N.Ginsburg. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986, pp. 417–37. Agoes, E.R., Indonesia and the law of the sea. Recent developments in ocean law, policy and management. Marine Policy, 1991, 15, 122–31. Levy, J.P., La Confidence des Nations Unies sur le Droit de la Mer. Histoire d’une n£gociation singulière. Publications de la Revue G£n£rale de Droit International Public. Nouvelle S£rie, No/38. Editions A.P£done, Paris, 1983, pp. 17–21. Knecht, R.W., Cicin-Sain, B. and Archer, J.H., National ocean policy: a window of opportunity. Ocean Development and International Law, 1988, 19, 113–142. Steer Ruiz, R., Planificaciçn del dessarrollo oce§nico y costero en Colombia. Paper presented at the Expert Group Meeting in Sea Use Planning and Coastal Area Management in Latin America and the Caribbean. Santiago, Chile, 28 November-1 December 1989. 26 p.

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FROM COASTAL TO OCEAN MANAGEMENT: POLICIES AND PLANNING ISSUES PAOLO FABBRI Professor of Political Geography University of Bologna Via Zamboni, 38—40126 Bologna, Italy

ABSTRACT Notwithstanding the title proposed for this contribution, the author has not individuated any historical, nor conceptual process leading from coastal to ocean management. Just as ‘management’ differs from ‘planning’, (the latter may imply the former, but not viceversa) management options and operations in coastal and marine areas seem to have diverse backgrounds, both historically and conceptually, as well as in their legal and institutional frameworks. In the present situation, the perspective of a unique management scheme seems rather academic and even a comprehensive approach to coastal and ocean management, although in some ways desirable, looks quite difficult to attain. INTRODUCTION The objectives proposed for this contribution from the Conference’s Scientific Committee may be re-worded as such: 1) to outline the characteristics of both coastal and ocean management and their eventual interrelations; 2) to examine whether such interrelations are clearing tha path towards a single management scheme;

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3) to consider the advantages and disadvantages of a comprehensive approach to the study and management of coastal and marine areas, and its implications in terms of structures and methodologies. It seems appropriate therefore that these three points be discussed along the same logical sequence. The term ‘management’ applies to the English-speaking world, with possible extension to the French-speaking one (‘aménagement’). In most other languages, it does not have an exactly corresponding and univocal term. In Italian for instance, the term ‘gestione’ is currently used both for ‘administration’ and ‘planning’, as well as for ‘management’ and this ambiguity leads to a growing adoption of the English term and results in frequent perceiving and using ‘management’ and ‘planning’ as synonimous. Similar ambiguities are reckoned to apply to other languages and countries. Due to these uncertainties, the term ‘management’ will be used here in its original meaning, i.e. in the meaning inferred from scientific literature of anglo-saxon derivation. When referred to specific problems, arising from the interaction between humans and their living space (e.g., exploitation of resources, communications, environmental deterioration, etc.), management implies the facing of such problems and/or processes with a view of regulating and comptrolling them to the benefit of humans in general, or, more often, of specific groups of humans. When referred, as our case is, to specific geographical areas, -i.e. to areas which have, or are believed to have, some specific characters (coasts and oceans, but also cities and mountains, valleys and farmlands, etc.)—management again implies regulations and comptrols to the same benefits as above: however, with a broader approach, stemming from the circumstance that the range of issues related to an area is generally wider. As a result, the management of an area can be partial or sectoral, insofar as only one or more problems of it are dealt with. Or it can become global through the assembling or mixing of single managing operations. In the latter case, global management can result in planning operations, although not necessarily. On the other hand, planning does not necessarily proceed through preliminary managerial approaches: meaning that the actions of management and planning, are far from being equivalent, although they can be interlinked. Problem-solving on part of humans in relation with their living space is obviously as old as humans themselves. It has been stimulated by a num ber of factors, among which some may be individuated as most significant:

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– the necessity of resource exploitation, especially in terms of water, food, shelter and energy; – the hardships of the physical environment and, in recent times, the effects of its deterioration as a result of human action; – the constraints of the biological environment, i.e.the competition with other species; – the process of overpopulation and/or concentration of humans in certain areas; – the spatial conflicts arising from multiple use in areas which are often but not always- characterized by high concentrations of population COASTAL MANAGEMENT Along the course of documented history, coastal areas have proved to be affected at a very high degree by these factors, due to the following general peculiarities: – they benefit from terrestrial resources, as any other land, but their very location confers to them an easier access to marine resources; incidentally, this may also be anticipated as an important factor for the clustering of human settlement and economic investments along coast; – they have an especially sensitive environment both in physical and biological terms, as a result of the contact of the two basic habitats on the planet: terrestrial and marine; an important aspect of this sensitivity is the circumstance that coastal areas constitute the main discharge site of telluric effluents and that these effluents are increasingly affected in their characteristics by human activities; – they have generally been and continue to be the main site of destination of human mobility over the Industrial Age and as a side-effect of it; such rapid and uncontrolled growth of population has led to multipleuse conflicts and degradation of the environment: a very fragile environment, as noted above; – the process of clustering along coast is further aggravated by the circumstance that it is strictly linked to a line—the shoreline—, which constitutes an heavily conditioning locational factor for settlement; indeed, this same circumstance does apply also to lacustrine rivieras and sometimes to rivers, thus conditioning the settlement pattern along a uni-dimensional space, whilst the clustering process usually takes place over a bi-dimensional surface.

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As noted above, the process of human clustering along coastal areas is more or less directly a by-product of the Industrial Age. Such a relation can be cleared through considering some of the main factors of the clustering process. – Compared to contiguous inland areas, coasts normally enjoy milder climatic conditions, thus attracting for permanent or temporary residence such groupsas vacationers and retired people; these groups have reached a notable dimension only as a result of social schemes and customs which were established within industrial cultures. – The Romantic culture has widely stimulated since the early 1800s the attraction to the shore and its scenic and environmental values, and in later years—early this century—this attraction has led to unprecedented leisure activities such as sun-bathing, sea-bathing, diving, surfing, sailing, and beach activities in general. – As a result of the fact that maritime transportation is cheaper and in many a case with no alternative, a number of industrial activities have been locating along or in proximity of the coast; these locations have obviously induced other locational processes in terms of residences, services, and subsidiary activities. – Independently from industrial location, the development of commerce and human relations in general—which is also a by-product of the Industrial Age—has accentuated the importance of the sea as a relation space, thus stimulating the mobility and the settlement along its margins. – Such hindrances as marshlands and other flooded areas or sterile or arid lands, which had impeded in many regions coastal farming and settlement, have been removed—or can be removed—through reclamation or irrigation schemes, which could be implemented only through energy and technologies made available over the Industrial Age. The assertion of these multiple links between the Industrial Age and human concentration along coasts leads to a couple of important propositions: a) coastal concentration is an historical process, i.e. related to and resulting from historical processes and contingencies; it is not a constant in the history of mankind, but a fluctuating trend, which could be reversed as swiftly as it originated, whenever or wherever its fuelling factors loose momentum or are superseded by opposite factors or processes;

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b) the process of coastal concentration which we are observing and discussing has very recent origins: one or two centuries in some cases, a few decades in most of the others; this means that we are observing and facing a new process, still largely unknown both in its historical backgrounds, as in its trends and future perspectives. These propositions should be regarded as basic starting points when discussing about coastal management and more so when practising it. As noted already, coastal management as any other form of territorial management, has always been practised. However, it has been recorded in written sources only in modern times and the available literature indicates that up to the middle part of this century it has been focusing primarily on problems of harbour constructions, dredging, and, to some extent, on coastal defence through engineering practices. Over the last three or four decades however, due to the critical convergence of factors and processes indicated above, management and the resulting literature have spread over a wide range of problems. These may be grouped into a number of main lines of research. a) Environmental studies, aimed at the knowledge and preservation of such critical environments as wetlands, lagoons, estuaries, deltas, dunes, coral reefs, barrier islands, spits and tombolos, and steep coasts. b) Biological or biochemical studies focusing on living coastal resources and their exploitation (fisheries, aquaculture) or preservation, water quality and coastal ecosystems in general. c) Studies aimed at the protection of the shore from current storms and erosional processes, through the knowledge of littoral dynamics and the construction of appropriate structures, or the adoption of devices such as artificial beach nourishment. d) Studies focusing on long-term sea level variations due to eustatic or isostatic oscillations, or to subsidence, and their possible effects on humans. Coastal archeology may also be included in this group. e) Physical studies focusing on tidal movements, longshore currents, wave dynamics and their effects on human activities. f) Studies related to coastal and beach development and accessibility, urban and harbor waterfronts renewal, and other major anthropic impacts on the coast, related to tourism, leisure activities, offshore hydrocarbon exploitation and conflicting uses. g) Coastal engineering, as related to dredging and harbours and marinas construction,

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h) Studies focused on the prevention and management of natural or man-induced catastrophic events, as major floods and storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, and oil spills, i) Studies on the jurisdictional, political and administrative frameworks of management and planning operations. j) Studies illustrating experiences in planning in the coastal zone, k) Historical studies focused on shoreline variations, and natural and man-induced transformations of the coastland: to serve as a background knowledge for management and planning. l) Studies illustrating new methodologies for coastal research and mana gement, in terms of cartography, remote sensing, modelling, data bases resource inventoring, cost/benefit analysis, aesthetical evaluation, risk assessment, environmental impact assessment, etc. m) Theoretical studies on coastal management and planning. This grouping, which is also somehow reflected in coastal management courses contents (1), calls for a few additional comments, which will help to lead the discussion onto ocean management. The first comment is that the term “coastal management” encompasses questions and problems pertaining to both the onshore and offshore, the latter being limited to coastal waters, but with no precise spatial nor conceptual limits. A further comment arises from consideration of the temporal links between specific emerging needs, eventually transferred into political or jurisdictional action, and the implementation of coastal management, with resulting literature. A few examples will illustrate this point. In the country hosting this Conference—Italy—systematic and coordinated studies on shoreline variations and coastal dynamics—later to be transferred into management practice—, were initiated in the 1930s, at a time when mass tourism suddenly dramatized the economic value of beaches. In the United States, the major producer of ‘coastal’ literature, this production doubled between 1973 and 1976 as a result of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and all major sources of current literature in terms of specialized journals and conference proceedings were established in the late 1970s. A similar process applies to other major coastal countries as Canada, Japan, China, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands: in all of these, the enactment of specific legislation gave way to an unprecedented flourishing of literature, both preliminary to or consequent from management practices. These facts demonstrate that, whatever the degree of the public’s concern on coastal problems and its capacity to influence action at any level of government, it is this action—in terms of legislative and budgetary measures, research funding, establishing of

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agencies etc.—that determines more than any other factor the development of research and management. OCEAN MANAGEMENT As it has been recognized and discussed for coastal areas (2) (3), the perception of the importance of the sea on part of humans has developed over history through different lines and distinct stages. The sea was firstly sailed with the aim of exploiting its living resources; originally limited to coastal waters, this process gradually expanded to open seas, along with the progress in navigational techniques. Such progress fuelled a second line of perception: the sea as a relation space, a medium for trading and expanding political as well as economic and cultural influence. Thus a space which sea-faring peoples, later developing into maritime powers, seeked to control as part of their vital interests. This process also, which incidentally led to harsh and enduring conflictuality, has developed through different stages: focused for millennia in continental or semienclosed seas—the Mediterranean, the Chinese seas, the Baltic and the seas surrounding Western Europe—, it gradually expanded since the late Middle Ages over the open oceans. From the XVII century, the need to “rule the waves” on part of major maritime powers led to the establishment of permanent national navies and to a policy of conquest and control of marine key positions, as straits and strategically located islands and promontories. On the other hand, the necessity of establishing and limiting reciprocal sovereignties and spheres of influence brought to a couple of basic rights, which still regulate the use and possess of the sea, regardless litigation that has arisen from their implementation: 1) the right to extend national sovereignties to a stretch of coastal waters within a few miles from the shoreline (territorial waters); 2) the right of free navigation and exploitation in the open seas and of navigation through the straits. Over the centuries and up to a very recent past, the two different legal frameworks enacted by these fundamental rights have proved to be crucial factors of the sharp discrimination between coastal and ocean areas in terms of uses, resource exploitation, and management. These practices could be easily and righteously extended from land to territorial waters in what soon became an integrated scheme of operations. On the other hand, no management scheme was applicable to the ocean, being its use limited to

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navigation and its exploitation to fisheries, which were both free and uncontrolled activities. As noted already, over the last decades a number of factors came to modify the stage. a) The increasing demand for oil and natural gas has forced to extend the search and exploitation of these vital resources from land to coastal seas and beyond territorial waters. This has opened the question whether this activity should be carried by any company or nation, according to established international rules, or under some sort of control on part of the nation (or nations) closest to the gas or oil field located in international waters. Such a control was not envisaged in international Law, however it seemed difficult, if not impossible, to avoid it: unlike the traditional practice of fishing, hydrocarbons exploitation requires a permanent and heavy logistical support from the nearest coast and this implies some sort of agreement between oil exploiters and nearby national powers. b) The process of massive water pollution, resulting from the Industrial Age, has been reckoned over the last two dozens years to expand from continental and coastal waters onto the open seas. Facing this process therefore, implies unprecedented forms of international joint efforts and regulations, which have been put into effect only in the last fifteen years, under the stimulus and coordination of UN agencies. Similar considerations may apply to other major environmental problems resulting from water pollution, as the protection of large marine ecosystems and/or of endangered species, and the effects of oil spills, ocean dumping and eutrophication. c) Again in recent decades, the world has become aware that many edible marine resources are getting short, as an effect of both water pollution and unregulated overexploitation. This calls for sound management practices, preliminary to limitations to the long-lasted freedom of fishing in international waters. d) Vast amounts of strategically important metals as manganese, cobalt, and nickel—all essential in the making of steel and alloys—have been found to occur in seabed nodules, which are scattered in deep ocean floors: one more ocean resource, still partly unexplored, the exploitation of which involves a new kind of management system. These new facts help to explain why the perception of the ocean is rapidly changing and putting forward a copuple of needs, which are unprecedented in history:

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– the need to manage marine resources in a regulated and coordinated manner, as the ocean changes its legal status from “res nullius” to “res communis”; – the need to protect an environment as it changes from the status of virgin and unspoiled area to the one of dumping site for man-produced waste. TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT SCHEME? A few statements concerning the interrelation between coastal and ocean management may be drawn at this point of the discussion. The first relation that comes to mind is that these “objects” pertain to contiguous and partly overlapping areas: because of this the merging of the two in a single management scheme appears to be reasonable and is in fact proposed by many parts. The question however, seems rather confined to academic grounds. Even assuming—but not granting—that there exists a single and consolidated management scheme for each “type” of area on Earth (e.g. urban areas, countryside, mountains, deserts, hydrographic basins, etc.), these schemes would remain distinct insofar as they apply to different areas. Spatial contiguity and even overlapping—there is always an overlapping—of different areas does not imply that they should be dealt with within a common scheme, as far as problem-solving is concerned: although cities and farming lands may be contiguous and even overlapping, problem-solving and problem-managing in urban areas has always been a substantially different process from the one related to rural areas. More differences should be considered in the case of coasts and oceans. The former were settled, and thus managed, “ab initio”, although a systematic literature has been recorded only along the Industrial Age and classified as such in the last thirty years; the latter have never been settled permanently and the nacassity of managing them has been perceived about fifteen years ago. When observed from an institutional standpoint, things look even more different. Coastal management stems from long-established and long-perceived forms of government, be they national or regional or local (4) (5) and precisely because of this it has expanded to the offshore, up to the limits of national sovereignties. Ocean management can only stem either from international multilateral agreements and forms of cooperation, which may or may not endure; or from supranational forms of government, which will hopefully develop, but which are not part of our present. In fact, only in very recent times government action has partially

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reached the supranational level (UN system, EEC, etc.) thus setting the stage to be effective, through international cooperation, also in those parts of the planet—the open seas and Antarctica—which are not subject to national sovereignties. The present enactment of the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea is certainly fuelling a supranational action, but this is still at its initial stage and the present sprouting of international organizations cannot stop a determined national government doing something independently, if it seriously wants to do. This is because all of these organizations—with the possible and partial exception of EEC—are made up of independent states and such authority as they possess only comes from the consent of their members; if any member withdraws its consent, it ceases to be subject to this authority. This is not to say that international organizations are valueless: in fact, their presence does make a difference and constitutes an important element of innovation. Still, not a decisive difference insofar as they are meeting-places of powers, not powers in their own right. Contrary to what happens to coastal management (6) (7), the feeling that in ocean management the legal and institutional frameworks are progressing in a somewhat slower way when compared with the advancement in technologies is shared by many authors. At a time when Law of the Sea negotiations were still ongoing, Knecht stated that “the available technology itself is far in advance of the legal order” (8). After UNCLOS was drafted, Jolliffe argued that “perhaps the principal danger that arises from rapidly expanding technological possibilities is that administrative and legal infrastructures will fail to adjust at a similar rate.… The remarkable achievement when in 1982 UNCLOS was supported by 130 states and opposed by only four should not obscure the fact that a number of developed, industrial countries have been less than enthusiastic about ratifying the Convention. However desirable a global consensus would appear to be, the technological gap between nations, reinforced by immediate economic interests, appears to have made it very difficult for some maritime nations, including Britain and the USA, to endorse some provisions of the Convention. It should be recognized that these countries have expectations that reflect their growing technological capabilities and that these expectations are unlikely to diminish… The rate of environmental complication, coupled with rapidly increasing technological potential to radically alter coastal environments, is in danger of outstripping the rate of adjustement in the administrative infrastructures, in socio-economic organizations and, above all, in the legal framework within which coastal zone management has to operate… In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the legal system appears to be increasingly

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anachronistic regarding the need of the coastal zone” (9). More recently, Hanna has concluded that “the progress of institutions to manage ocean resources has been outstripped by technological advances, which enhance ability to exploit the ocean… Ocean management is balkanized among agencies representing special and often competing, interests. Critical decisions about workable long term management strategies must be made at a time when the number of ocean uses is expanding and agency budgets are in decline… There is a general agreement among managers, academics and the general public that both the process and results of our current management systems are unsatisfactory”(10). Finally, and with reference to specific cases, Hildreth (11) reports of difficulties resulting from the 200 mile claims for Exclusive Economic Zone on part of such major maritime countries as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. Back to academia—or rather to theoretical grounds—, we should consider whether there exist a single, global, and all-including scheme for coastal management; or a similar one for ocean management. Apart from conflict mitigation schemes, resulting from multi-use, I am not aware of any of such schemes. Nor I could trace any realistic one in the literature and, as to conflict mitigation, it applies differently in different areas, both coastal and marine. In fact, current literature on coastal and ocean management gives a clear answer to the question: different authors, different approaches to different problems not only between the two sectors, but also within them, according to different lines of research and problem-solving. Of course, there are overlaps and common problems and approaches, but even a quick review of the literature will show that these are the exceptions and not the rule. There are journals and books and conferences’ proceedings which deal with both sectors, suggesting that they are somehow related. But such relations, which always exist in the field of knowledge as in human practices, do not contradict differences, which are deeply rooted both in historical and conceptual terms and in everyday’s practice. There is a third and final point. Notwithstanding the considerations exposed so far, it seems clear that a “comprehensive approach”—which is quite different from seeking a common scheme—“to the study and management of coastal and ocean areas” could be a productive process, and eventually a necessary one to initiate. At the present stage of research however, this still sounds as a theoretical construction, which could be transferred into applied research—as management should always be-only on dealing with specific problems, as water quality, or the preservation of marine ecosystems. In the majority of cases, the coastal/ocean comprehensive approach remains hard to define. Beach management for

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example, which is certainly a form of coastal management, although it may imply some kind of oceanographic information, can hardly comprehend— or be included in—any form of ocean management. Similarly, it is hard to individuate any “comprehensive” link between the management of deep sea mining and any known practice of coastal management. The views of a distinguished scholar, who has been a guide to many of us, André Guilcher, should be recalled at this stage. “The phylosophical approach—he has written recently—which I suggest to adopt when dealing with coasts should be a ‘case by case’ one; it should not be tied to rigid and universal principles, but related to and dependent from specific situations, following hard and detailed studies of each of them, including their long term evolution, the economic interests involved, and consideration of natural processes” (12). Guilcher’s ideas are being echoed by another outstanding scholar, Lou Alexander. “Policy makers—he has argued—tend to think in terms of comprehensive geographic units and often plan regional arrangements on a unit-wide basis. But because of the wide variety of conditions associated with enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, it is difficult to offer valid generalizations, which would apply to all or even to the great majority of situations…There have as yet been no comprehensive management system adopted for any of the world’s enclosed or semi-enclosed seas” (13). CONCLUSIONS In substance, the degree of “comprehension” or “globality” in any given approach, although important, seems not as crucial as the degree of scientificity, the latter one being independent from the former. Further, there is the problem of how to get the research we need where we need it, to answer the questions that managers are trying to answer and how to bring the information we know is out there on the day-to-day activities of coastal and ocean managers. These are the basic and final points of my thoughts; and, I hope, the starting points for further ones. REFERENCES 1.

2.

West, N. and Sorensen, J., Coastal area management course content analysis. In Ports and Harbours, The Coastal Society (USA), 1990 (proceedings 1988), 419–427. Fabbri, P., Lo spazio-spiaggia: usi ed erosione. In La gestione delle aree costiere, ed. E.Pranzini, Edizioni Autonomie, Roma, 1985, 120–135

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3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Bousquet, B., Du littoral. Essai d’identification. Cahiers Nantais, 1990, 35– 36, 77–98 Born, S.M. and Miller, A.M., Assessing networked coastal zone management programs. Coastal Management, 1988, 16/3, 229–243 Edmonson, J.B., Local government involvement in coastal projects. In Coastal Zone ’87, 1987, I, 1068–1074 Sorensen, J.C. and McCreary, S.T., Institutional arrangements for coastal resource management in developing countries. In Zone ’85, 1985, I, 1–25 Kelly J.A. and Slade, D.C., The Public Trust doctrine and coastal zone management: towards a model policy. In Coastal Zone ’91, 1991, I, 28–40 Knecht, R.W., Future coastal and ocean management (plenary panel). In Coastal Zone ’80, 1980, IV, 2479–2483 Jolliffe, I.P. and Patman C.R., The coastal zone: the challenge. Journal of Shoreline Management, 1985, I/1, 3–36 Hanna, S.S., The eighteenth century English commons: a model for ocean management. Ocean & Shoreline Management, 1990, 14/3, 155–172 Hildreth, R.G., EEZ governance in Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. In Coastal Zone ’87, 1987, III, 3414–3429 Guilcher A., Vers une philosophie des rivages. Cahiers Nantais, 1990, 35–36, 3–15 Alexander, L.M., The management of enclosed and semi-enclosed seas. In Ocean Management in Global Change, ed. P.Fabbri, Elsevier, London

NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES: LESS THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS ROBERT W.KNECHT Graduate College of Marine Studies University of Delaware Newark, Delaware 19716, USA

INTRODUCTION The terminology “national ocean policy” can mean different things to different people. To some, it connotes simply the aggregation of policies that a coastal nation develops over time with respect to its ocean interests whatever they might be. To others, a more integrated or comprehensive approach is implied. A national ocean policy to them, would be one that acknowledges and balances the sometimes conflicting demands of the separate components of ocean policy, be they related to economic development, the protection of marine ecosystems, or some other dimension. Still others will see national ocean policy as one of a rather large set of national policies dealing with the issues of the time. It will be seen along— side of transportation policy, energy policy, agricultural policy, housing policy, and the like. In this context, comparisons will often be made between funding and priority apparently attached to various national policy areas by various administrations or by the Congress. In this view, “oceans” are often said by advocates to be not getting the resources that they “deserve.” A fourth perspective might be institutionally oriented and revolve around questions such as these: to what extent does a central, policy-making mechanism exist for making national ocean policy? Is it capable of resolving conflicts between federal agencies, between levels of government?

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Between the government and the private sector in this area? Does Congress have an effective policy-making mechanism? This perspective is usually important to those ocean interests that feel that they are not being well served by the policy-making processes currently in place and by somewhat detached analysts interested in rationalizing the process. For the purposes of this paper, a pragmatic view has been taken. National ocean policy, as used here, means the collection of consciously undertaken public actions by a nation relative to its ocean and coastal interests. These include actions relative to the management and conservation of marine fisheries, coastal zones, the 200-mile EEZ, as well as the development of marine resources such as minerals and offshore oil and gas. The paper is concerned with the evolution of such policies, the processes by which they are formulated, the way in which conflicts and inconsistencies are handled, and the application of such policies to specific ocean areas. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to describe the prevailing conditions and factors which gave rise to the national ocean policy-making system existing in the United States today and (2) to characterize the salient features of the resultant system and to assess its present operation. In preparing the paper, the author has the following aims: 1. To provide an account of the key factors and events that have shaped ocean policy in the United States during the last three decades or so and the extent to which these were structural, political or ideological, or related to other developments. 2. To characterize the salient features of U.S. ocean policy today. 3. To assess, from a more or less pragmatic viewpoint, the effectiveness and impact of U.S. national ocean policy. 4. To examine some newly emergent forces that could, over time and given the right political openings, result in changes to existing national ocean policy in the U.S. It may be helpful to readers to know the orientation and background that the author brings to this subject. While I have been a member of the academic establishment for the last decade, I bring a decidedly practitioneroriented viewpoint to this work which was gained from several decades of service with the U.S. federal government. During my final dozen years with the national government, I was intimately involved with the implementation of a number of pieces of national ocean policy legislation including the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, Title III (Marine Sanctuaries) of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of

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1972, the Deep Sea Bed Hard Minerals Resources Act of 1980, and the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Licensing Act of 1980. Since leaving government service, I have specialized in studies of ocean and coastal governance, state-federal issues, coastal zone management, and international ocean law and policy. Several choices were open with regard to the organization and structure of this paper. It could have been organized around sectoral lines with descriptions, in turn, of U.S. policy with regard to such aspects as marine fisheries, offshore oil and gas, hard minerals, coastal zones, freedom of navigation, and marine sanctuaries. Alternatively, the paper could be structured chronologically and illuminate the sequence of events that led up to certain major ocean policy decisions. Such an approach would also assist in making cross-sectoral comparisons and in identifying any major cross-cutting influences on U.S. ocean policy. Given the goals of this effort, a modified chronological approach has been chosen. Section 1 of the paper deals with the political and institutional context within which ocean policy-making takes place in the United States and represents an effort to account for the strong bias toward a sectoral approach in U.S. ocean policy. A description of the evolution of national ocean policy during the formative period from the mid-sixties up to the early eighties is contained in Section 2. Section 3 is devoted to a discussion of the kinds of problems that are now being confronted as individual sectoral programs are implemented. And Section 4 surveys the lessons learned from the U.S experience and speculates on the possible impacts of some emergent forces. SECTION 1 PLURALISM IN THE U.S.: THE POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL SETTING FOR NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY The current state of national ocean policy in the United States is related both to the political system within which it evolved and to the factors which shaped its later development. A short account of the role of the oceans in the development of the nation is first provided. Early Ocean Policy In attempting to understand the present sectoral nature of U.S. national ocean policy, it is helpful to consider the way in which ocean activities have grown in the U.S. Miles makes the important observation in a paper

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prepared for this symposium that the ocean sectors now active in the U.S. evolved largely in isolation one from another [1]. Given the large ocean areas and low levels of effort involved, and, hence, the relative lack of interaction and/or conflict, these activities grew into generally autonomous activities. Eventually, separate institutions, specialized legislative and regulatory frameworks, and sectorally based constituency groups evolved as separately is a part of the maturation process of each of the sectors. Thus, the roots of the sectoral orientation of U.S. ocean policy can be traced back to the isolated manner in which individual ocean activities tended to develop and mature. Like most nations, U.S. interest in the oceans up to the turn of the century was primarily as a mode of transportation and as a convenient spatial buffer against the periodic aggressive behavior of other nations. Like our British colonial masters, the early United States saw free navigation of the seas as of paramount importance. Vigorous ocean trade both within the hemisphere and with Europe was an important element of the struggling economy of the new nation. The growing power of the United States through an increasingly effective Navy was also seen as central to the nation’s security interests. Of course, fishing and, later, whaling, were also important activities in the early United States. Indeed, the nineteenth century saw fishing become an important economic activity along much of the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts. None of these ocean activities, however, were the result of or were significantly modified by consciously developed national ocean policy. They were the direct result of meeting clearly perceived needs—for merchant ships to carry U.S. trade, for naval ships to show the flag (and more, if necessary)—for ports and harbors to accommodate these vessels— for fish to feed the growing coastal populations of the nation—and for whales to use for oil. National policies are not needed if the “right” things seem to be happening without active government intervention. The money was found to build and equip the merchant ships, to expand the ports, and to acquire the fishing boats and conflicts between these early ocean uses and users were not a major issue. The need for national policy making is generally associated with change of one type or another. Either something is occurring that a portion of the affected public objects to or something is not occurring that the public believes should occur. One can also observe that national policy making is almost always controversial since opinions usually divided as to what policy course to set. The fact that the tools typically used to implement new national policy involve either new or increased regulation of private activity or new expenditures from the public purse (or both) contributes,

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of course, to the relatively high visibility accorded to the national policy setting process. Perhaps the earliest need for a national ocean policy—albeit a relatively minor one—was associated with coastal fisheries and conflicts that had developed with our neighbors to the north, Canada. The need to agree on the allocation of fisheries resources both in the Gulf of Maine and the Grand Banks area (and in the Northwest Pacific), required that the U.S. adopt appropriate policies in this regard [2] . A purist might point out that the action of Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State, in 1793 claiming a 3mile territorial sea for the United States should rightly be called the first national ocean policy decision of the new nation [3]. Indeed, except for these activities, it can fairly be said that no articulated ocean policy existed (or was needed) until the end of World War II when the offshore oil issue prompted the United States to stake out a clear and unambiguous national ocean policy position. But before tracing the evolution of modern ocean policy in the United States, it is useful to briefly consider the institutional and governmental context in which this policy making was to take place. History suggests that the founders of the United States gave high priority to fashioning a system which would not permit the emergence of a monarch or despot. The resulting system of checks and balances involves a complex set of interlocking arrangements in which institutions were separate but powers were often shared. These early designs, coupled with the trend since the early 1970s toward legislative and bureaucratic decentralization (and fragmentation) has led to a situation which is decidedly uncongenial to coherent national policy making, especially as regards cross-cutting policy areas such as oceans, energy, and the environment. Most “modern” U.S. ocean policy emerged during the four decades between about 1945 and 1988. Indeed, it can be said that the central core of existing U.S. ocean policy was formulated between 1969 and about 1983. It is important to understand that the institutional context at the national level changed in important ways during the broader four decade period. From 1945 until the early 1970s, the Congress was controlled by the powerful chairmen of a relatively few standing committees. These chairmen had succeeded to power through the workings of a rigid seniority system and generally held these offices as long as they desired. In the United States, most modern national ocean policy has originated in the legislative body—the Congress. With the exception of the period from about 1971 to 1979 when the new White House Council on Environmental Quality was active, proposals for new legislative initiatives in the coastal and ocean area originated in the Congress itself. Hence, it is

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useful to comment briefly on the way in which policy is “made” in the Congress. As mentioned above, before about 1972, the policy making power of the Congress was firmly in the hands of the powerful committee chairmen of a relatively few standing committees in the House and the Senate, whereas after the early 70s, a marked decentralization of the Congress resulted in a shift of substantial power to the level of the subcommittees [4] . Consequently, it can be argued that although comprehensive national policy making in a given field is inherently difficult in the U.S. legislative system, the prospects for undertaking this were somewhat better under the old, strong committee system with their broader jurisdictional coverage and greater powers than it is today with the devolution of power to a larger number of decentralized power centers having smaller policy domains. This line of thinking could account for the fact that the last piece of comprehensive ocean policy legislation (that creating the so-called Stratton Commission and the Marine Sciences Council) was enacted in 1966, the last comprehensive environmental legislation in 1969 (creating the environmental impact statement process and the Council on Environmental Quality), and the high water mark in ocean and environmental institution building took place in 1970 (with the creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency). In contrast to these earlier actions involving varying degrees of integration, the period beginning in about 1972 and continuing to the present—the period in which most existing ocean policy was made—can be characterized as follows: • decentralization and fragmentation in the Congress and in the Executive Branch • explosive growth in numbers and in effectiveness of special interest and single issue groups • decline in the role of political parties and the emergence of self-selected political candidates It is within this context, that the bulk of modern U.S. ocean policy was made. The 1970s saw the rapid emergence of special interest groups who found common cause with newly strengthened Congressional subcommittees looking for narrow issues on which to build their reputations [5] [6]. Newly established agencies in the Executive Branch, eager for additional responsibilities, formed the third part of what often grew into synergistic but somewhat self-serving arrangements. It is not surprising then, that the spate of national ocean

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policy legislation which emerged from the Congress during this period was mostly sectoral-based, single purpose enactments with relatively little attention paid to consistency between policies, externalities and side effects, cumulative impacts, and longer term considerations [7]. A description of the national ocean policies which were developed during this period is provided in the next section. SECTION 2 PUTTING THE KEY ELEMENTS IN PLACE: NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY MAKING BETWEEN 1966 AND 1988 With the exception of the 1953 legislation (the Submerged Lands Act) which set the borders between state jurisdiction and control of ocean resources and that of the federal government (at three geographic miles), essentially all of the existing U.S. national ocean policy was enacted after 1965. In 1966, legislation was passed creating the innovative Sea Grant College Program and legislation was enacted which began the modern era in U.S. ocean policy—the Marine Resources and Engineering Act of 1966 [8]. The latter bill created a Commission on Marine Sciences Engineering and Resources (COMSER) and a Marine Sciences Council, both of which were influential in setting the stage for the burst of U.S. ocean policy making which was to follow. The COMSER (known as the “Stratton Commission” after its chairman, Julius Stratton, then president of Massachusetts of Technology) was a high level commission that worked for two years on a study of all aspects of ocean and coastal policy. Its report “Our Nation and the Sea,” issued in January 1969, contained numerous recommendations, a goodly number of which were implemented in succeeding years. Among its most important recommendations was one that called for the creation of a new national oceans and atmosphere agency which would bring together all of the ocean activities which were then housed in many different parts of the federal government. The creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970 by President Nixon was in direct response to this recommendation but fell short of the total consolidation recommended since several major programs were not incorporated into the new agency— the Coast Guard was not included and important ocean programs were left in EPA, the Interior Department, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A second recommendation of the Stratton Commission called for the enactment of national coastal zone management (CZM) legislation and

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that triggered the introduction of a series of CZM bills ultimately resulting in the enactment of what is now an integral part of U.S. national coastal policy—the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972. This legislation has stimulated the development and implementation of CZM programs in 29 of the eligible coastal states and territories of the United States and now covering more than 90% of the entire U.S. shoreline [9]. Over the nearly 20-year lifetime of this program, approximately $500 million in public funds have been invested in creating and maintaining coastal planning and management processes as a part of this program. However, debate continues in some quarters concerning the “on the ground” results produced by these management programs. Indeed, work is now underway to begin to assess the effectiveness of the CZM program using such “end” measures as improvements in coastal water quality, reopening of closed shellfish beds, increases in public access to the shoreline, decreases in coastal vulnerability to natural hazards, reduction of levels of marine debris, and so forth. The Marine Sciences Council, chaired by the U.S. Vice President (then Hubert Humphrey) and fundamentally an interagency coordination mechanism, existed from 1966 until 1973 and during that period elevated ocean policy making to a government level that had not been seen earlier or has not been since that time. In many respects the six or seven years centered on about 1969 represent the unequivocal high point in national attention to ocean policy making in the United States. Before providing a listing of the major national ocean policy actions that occurred during the 1969–1990 period, following the work of Knecht, Cicin-Sain and Archer [10], we look briefly at the major external forces (the “broader external environment”) that existed at various times during this period and that seems to have had a significant influence on this stream of national policy making. Chronology of the Broader External Environment 1960–1969 1969–1973 1973–1980

Dominated by responses to the apparent Soviet lead in science and technology demonstrated by the launch of Sputnik in 1957. Reversing environmental degradation and promoting improved resource stewardship become overriding concerns. An energy “crisis” suddenly emerges and dominates national policy making.

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1980–1992

Use of the federal budget to reduce the size and role of the federal government 1989-the Present The ballooning of the federal budget deficit constrains new policies and programs. As can be seen from the listing below, the major ocean policy actions taking place during the formative period in the development of U.S. ocean policy reflected this changing issue environment. A Chronology of the Major Ocean Policy Actions of the U.S. 1966–1990 1966 Enactment of the Marine Resources and Development Act creating the Marine Science Council and the “Stratton Commission” 1966 Enactment of the National Sea Grant College legislation 1969 Release of “Our Nation and the Sea,” the influential report of the Stratton Commission 1970 The National Environmental Policy Act becomes law establishing the environmental impact statement process for all federal actions affecting the environment and creating the Council on Environmental Quality in the office of the President 1970 Reorganization of the federal government creating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency 1972 The enactment of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZM) creating a national coastal zone management program to be undertaken primarily by the coastal states with the cooperation and assistance of the federal government 1972 The enactment of the amendments to the Clean Water Act setting standards and timetables for improving the nation’s coastal waters and regulating, among other things, the dredging and filling of the nation’s wetlands 1972 The enactment of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 establishing (1) a regulatory framework for ocean dumping in U.S. waters and (2) the National Marine Sanctuaries program (a mechanism to designate and protect special ocean areas out the edge of the continental shelf) 1972 The enactment of the Marine Mammal Protection Act

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1973 The enactment of the Endangered Species Act 1974 The enactment of the Deep Water Port Act containing a process to license deepwater ports being considered for construction in U.S. coastal waters 1974 Enactment of the Port and Tanker Safety Act 1976 The enactment of the Fishery Conservation and Management Act (FCMA) establishing a 200-mile fishery zone for the United States and creating a series of regional councils to manage fisheries in this zone 1978 The enactment of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments (OCSLAA) creating a complex new regulatory system for managing offshore oil and gas related activities 1980 The enactment of the Deep Sea Bed Hard Mineral Resources Act creating a regulatory scheme to license U.S. mining companies seeking to explore and develop sea bed hard mineral resources in international waters 1980 The enactment of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act (OTEC) establishing a licensing system for OTEC facilities proposed to be located in the coastal zone or U.S. waters 1980 Enactment of the American Fisheries Promotion Act providing assistance for fisheries development and related activities 1981 President Reagan calls for a major review of the emerging Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention 1982 President Reagan announces that the U.S. will not sign the recently completed LOS Convention and, furthermore, it will not participate in the work of the LOS Preparatory Committee 1982 Enactment of the Coastal Barriers Resources Act under which undeveloped barrier beaches and islands are to be formally designated and on which development will be actively discouraged 1983 By proclamation, President Reagan claims a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone for the United States 1987 Major amendments to the Clean Water Act are enacted creating, among other things, a new National Estuary Program to focus attention on improving the condition of seventeen U.S. estuaries of national importance and a new program aimed at controlling non-point sources of marine pollution 1988 By proclamation, President Reagan extends the U.S. territorial sea from 3 miles to 12 miles in breadth

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1989 Enactment of the Ocean Dumping Ban Act which prohibits the dumping of sewage sludge in U.S. waters after December 1991 1990 Enactment of major amendments to the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 which substantially strengthen and enlarge the program and add control of non-point source pollution of coastal waters as a major new objective 1990 Enactment of major oil spill liability legislation prompted by the EXXON Valdez grounding in Alaskan waters Except for the U.S. position relative to the Law of the Sea Convention, the chronology given above deals primarily with the domestic side of national ocean policy. During this time period, the U.S. was also an active participant in numerous ocean policy making exercises at the international level. It was a very active player in the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, it was a leader in the work leading to the 1972 London Dumping Convention and the 1973 MARPOL Convention on vessel-source pollution. It was active in the negotiations leading to the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES) in 1973 and in the 1980 Canberra Convention to manage and conserve the marine resources of the southern ocean to mention only a few of the many international agreements concluded during this period. Predating all of this was the U.S. leadership role in bringing about the Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946, U.S. involvement in the U.N. conference which lead to the four ocean conventions adopted in Geneva in 1958, and sustained U.S. efforts on behalf of the Antarctic treaty system beginning in 1959. Collectively, these actions reflect U.S. national ocean policy at various points in time. The effects of the fragmented and decentralized political process discussed in Section 1 can be seen in most of the actions taken since about 1972. For the most part, the actions reflect a single-purpose, sector-by-sector approach to national ocean policy. The resultant policy decisions appear to be driven by both the broader issue environment prevailing at the time and the strong power triangles (“iron triangles”) that exist in a number of the ocean sectors. The next section examines some of the problems that are now being encountered as the ocean policy formulations of the 1970s and 80s are being implemented.

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SECTION 3 FRAGMENTED POLICIES CONFRONT AN INTEGRATED OCEAN SYSTEM: PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTATION Much of the ocean policy created in the 1970s and early 1980s has been in the implementation stage for the last decade or so. During that time, certain stresses and strains have appeared. The purpose of this section is to review some of the problems that have developed and to attempt to understand the causes of the emerging conflicts. Of specific interest will be the extent to which the sectoral approach contributes or exacerbates such conflicts. Unfortunately, there is not very extensive data on this question. To my knowledge, no systematic collection of such information has yet taken place. Much of the available information tends to be anecdotal and focused on a relatively few occurrences [11] . Still, the statements made below would probably represent the views of many of the analysts who have examined this question. Numerous cross-sectoral ocean conflicts have emerged in recent years. Five of the more visible of these are: • Conflicts between offshore oil and gas activities and fishing • Conflicts between offshore oil and gas activities and onshore coastal planning and management • Conflicts between offshore oil and gas activities and marine mammals • Conflicts between marine mammals and commercial fishing • Conflicts between competing uses for coastal wetlands (as between protection as a productive ecosystem and use in coastal development) Each of these is briefly described below. Offshore Oil and Gas and Fishing —Fishermen are concerned, among other things, with the loss of access to traditional fishing grounds, the threat of pollution due to spills and the chronic release of contaminants, interference with their fishing gear by geophysical survey vessels and oil supply boats, the creation of bottom hazards to their nets from discarded oilrelated debris, and the loss of port and harbor space. They believe that the policies and procedures in the existing legislation (the OCSLAA) to not give them an adequate voice in offshore oil decision making. Offshore Oil and Gas and Coastal Planning/Management—In this case, local and state coastal planners and the publics that they serve believe that they also do not have an adequate role in decision making concerning

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offshore oil and gas development. Although the federal consistency provisions of the CZM Act give them a degree of project review authority, coastal publics believe that they should be full partners with the federal government in managing this kind of major ocean development. Offshore Oil and Gas and Marine Mammals—Here, two national ocean policies are sometimes in direct conflict. Policies in the offshore oil legislation are designed to encourage the increased production from domestic sources of oil and gas yet the Marine Mammal Protection Act, in effect, prohibits oil and gas development that interferes with marine mammal populations. The policies and processes contained in neither piece of legislation go very far in resolving the conflicts that are, thus, created. Marine Mammals and Commercial Fishing—The conflict here is a direct result of compartmentalized, single-purpose policy making. The policies in the FCMA are clearly aimed at increasing the harvest of fish by U.S. commercial fishermen. Yet the protective policies in MMPA permit unbridled growth in the stocks of marine mammals that are direct competitors with the commercial fishermen for many of the same fish stocks. Conflicts over the use of Coastal Wetlands—The wetlands protection policies built into Section 404 of the Clean Water Act are written in broad and relatively general language leaving a substantial amount of discretion to the administrative agencies charged with writing regulations and operating the program. Since these responsibilities are divided among several federal agencies, swings in de facto wetlands policy can follow changes in agency policy, changes in agency leadership, and changes in the balance of power among the involved agencies. Thus, regulatory uncertainty abounds in this issue area. As can be seen from these short accounts, these conflicts seem quite clearly to be related to the single sector focus of most of the individual building blocks of U.S. ocean policy. The OCSLAA really does not give an adequate voice in decision making to other interests (beyond the Department of Interior) be they related to coastal fishing, coastal planning or marine mammals. Similarly, the Marine Mammal Protection Act is couched in absolute terms with regard to its protection objectives and gives little or no quarter to other important and legitimate ocean uses such as commercial fishing. The wetland regulatory policies, in theory at least, contain processes that undertake a balancing of conflicting interests and seek to determine where the overall public interest lies. Yet some exceedingly protracted conflicts continue to occur in this area.

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Generalizing on the difficulties associated with the present system of governance of the U.S. ocean, Knecht et al. [10] described two fundamental problems: (1) The Jurisdictional Split Among Levels of Government. As is well known, three separate bands of jurisdiction divide the coastal and ocean areas—local governments generally control shoreline use; state governments have jurisdiction in the belt of ocean from the tidemark out to the three-mile limit; and the federal government has jurisdiction from three to two hundred miles. Major problems posed by these Jurisdictional splits are: • because many of the most important ocean activities traverse or impact all three jurisdictions, a major complexity is added to the planning and management of these activities in the absence of an effective mechanism to coordinate the actions if all levels of government; and • the benefits and costs of ocean resources exploitation frequently fall disproportionately on different jurisdictions; exacerbating inter Jurisdictional frictions. (2) The Sector-by-Sector Approach in the Management of Different Ocean Resources/Uses. Within the two offshore jurisdictions (federal and state), each resource/use is typically under the jurisdiction of a different agency operating under a different legislative framework (e.g., a specific federal statute and agency governs fisheries management, a different statute and agency manages offshore oil development, yet a third agency handles water quality and related matters). Major problems posed by this single-purpose approach include the following: • few opportunities exist for examining the ramifications of decisions in one ocean sector (such as oil development) for other ocean sectors (such as fisheries). While most of the laws do call for examination of the consequences of a proposed action on other ocean uses, these reviews take place within a specialized context that tends to be biased toward a particular outcome, either protection or development, depending on the particular law in question;

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• few opportunities exist for rational and long-range planning for the protection, enhancement and use of ocean resources in particular regions; • because resources are managed on a use-by-use basis, few opportunities exist for the interested public to debate overall priorities and goals for a particular resource or region or contribute to making trade-off decisions among different sets of values expressed by user groups; • conflicts among different ocean sectors, including conflicts among different users and different government agencies, are difficult to solve through public means because no agency or other authoritative source has jurisdiction over such conflicts. These marine conflicts can be costly in many ways; they can result in extensive delays, threaten public order and safety, threaten the long-term well-being of marine resources, and involve excessive duplication and waste on the part of government. It should be acknowledged that at least two cross-sectoral devices exist in the present ocean policy framework of the United States. The first of these —the environmental impact statement process under the National Environmental Policy Act—is designed to insure that all of the potentially affected interests have an opportunity to review proposed federal actions that could adversely affect them. The second, the federal consistency provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, provide a coastal state with an approved coastal zone management program the power, within limits, to require that federal actions be consistent with the policies contained in the state’s coastal zone management program. However, both of these mechanisms tend to activate rather late in the life of a specific proposal and, hence, do not serve as a substitute for the use of a better integrated policy framework early in project planning. In the final section, some conclusions are drawn concerning the effectiveness and impact of the U.S. ocean policy making process, especially with reference to several pending and emerging ocean issues. Some attention is also given to factors that could create pressures for “reforming” the present ocean policy framework into a better integrated, multi-sectoral approach.

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SECTION 4 DRAWING SOME CONCLUSIONS AND LOOKING AHEAD It would be wrong to conclude that national ocean policy in the United States is in a state of crisis. To be sure, parts of the ocean policy process are in trouble. To be sure, the single purpose approach is showing signs of stress and strain as the number and variety of ocean users increase. To be sure, tensions between a number of the coastal states and territories and the federal government over ocean issues are growing. But this having been said, the U.S. almost certainly has the most well-developed and wideranging set of domestic ocean statutes of any coastal nation. And, beyond our borders, the U.S., with some well-known exceptions, has generally been a leader in encouraging the progressive development of ocean law and practice at the international level. Yet a growing number of analysts believe that it is time for a serious review of U.S. national ocean policy [12]. These observers point to the significant changes that have taken place since the last comprehensive study by the Stratton Commission more than 20 years ago—the great increase in environmental concern, the emergence of an energy “crisis,” the complete transformation of international ocean law—to mention only three. One can also point to the following as signs of a partially failed or, at the very least, incomplete policy process: • A virtual stalemate currently exists between certain states and the federal government over offshore oil development • Existing fishery management policies and programs do not seem to be capable of halting the serious decline in many commercial and recreationally important fish stocks • The nation as yet has no national policy and program for handling the very extensive EEZ that it acquired nine years ago • Regulatory frameworks do not yet exist for certain emerging EEZ activities such as hard minerals and offshore aquaculture • Governance arrangements for the recently expanded territorial sea remain to be addressed • The policy decision to prohibit the ocean dumping of municipal sewage sludge after 1991 appears to have been taken without the benefit of a study of the land-based consequences of such a ban and without a thorough examination of alternative approaches to the use of the oceans for certain waste disposal practices

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Another factor which is putting strain on the ocean policy apparatus in the United States beyond simply the increase in ocean uses and users, is the change in character of some of those uses. Increasingly, ocean activities are tying up substantial, fixed areas of ocean for relatively long periods of time [13]. Oil production platforms, together with their extensive safety zones and sea floor pipeline networks can remove large volumes of ocean space from other uses for periods of up to 30 years or more. Ocean dumping sites have some of these same characteristics. And, as ocean mining becomes a reality, large sea floor areas will be involved and again time periods of decades will be associated with these uses. It is becoming clear that the present single-sector approach is not well suited to provide the kind of area-based and integrated ocean governance that is increasingly needed. Just as suburban populations join together to incorporate a new, general purpose government when their growing interactions and needs warrant it, so important and heavily used ocean areas may be approaching the time when they require a more sophisticated form of ocean governance—something more akin to a general purpose government. Similarly, consideration needs to be given to the use of regional mechanisms, perhaps similar to the regional fishery management councils, for governing multiple uses in various parts of the extensive U.S. EEZ. Moving from the issue of ocean governance per se, Miles [13] and Underdal [14] have expressed the view that coastal nations need an integrated national ocean policy process. By this they mean the ability to formulate and implement ocean policy as an integrated whole, balancing the overall interests of the nation in the short and long term. Miles also notes that policy integration in one issue area is usually achieved at the expense of other issue areas and that policy integration can more easily be achieved in issue areas deemed to have a large national interest. Unless the national ocean situation of a given nation is such that the salience of ocean issues rises to a high level (as it does in the Netherlands, for example), it is unlikely that the political will and administrative resolve will exist to pay the price required to overcome the resistance to policy integration. Where do ocean issues currently stand in the U.S. in terms of salience and perceptions of the national interest? Even the most casual examination of this question over the last four years reveals a great variability in both time and place. Four years ago, offshore oil and gas policy dominated presidential election politics in the most populous state in the union— California. The summer of 1988 also found millions of people (and their governmental representatives) greatly agitated over medical wastes and

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other sordid materials being deposited on East coast beaches. Today (1992) sees a lull—almost certainly temporary—in these particular concerns, but a growing interest concerning other ocean issues such as the decline in fisheries stocks and deterioration of many of the nation’s estuaries. The fragmented nature of the present national ocean policy situation in the U.S. was well described by the House of Representatives Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries in a 1983 report [15] accompanying legislation creating a new National Ocean Policy Commission and charging it to develop recommendations for a “comprehensive national oceans policy.” Both the Executive and Legislative Branches are hampered by jurisdictional disputes and by the absence of an effective central policymaking apparatus capable of rising regularly above those disputes. Responsibilities for ocean programs within the Executive Branch is shared by nine departments, eight independent agencies, and approximately thirty-eight agencies within Cabinet-level departments. Nor are these divisions distinct. Jurisdictions over similar activities are split between several agencies, resulting in further complexity. Each of these agencies must implement the laws within its jurisdiction, augment Congressional policy directives with its own administrative policies, and make judgments about the relative value of its programs in the annual budgetary process. Since the perspective of each agency is shaped by the constituencies it serves and the responsibilities it fulfills, these divisions within the Executive Branch result in a maze of programs and policies that diverge widely. The report goes on to say: Within Congress, legislative responsibilities are shared by thirty-nine subcommittees of twelve standing committees in the House of Representatives, and thirty-six subcommittees of ten standing committees in the Senate. The institutional obstacles posed by this diffusion of responsibility for systematic and consistent policymaking are substantial. Given this situation, is there any real prospect that the problems and challenges outlined above can be met? With the existing fragmentation in the Congress, the Executive Branch, and the constituency groups, can an

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ocean policy “reform” effort be initiated and sustained? By whom? With what support? Can it possibly succeed? Several developments have occurred recently that could introduce new factors into the national ocean policy equation which could eventually result in alteration of both the ocean policy making process itself and the substantive content of that policy in the years ahead. It can be anticipated, however, that such change will be incremental and probably will take place over a relatively long period. 1. Increasing ocean policy competence and interest in some of the coastal states— Ocean policy activities of states such as Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, California, and North Carolina can be expected to continue and even increase as state ocean interests become clearer. To respond effectively to these initiatives, the federal government may be forced to develop a more integrated policy process at the national level. 2. A reawakening of ocean interest in parts of the Congress— Concerns over the federal offshore oil and gas program have activated several powerful Congressmen from states such as California and Massachusetts. These same Congressmen were instrumental in passing a strengthened coastal zone management measure in 1990. It is possible that this informal ocean coalition could play an even broader role in ocean policy in the future. 3. Developments in the international arena— To the extent that the recent ruling under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) involving an effort by the U.S. to “export” its policies regarding the loss of porpoises in tuna fishing is indicative of a trend, the U.S. might be forced to move toward a more integrated policy process in the future. 4. Serious declines in fish stocks—Precipitous declines in important fish stocks are causing conservation and environmental groups to begin to turn their attention to fisheries conservation and management and the policies undergirding them. If politically strong interest groups such as these begin active participation in the policy process, policy changes could result. 5. Threat of accelerated sea level rise—If concerns about climate change and its associated impacts continue to grow and if the threat of accelerated sea level rise, especially along the U.S. east and gulf coasts continues to exist, then proposals to formulate ocean and coastal policy in a broader more integrated context could emerge.

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6. Concern over U.S. competitiveness—If concrete evidence is obtained that other nations are developing and implementing more comprehensive approaches to the utilization of their national ocean assets, pressure could be put on the U.S. to do the same. One could imagine, for example, a need developing for a more aggressive and better integrated national program for exploitation of the EEZ. Assuming that these kinds of pressures and concerns do eventually create a “window of opportunity” for ocean policy change in the United States, what should be done? Does a review of the past and an appraisal of current and future needs provide an indication as to how U.S. national ocean policy should be changed? To this author, three broad areas for action exist: 1. The adoption, by legislation, of a clearly articulated set of national ocean priorities to be used in allocation of resources and in the early identification and resolution of conflicts. 2. The establishment of a central ocean policy development and coordination mechanism at a sufficiently high level in the federal executive branch to ensure agency cooperation and compliance. 3. In close cooperation with the coastal states and territories and building on steps 1 and 2 above, the design and implementation of a better integrated, area-based system of ocean governance. The United States has probably the largest and richest ocean zone of any nation. It also has developed, over the last two decades, what is almost certainly the most extensive body of domestic ocean law of any nation. Yet, the ocean policy making process itself, including the ocean governance system now being employed is of a rudimentary, even primitive, nature. With but few exceptions, the policy processes are fragmented at virtually every level and few, if any, integrating mechanisms or linkages exist. There is reason to believe, however, that as the use of U.S. ocean resources and ocean space accelerates, as it surely will, pressures will develop for refinements and improvements of the existing policy framework. The driving force for these changes could be a perceived ocean crisis of some sort. Serious declines in important fish stocks or the threat of sea level rise are obvious candidates. Alternatively, the coastal states could increase their demands that the federal government become a better integrated partner in the ocean governance process thus leading to change and/or the growing interdependence of nations and the resulting increase in international constraints could force the establishment of a more

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rational framework for national ocean policy-making. One way or the other, it is reasonable to conclude that new forces and new needs are likely to bring change and improvement to ocean governance in the United States over the next decade or so. REFERENCES 1.

2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9. 10.

11.

12. 13.

14. 15.

Miles, Edward L., Future Challenges in Ocean Management: Towards Integrated National Ocean Policy, prepared for Genoa Conference on Ocean Management, 1992. Mangone, Gerard, Marine Policy for America. D.C.Hath & Co., Lexington, MA, 1988, 2nd Ed. Kmiec,., Legal Issues Raised by the Proposed Presidential Proclamation to Extend the Territorial Sea, Territorial Sea, 9, 1990. Sundquist, James L., The Decline and Resurgence of Congress, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, p. 377. Kitsos, Thomas R. , U.S. Ocean Policy and the Uncertainty of Implementation in the 80s: A Legislative Perspective, Marine Technology Society Journal, 15:3, 1981, pp. 3–11. Cicin-Sain, Biliana, Managing the Ocean Commons: U.S. Marine Programs in the Seventies and Eighties, Marine Technology Society Journal, 16:4, 1982. Cicin-Sain, Biliana and Robert W.Knecht, The Problem of Governance of U.S. Ocean Resources and the New Exclusive Economic Zone, Ocean Development and International Law, 15:3– 4, 1985. King, Lauriston R., The Executive and the Oceans: Three Decades of United States Marine Policy, Marine Technology Society Journal, 22:1, 1989, pp. 17–32. Matuzeski, William, Managing the Federal Coastal Program, American Planning Association Journal, Summer, 1985. Knecht, Robert W., Biliana Cicin-Sain, and Jack H.Archer. National Ocean Policy: A Window of Opportunity, Ocean Development and International Law, 19, 1988, pp. 113–142. Cicin-Sain, Biliana, Multiple Use Conflicts and Their Resolution: Toward a Comparative Research Agenda, prepared for the Genoa Conference n Ocean Management, 1992. See, for example, references [6], [7], [8], and [10]. Knecht, Robert W., The Exclusive Economic Zone: A New Opportunity in Federal-State Ocean Relations, in Maynard Silva, ed., Ocean Resources and U.S. Intergovernmental Relations, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1986. Underdal, Arild, Integrated Marine Policy: What? Why? How? Marine Policy, July 1980, pp. 159–169. Report of House of Representative Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries (U.S. Congress) , Report 98–339, Part 2, August 1, 1983.

THE ROLE OF NATIONAL JURISDICTIONAL ZONES IN OCEAN MANAGEMENT MORITAKA HAYASHI Principal Officer United Nations Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea 2 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA

ABSTRACT Under traditional law of the sea, the sovereignty or exclusive jurisdiction of states extended to the outer limit of a fairly narrow band of the sea. The Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea started the process of revolutionary changes in this traditional regime, creating two entirely new zones of national jurisdiction, and introducing significant changes to the regimes of the continental shelf and of passage through straits. The coastal states are thus confronted with greatly expanded ocean space and also more complicated combination of different zones to manage and protect. This paper analyzes each of the zones from the point of view of coastal states’ rights and duties in managing their space and resources and protecting their environment. INTRODUCTION Under international law, coastal states have clearly-defined rights and duties in the ocean space adjacent to their coasts. Such ocean space, including the seabed and subsoil thereof, is legally divided into several zones with different characteristics. In managing their coastal areas and more distant ocean areas under their jurisdiction, the coastal state must abide by the rules established by the international community. This paper attempts to clarify the juridical prerequisite for managing coastal zones and other ocean space under national jurisdiction, and to examine what states must

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do in order to fulfil their international obligations and what they could do in order to better manage the various zones under their national jurisdiction. Trends in state practice is this regard will also be summarized as appropriate. The basic rules of international law relevant to the question are set out in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter “the Convention”). Indeed, as the World Commission on Environment and Development aptly stressed, the Convention represents “a major step towards an integrated management regime for the oceans.” [1] Many of the Convention provisions concerned are the restatement of existing customary law. The Convention, however, also created a number of important new concepts and rules, which have since been rapidly accepted almost universally, even before the entry into force of the Convention. The most significant new regime with extensive management implications is that of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Another newly established regime is that of archipelagic states and waters. Other national jurisdictional zones or areas belong to the traditional category, i.e. internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone and the continental shelf. It is important to note, however, that significant changes have been introduced by the Convention to some of these zones and areas as well. Indeed, the overall scale of rewriting the jurisdictional map was so great that the Convention was described as involving “the biggest reallocation of jurisdiction over areas of the globe ever to have taken place.” [2] In the following, each of these zones or areas will be discussed, with the main focus on the EEZ. INTERNAL WATERS The areas of sea which lie on the landward side of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial sea is measured belong to internal waters and are subject to the sovereignty of the state concerned. There is, however, one important exception. This is the case of archipelagic states, where the delimitation line of internal waters is entirely different, as we shall see below. Internal waters are normally small areas like ports, mouths of rivers, creeks and bays, as compared with other jurisdictional zones. But in some cases they comprise large bodies of waters such as semi-enclosed inland seas, river mouths forming large-scale deltas, bays with deep pockets, and the waters enclosed by a series of straight baselines. More significant for managerial point of view is the fact that these are the areas where critical

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habitats for sustaining marine life such as mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass beds are often located, although some of these are also found in the territorial sea and even beyond. Internal waters are in principle treated just like the land territory. The exercise of coastal state’s sovereignty is generally not subject to other rules of international law as in the case of the territorial sea. Thus ships of other countries do not enjoy the right of innocent passage in internal waters, except in one case, where the drawing of a straight baseline has the effect of enclosing as internal waters areas which had not previously been considered as such (the Convention, art. 8(2)). The coastal state, however, is not entirely free to take whatever measure it wants to manage its internal waters: Under the Convention, all states have “the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment” (art. 192), and the exploitation of their natural resources must be “in accordance with their duty to protect and preserve the marine environment (art. 193). They are obliged to take “all measures consistent with [the] Convention that are necessary to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from any source (art. 194(1)). Particularly important among various sources of pollution in the context of internal waters are land-based sources and dumping, which includes the disposal of wastes like sewage and other matter from vessels and pipes. States are also required to take measures that are necessary to protect and preserve rare or fragile ecosystems and marine life habitat (art. 194(5)). The application of international rules for environmental protection to internal waters is made explicit in several regional agreements on marine pollution from land-based sources, such as those for the north Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, the southeast Pacific and the region covered by the Kuwait Regional Convention for Cooperation on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Pollution [3]. In addition to the general obligations, in the regions where two or more states share a body of water, they are required to take extra measures to ensure that activities under their jurisdiction do not cause transboundary damage to other states and their environment (art. 194(2)). Furthermore, states bordering an enclosed or semi-enclosed sea have the obligation to endeavour to coordinate the implementation of their rights and duties with respect to the protection and preservation of the marine environment (art. 123). On the other hand, coastal states are allowed to adopt special antipollution requirements as a condition for the entry of foreign vessels into their ports or internal waters. In that case they must give due publicity to such requirements and communicate them to the competent international

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organization, i.e., the International Maritime Organization (IMO) (art. 211 (3)). TERRITORIAL SEA The sovereignty of coastal states extends not only to internal waters but also to the territorial sea, the maximum breadth of which is 12 nautical miles measured from the baseline. The overwhelming majority of coastal states—133 of the 148 coastal states—have in fact established the limit of their territorial sea at 12 miles or less. Under the Convention, coastal states are obliged to prepare relatively large-scaled charts indicating the baselines (other than the normal baselines which are the low-water lines) for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea, or a list of geographical coordinates of points, specifying the geodetic datum for the same purpose. These charts or lists of coordinates must be given due publicity by the coastal state and a copy must be deposited with the United Nations (art. 16). It is thus necessary for coastal states to conduct detailed hydrographic and geographical surveys in order to establish and record their baselines. For many countries, the drawing of such baselines requires technical and financial resources which are not readily available. Many developing countries do not have a hydrographic service. Technical assistance may be sought from, among others, the International Hydrographic Organization, which has prepared a useful manual on the question [4]. IMO has also started projects of assisting states to improve their hydrographic services [5]. It may also be noted that the UN Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UN/OALOS) has published a booklet containing guidelines for establishing baseline with a view to assisting states in implementing the Convention provisions [6]. Regarding the rights and duties of the coastal state, most of the points made in respect of internal waters apply also to the territorial sea. As pointed out above, however, the most important difference is the right of innocent passage which the coastal state must recognize to ships of all states as far they follow certain rules set out in the Convention and laws and regulations which the coastal state adopt in conformity therewith. Such laws and regulations may relate to: the safety of navigation; the protection of navigation aids, various kinds of facilities, cables and pipelines; the conservation of the living resources; the prevention of infringement of laws and regulations regarding fisheries, customs, immigration and sanitation; the protection and preservation of the environment; and marine scientific research and hydrographic surveys (art.

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21(1)). The coastal state may also designate sea lanes and traffic separation schemes for passage by foreign ships when necessary having regard to the safety of navigation, taking into account the recommendations of IMO (art. 22). These elements would give the coastal state extensive grounds on which it can manage the space and resources of its territorial sea. With respect to the protection and preservation of the marine environment, the coastal state is required to take, in addition to those mentioned in regard to internal waters, measures to minimize pollution from such other sources as vessels as well as installations and devices for seabed mineral exploitation and other purposes (art. 194(3)). Particularly with regard to pollution from vessels in the territorial sea, coastal states may adopt laws and regulations on such pollution from foreign vessels, provided that they do not hamper their innocent passage (art. 211(4)). In taking those measures, however, the coastal state must always bear in mind the legitimate use of the its territorial sea by other states: it must “refrain from unjustifiable interference with activities” carried out by other states in conformity with the Convention (art. 194(4)). Such activities may include, in addition to navigation of ships exercising their right of innocent passage, the fishery, marine scientific research and dumping which the coastal state itself has authorized. STRAITS USED FOR INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATION The Convention has established a special regime, called transit passage, for unimpeded navigation and overflight through straits which are used for international navigation and connecting one part of the high seas or an EEZ and another part of the high seas or an EEZ. Since such straits are part of the territorial sea of the bordering states, the regime of the territorial sea generally applies to such areas except with respect to transit passage as stipulated in the Convention. Such states may adopt laws and regulations in respect of navigation safety and traffic regulation, pollution control, the prevention of fishing, and the illegal loading and unloading of commodity, currency or person. For navigation safety and traffic regulation, such states may establish sea lanes and traffic separation schemes, which must conform to generally accepted international regulations and must be adopted by IMO with their concurrence (art. 41). It may be noted that this requirement of IMO’s involvement is much more strict than the case of innocent passage, where the coastal states are required merely to take into account its recommendations.

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On the other hand, states bordering straits are not allowed to hamper or suspend transit passage. And they must give appropriate publicity to any danger to navigation or overflight that they are or may become aware of (art. 44). CONTIGUOUS ZONE The contiguous zone is a zone of special jurisdictional purposes contiguous to the territorial sea, which a coastal state may claim up to 24 nautical miles from the baseline for measuring the territorial sea. The coastal state may, in such zone, exercise the control necessary for two purposes only: (1) to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea; and (2) to punish infringement of such laws and regulations committed within its territorial sea (art. 33(1)). In this connection, the coastal states may presume that the removal of archaeological and historical objects from the seabed of the contiguous zone without its approval would result in such infringement (art. 303). It appears clear that the Convention does not permit a coastal state to claim a contiguous zone or similar zone, as several states do [7], for the protection of its own security. The contiguous zone is not appurtenant to the coastal state’s territory as in the case of the territorial sea; it must be claimed as in the case of the EEZ. Nor is it exclusive in nature as the territorial sea and the EEZ. This zone may be useful especially in regions where there are wide divergencies in the prices of commodities or precious metals, which tend to encourage smuggling, or where workers are attracted to enter states illegally because of high wages [8]. A coastal state with potential discoveries of archaeological or historical objects beyond its territorial sea may also utilize this zone for the purpose of controlling traffic in such objects, as France has done [9]. ARCHIPELAGIC WATERS The Convention has created the new regime of archipelagic state and archipelagic waters. Archipelagic state is defined in the Convention as a state constituted wholly by one or more archipelagos, with or without other islands. It is a special type of state which is singled out in the Convention, with a series of special rules, because of its unique nature characterized particularly by island groups and interconnecting waters and other natural features forming an intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity (art. 46).

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Archipelagic waters are a new category of sea area enclosed by the baselines, including in most cases a number of straight baselines which archipelagic states may draw joining the outermost points of the outermost islands and drying reefs of the archipelago, in accordance with the strict requirements set forth in the Convention. The archipelagic waters could be of considerable size compared to the land territory of such states. However, the ratio of such waters to the area of land may not exceed 9 to 1 and the maximum length of the straight baselines is 100 nautical miles, except that up to 3 per cent of the total number of baselines may exceed that length, up to 125 miles (art. 47). Within archipelagic waters, archipelagic states may also draw closing lines for the delimitation of internal waters across the mouth of rivers and bays of their islands. Although archipelagic waters are located inside the belt of the territorial sea and the sovereignty of the archipelagic state extends to such waters, their bed and subsoil as well as the air space over them, the exercise of their sovereignty is subject to several important rules mainly because of the fact that until recently much of such waters were part of the high seas. In managing this unique water body and its resources, therefore, an archipelagic state assumes, inter alia, the following duties: (a) It must recognize the right of innocent passage of all ships of all states, just like in the territorial sea. (b) It must also recognize the right of foreign ships and aircraft of “archipelagic sea lanes passage”, through sea lanes and air routes thereabove which it designates, or through the routes normally used for international navigation if it chooses not to designate them. Archipelagic sea lanes passage is the navigation and overflight in the normal mode solely for the purpose of continuous, expeditious and unobstructed transit be between one part of the high seas or an EEZ and another part of the high seas or an EEZ (art. 53). Where sea lanes or traffic separation schemes are necessary for the safe passage of ships, the archipelagic state must obtain the approval of IMO. (c) It must respect existing agreements with other states and recognize traditional fishing rights and other legitimate activities of the immediately adjacent neighbouring states (art. 51(1)). Likewise, if a part of the archipelagic waters lies between two parts of an immediately neighbouring state, the archipelagic states must respect existing rights and all other legitimate interests that the latter state has traditionally exercised and all rights stipulated by agreement between the two states (art. 47(6)).

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Regarding the protection and preservation of the marine environment, many provions applicable to internal waters and the territorial sea apply also to archipelagic waters. Here the rules for special habitat protection (art. 194 (5)) are of particular importance because of the frequent occurrence in such waters, which are mostly situated in the tropical or semi-tropical zones, of rare or fragile ecosystems. Archipelagic states are thus obliged to manage their archipelagic waters and their resources so as to avoid conflicts between their own interests and uses on the one hand, and the interests of international sea and air navigation as well as traditional rights and uses by other states, such as fishing and the maintenance of submarine cables, on the other. Other arrangements made through existing agreements with respect to other uses of the waters must also be respected. Fourteen states have so far declared themselves to be archipelagic states. Their national legislation is generally in conformity with the Convention provisions. In some cases, recognition of traditional rights is made through a bilateral treaty [10]. EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE The Convention has conferred on coastal states the following general rights in their EEZ, which could be extended up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline (art. 56): (a) “Sovereign rights” (1) for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources of the water column, the seabed and its subsoil; and (2) with regard to other activities for the economic exploration and exploitation of the zone; (b) “Jurisdiction” with regard to: (1) the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures; and (2) marine scientific research, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment. The detailed rules regarding such jurisdiction are laid down in the Convention. These rights and jurisdiction of the coastal state are accompanied by a series of obligations for the purpose of conserving the living resources, protecting and preserving the marine environment, and accommodating various other interests and different uses of the ocean. Some of the provisions regarding these rights and obligations are extremely detailed and complex, and their exercise and implementation in the vast EEZ space

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poses variable challenges for many coastal states. Given the size of the ocean space covered and the number of differing interests and uses involved, as well as the richness of its living and non-living resources, the EEZ is the area where integrated management plays an important role. Indeed, a careful reading of the relevant provisions of the Convention will lead one to conclude that such management is essential for the effective implementation of the Convention’s objectives in general as well as for securing the maximum benefit for all humankind from the sustainable development of resources and the rational use of the ocean space. From the viewpoint of ocean management, most important issues regarding EEZ relate to the exploitation of living and non-living resources, the establishment of artificial islands and facilities, the conduct of marine scientific research and the protection of the marine environment. The exploitation of non-living resources, though covered by the EEZ regime also, is governed by the regime of the continental shelf, which will be dealt with in the next section. Management of the Living Resources With respect to the living resources in the EEZ, the coastal state has the fundamental obligation to take proper conservation and management measures and to ensure that the maintenance of the living resources is not endangered by over-exploitation. In doing so, the coastal state is required to take into account “the best scientific evidence available to it” and to cooperate with competent international organizations (art. 61(2)), which could be the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) or various regional fisheries bodies. The conservation and management measures of the coastal state must be designed to maintain and restore populations of harvested species at maximum sustainable yields, which needs to be qualified by relevant environmental and economic factors, including the economic needs of coastal fishing countries and the special requirements of developing countries. The coastal state is further required to take into consideration the effects of such measures on species associated with or dependent on harvested species, so that the reproduction of the former species may not be seriously threatened (art. 61(3)–(4)). Taking into account all these factors, the coastal state is obliged to determine the total allowable catch (TAC) of the living resources in the EEZ (art. 61(1)), and to promote the objective of their “optimum utilization” (art. 62(1)). In order to fulfil those obligations, it would be necessary for the coastal state to undertake research and the assessment of

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its resource potentialities. This is not an easy task for many countries. Assistance is therefore often sought from FAO, regional fisheries organizations and other research bodies. The coastal state is then required to determine its own capacity to harvest the resources, which may be the same as or below the TAC. In the latter case, it must give other states access to the surplus of the TAC, having particular regard to the rights of land-locked and geographically disadvantaged states (art. 62(2)– (3)). In giving such access, the coastal state needs to take into account “all relevant factors,” which include, inter alia: (a) the significance of the living resources of the area to the economy of the coastal state concerned and its other national interests; (b) the provisions of articles 69 and 70, regarding the land-locked and geographically disadvantaged states; (c) the requirements of developing countries in the region in harvesting parts of the surplus; and (d) the need to minimize economic dislocation in states whose nationals have habitually fished in the zone or which have made substantial efforts in research and identification of stocks (art. 62 (3)). It should be noted that the coastal state alone has the discretionary power to determine both the TAC and its harvesting capacity, and any dispute regarding such power is not subject to compulsory judicial settlement. However, disputes which arise from arbitrary refusal to make any of such determination may be submitted unilaterally to a conciliation procedure by the third state concerned (art. 297(3)(a) & (b)(ii)). The most common arrangement by which access is given to foreign fishermen is bilateral agreement between the governments concerned. Other methods, however, could also be used, such as direct licensing, informal executive authorization or multilateral agreements or arrangements through regional fisheries bodies [11]. The coastal state, on the other hand, may take necessary conservation measures and adopt laws and regulations with a view to controlling fishing activities by the nationals of such other states having access to its EEZ (art. 62(4)). In order to enforce its laws and regulations, the coastal state may take such measures as boarding, inspection, arrest and judicial proceedings. They may not, however, include imprisonment, in the absence of agreements to the contrary by the states concerned, or any other form of corporal punishment. Moreover, the coastal state must promptly

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release arrested vessels and their crews once reasonable bond or other security is posted for them (art. 73). Although coastal states have generally adopted those rules in their national legislation, one conspicuous exception seems to be the fact that a number of states have provided for imprisonment in the case of violation of regulations [12]. Many countries actually face great difficulties in conducting effective surveillance and taking satisfactory enforcement measures, particularly due to the vastness of their EEZs [13]. An innovative scheme to be noted in this connection is the joint regional surveillance and enforcement system adopted by the South Pacific Forum countries [14]. The concept of regional registers of foreign fishing vessels is also gaining increasing attention [15]. In a latest development, 22 African countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean concluded an agreement to promote “organized fisheries management” through harmonization of their fisheries policies in their EEZs, in particular with regard to fixing quotas of catch and joint regulation of fishing seasons, and joint surveillance and control of fishing vessels [16]. In addition to the rules generally applicable to the living resources of the EEZ described above, the Convention contains several special provisions with regard to certain types of stocks. Particularly important for managerial purposes are anadromous stocks, stocks straddling the EEZ and the high seas or occuring in the EEZs of two or more states, and highly migratory species. Anadromous Stocks. Regarding anadromous stocks, like salmon, the state of origin, i.e., the state in whose rivers such stocks originate, is given “the primary interest in and responsibility for” such stocks. As a consequence, the state of origin has the obligation to ensure their conservation by establishing regulatory measures for their fishing in the EEZ. The Convention confines anadromous stock fisheries only to the waters landward of the outer limit of the EEZs, save in certain exceptional cases where this new rule would cause “economic dislocation” for a country other than the state of origin. For such exceptional fisheries on the high seas, states concerned must consult in order to agree on their terms and conditions. The state of origin has the duty to cooperate with other fishing states in or beyond the EEZ in order to minimize the economic dislocation in the latter, giving special consideration to them in cases where they have participated in taking measures to renew such stocks, particularly by expenditures for that purpose. Furthermore in cases where such stocks migrate into or through the waters landward of the EEZ limit

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of other states, they must cooperate with the state of origin in regard to their conservation and management (art. 66). In practice, salmon fisheries have been quite well regulated by national legislation as well as bilateral and multilateral treaties. Although some treaties have permitted the harvesting of anadromous stocks on the high seas on the basis of traditional fishing, the present tendency is to phase out all such catch on the high seas [17]. Shared and Straddling Stocks. The boundaries between the EEZs of two or more states are artificial ones which fish do not respect. In some bordering areas, therefore, the same fish stock or stocks that are dependent on, related to or otherwise associated each other occur within both sides of the boundary. Similarly, the same stock or stocks of associated species could occur within the EEZ and in an adjacent area of the high seas. In both cases, the Convention recognizes the need for the states concerned to seek cooperative or coordinated measures for the conservation of such stocks, either directly or through appropriate regional organization. More specifically, in the first case, the states concerned must seek to agree upon the measures necessary to coordinate and ensure the conservation and development of such stocks (art. 63(1)). Such states are therefore not free to manage those stocks at will even though they are physically in their EEZ; they must make good faith efforts to coordinate their conservation and development measures, or to otherwise cooperate, with those of the other states concerned. Some coastal states envisage such cooperation in their national legislation, but more often bilateral agreements between the states concerned provide for specific measures to be taken. In the second case, the coastal state and the states fishing for such stocks in the adjacent high sea area must seek to agree on the measures necessary for their conservation in the adjacent area (art. 63(2)). Although the states fishing for such stocks in the high sea area enjoy the freedom of fishing, their freedom may be exercised subject to the rights, duties and interests of the coastal states (art. 116(b)). Thus, if such stocks within its EEZ are negatively affected by fishing in the adjacent high sea areas, the coastal state has the right and the duty to seek an agreement on conservation measures with the states whose nationals are engaged in the fishing in question. In practice, some regional fishery organizations, such as those in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific, have adopted some measures to coordinate the conservation efforts. Problems, however, appear to be growing in some regions. It was in view of such problems, as well as other issues of high seas fisheries, that UN/OALOS has recently initiated expert consultations on high seas fisheries. The report of the consultations, to be

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published shortly, contains a set of guidelines for better implementation of the Convention regime. Highly Migratory Species. For those species which have a high degree of mobility and thus migrate a long distance between EEZs and the high seas, the Convention obliges the coastal state and the fishing state in the region to cooperate with a view to ensuring their conservation and promoting the objective of their optimum utilization throughout the region. Such species, the most important of which for commercial purposes are various species of tuna, are called highly migratory species and they are listed in 17 categories in an annex to the Convention. In implementing this provision, the Convention expresses a clear preference of going through relevant international organizations. In fact, such organizations already exist in several regions. In the regions where no such organization exists, the states concerned are still required to cooperate directly, but they are at the same time called upon to cooperate to establish such organization and participate in its work (art. 64). Artificial Islands, Installations and Structures. Within the EEZ, the coastal states have the “exclusive right” to construct and to authorize and regulate the construction, operation and use of (a) “artificial islands” (for any purpose), (b) “installations and structures” for economic purposes, and (c) “installations and structures” which may interfere with the exercise of the rights of the coastal state in the zone. The coastal state also has “exclusive jurisdiction” over such artificial islands, installations and structures (art. 60(l)–(2)). Although these terms appear to be broad enough to cover almost all major artificial structures constructed in the EEZ, whether fixed or floating, the fact that the Convention carefully enumerated only three categories implies that any other type of installations or structures would be excluded. It must therefore be worth noting that, despite a tendency in national legislation of a number of states to establish their jurisdiction over artificial installations and structures of any kinds [18], coastal states’ rights are limited to those specifically prescribed in the Convention. When constructing such artificial islands, installations or structures, the coastal state has the duty to give due notice of them and to keep permanent means for giving warning of their presence. Where necessary, the coastal states may also establish safety zones around them, extending up to 500 metres, with due notice given to their extent (art. 60(4)–(6)). The coastal state, however, cannot establish such artificial islands, installations or structures wherever it wants in its EEZ: It must avoid the

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areas where interference may be caused to the use of recognized sea lanes essential to international navigation. Another rule in favour of safety of navigation is the duty of the coastal state to remove installations or structures which are abandoned or disused. Although complete removal of the entire installations or structures are not necessarily required as far as the safety of navigation is ensured, the coastal state must take into account generally accepted international standards, which would be prepared by IMO [19]. In “removing” them, the coastal state must also give due regard to fishing, environmental protection, and the rights and duties of other states (art. 60(3)). An interesting point in this connection is the fact that some of such installations often become attractive habitat for fish. There appears to be a tendency in recent years to establish protection zones around artificial islands, installations or structures that are wider than 500 metres [20]. Such practice of states must be reviewed against the carefully balanced provisions of the Convention. Conduct of Marine Scientific Research. Under the Convention, coastal states have the right to regulate, authorize and conduct marine scientific research in their EEZ. They do not, however, have the “exclusive” jurisdiction as several states have claimed in their legislation [21]. It has established a “consent regime,” under which such research is to be conducted with the consent of the coastal state. In normal circumstances, however, the coastal state must grant such consent. For this purpose, coastal states are required to establish rules and procedures ensuring that such consent will not be delayed or denied unreasonably (art. 246(1)–(3)). In certain specified cases, the coastal state may withhold its consent to a research project of another state or an international organization. They include the cases where the project is of direct significance for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources, or involves the construction or use of artificial islands, installations and structures (art. 246 (5)). The coastal state has also the rights to participate if it so desires in the research project to be conducted in its EEZ, especially on board research vessels, to receive reports and the final results, to be given access to all data and samples derived from the project and to receive an assessment of such data and samples and results (art. 249). On the other hand, coastal states—and all other states—have the general duty to promote international cooperation in marine scientific research for

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peaceful purposes, to cooperate to create favourable conditions for the conduct of such research. (art. 242). A practical guide has been published by UN/OALOS to assist states in implementing the consent regime by states [22]. It is hoped that the guide will serve as a tool with which states take legislative and management measures under the carefully balanced consent regime. Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment. The Convention makes little distinction between various jurisdictional zones with regard to the general obligation of states to protect and preserve the marine environment. Therefore the general duties mentioned in preceding sections apply equally to all other zones, including the EEZ. In the EEZ, the most important sources of pollution are those from vessels as well as from installations and devices used in exploration or exploitation of the seabed resources, though pollution from land-based sources and by dumping is also relevant. Unlike in internal waters and the territorial sea where the coastal state exercise sovereignty, it has merely “jurisdiction” in the EEZ with regard to the marine environmental protection. Because of this inclusive nature of the coastal state’s competence, the rule that “states shall refrain from unjustifiable interference with activities carried out by other states in the exercise of their rights and in pursuance of their duties in conformity with [the] Convention” (art. 194(4)) has important bearing in taking measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution in the EEZ. With regard to vessel-source pollution, the Convention relies heavily on international rules and standards to be established. The bulk of such rules and standards have been established and kept updated under IMO auspices in the 1973/78 MARPOL Convention. These global rules and standards are being further developed in several regional seas under UNEP’s auspices or otherwise. While flag states are required to adopt laws and regulations, which are at least as stringent as the generally accepted international rules and standards, and provide for their effective enforcement irrespective of where a violation occurs (arts. 211(2) & 217(1)), coastal states, for the purpose of establishing special areas in their EEZs, may adopt laws and regulations conforming to and giving effect to such international rules and standards (art. 211(5) & (6)). In order to deal with the violation of law in the EEZ, the coastal state may take the following measures: First, when the vessel concerned is voluntary

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within a port or at an offshore terminal of the coastal state, it may institute proceedings. Second, where there are clear grounds for believing that the vessel has committed a violation of applicable international rules and standards or its laws and regulations, the coastal state may require the vessel to give information regarding identity and port of registry, etc. and other relevant information required to establish whether a violation has occurred. Third, where there are clear grounds for believing that the vessel has committed such a violation resulting in a substantial discharge causing or threatening significant pollution, the coastal state may undertake physical inspection of the vessel if necessary. Fourth, where there is clear objective evidence that the vessel has committed such a violation resulting in a discharge causing major damage or threat of major damage to the coastline or related interests of the coastal state, or to any resources of its territorial sea or EEZ, that state may institute proceedings, including detention of the vessel (art. 220). The Convention has further introduced a new system of enforcement, i.e., that of port state enforcement. When a vessel is voluntarily within a port or at an offshore terminal of a state, that state may undertake investigations and, where evidence so warrants, institute proceedings in respect of any discharge from that vessel outside the areas of its jurisdiction in violation of applicable international rules and standards. In respect of a similar violation in the areas of national jurisdiction of another state, the port state may institute proceedings only at the request of that state, the flag state or a state damaged or threatened by the discharge, or when the violation has caused or is likely to cause pollution in the areas of the port state’s own jurisdiction (art. 218(1) & (2)). It is thus clear that with respect to enforcement of antipollution regulations in the EEZ the coastal state’s jurisdiction is not exclusive; it is a shared jurisdiction. It would therefore be necessary for those states whose national legislation characterizes this jurisdiction as “exclusive” to make necessary adjustments eventually [23]. With respect to pollution by dumping, states are required to adopt laws and regulations, and take other measures to prevent, reduce and control such pollution. Such laws, regulations, and measures must be of no less effective than the global rules and standards. The coastal state has the right to permit, regulate and control such dumping in its EEZ as in the territorial sea (art. 210). Such global rules and standards are mostly found in the 1972 London Dumping Convention and related decisions and recommendations adopted by the meetings of the states parties. Three categories of states are called upon to enforce laws and regulations relating to dumping: the coastal state with regard to dumping within the EEZ as

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well as the territorial sea and onto its continental shelf; the flag state with regard to vessels flying its flag or vessels or aircraft of its registry; and any State with regard to acts of loading of wastes or other matter occurring within its territory or at its offshore terminals (art. 216). Lastly with regard to pollution from seabed activities subject to national jurisdiction, states are similarly required to adopt laws and regulations and take other measures, which are no less effective than international rules and standards (art. 208). The Convention obliges states to enforce such laws and regulations and to take further measures necessary to implement applicable international rules and standards (art. 214). No such international rules and standards, however, have yet been adopted although a set of guidelines [24] have been prepared by UNEP and a regional protocol has recently been adopted [25]. CONTINENTAL SHELF The continental shelf is defined in the Convention as: the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance (art. 76(1)). The continental margin comprises the submerged prolongation of the land mass, and consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. Where the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baseline, the coastal state must establish its outer edge with the highly technical methods stipulated in article 76 of the Convention. The coastal state exercises over the continental shelf “sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources,” and these rights are exclusive in the sense that if the coastal state does not undertake any exploration or exploitation, no none may do so without the express consent of the coastal state. Unlike in the case of EEZ, the coastal state’s rights over the continental shelf do not depend on any express proclamation (art. 76(1)–(3)). Although the Convention generally maintains the legal regime of the continental shelf of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf, one important change pertains to the portion of the shelf extending beyond 200 miles from the baseline, i.e., the maximum limit of the EEZ.

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Under the new regime, the coastal state must make payments or contributions in kind in respect of the exploitation of the non-living resources in that portion of the shelf. Such payments and contributions will have to be made through the International Seabed Authority to be established upon entry into force of the Convention, which shall distribute them to states parties on the basis of equitable sharing criteria (art. 82). The “natural resources” consist not only of the mineral and other nonliving resources but also sedentary species, i.e., organisms which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or the subsoil (art. 77(4)). It should be noted that, although fishery for sedentary species is not different in principle from fishery for other species, the Convention excludes the application of Part VI (on EEZ) to such species (art. 68). The efficient management of non-living resources of the continental shelf would require, first of all, information and data relating to bathymetry, topography and morphology of the seabed. An important measure in this connection is seafloor mapping, containing all such information and data in a given area. Several states may usefully develop joint cooperative programmes for this purpose, as the case of the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC). States may also benefit from IOC’s Regional Bathymetric Chart Programme [26]. With regard to artificial islands, installations and structures on the continental shelf, the provisions of article 60 concerning those in the EEZ apply mutatis mutandis to them (art. 80). As regards pollution of the marine environment, the provisions for the EEZ with respect to pollution from seabed activities and by dumping apply as appropriate to the continental shelf [27]. With respect to drilling on the continental shelf, the coastal state has the exclusive right to authorize such activities for all purposes (art. 81). As far as marine scientific research is concerned, the coastal state has the right to regulate such research on the continental shelf just like within the EEZ, and the consent regime for the EEZ applies in principle to the continental shelf. However, they may not withhold their consent in respect of research projects to be undertaken beyond 200 miles from the baselines on account of that project being of direct significance for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources, except for those specific areas which they may publicly designate as area in which exploitation or detailed exploratory operations are occuring or will occur within a reasonable period of time (art. 246 (6)). On the other hand, the coastal state is not entirely free to exercise its rights over the continental shelf: First, it must not interfere unjustifiably

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with the freedoms and other rights of other states, particularly those relating to navigation, in the superjacent waters of its continental shelf. Secondly, it must respect the freedom of other states of laying submarine cables and pipelines, though it may take reasonable measures for the resource exploration and exploitation as well as for anti-pollution measures. The coastal state has also the right to approve the delineation of their course. CONCLUSIONS The new ocean regime as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is based on a delicate balance between divergent and often conflicting interests of states in their use of ocean space, resource exploitation and conservation, environmental protection and scientific investigation. Another important premise on which the regime is established is the recognition, recorded in the preamble to the Convention, that the problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and therefore need to be considered as a whole. Each state is accordingly expected exercise its rights and perform its duties always bearing in mind not only those of other states but also its own related rights and duties. The Convention defines such rights and duties in each of the zones that fall under national jurisdiction. The need to accommodate the interest of other states is the greatest in the EEZ, It is a multifunctional jurisdiction zone [28], where the coastal state has management responsibilities owed not merely to its own population but to other states as well as to the world community at large [29]. The continental shelf is also a functional zone, but the need for the coastal state to accommodate other states’ interests is far limited than the case of the EEZ. So is the contiguous zone, where the coastal state’s authority is itself quite restricted. The archipelagic waters, the territorial sea, the straits used for international navigation and the internal waters are territorial jurisdiction zones, where the management responsibilities of the coastal state are essentially for its own population. Nevertheless, except in most internal waters, the coastal state has the duty to accommodate particularly the vital interests of other states in navigation. (Opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations.)

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REFERENCES 1. 2.

3.

4. 5. 6.

7.

8. 9.

10.

11. 12. 13.

Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, UN Doc. A/42/427 (1987), p. 269. Lowe, A.A., Reflections on the waters changing conceptions of property rights in the law of the sea. International Journal of Estuarine and Coastal Law, 1986, 1, 1. See Paris Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land— Based Sources (1974), art. 3; Protocol (to the Barcelona Convention) for the Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-Based Sources (1980), art. 3; Protocol (to the Lima Convention) for the Protection of the South-East Pacific against Pollution from Land-Based Sources (1983), art. 1; and Protocol (to the Kuwait Convention) for the Protection of the Marine Environment against Pollution from Land-Based Sources (1990), art. 2. Technical Aspects of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, 2nd ed., International Hydrographic Bureau, Monaco, 1990. See UN Doc. A/46/722 (1991), para. 46. Baselines: An Examination of the Relevant Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, New York, 1988 (United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.88.V.5*). Smith, R.W., Exclusive Economic Zone Claims, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1986, p. 39. The United States has formally protested 13 such claims. A.Roach, Exclusive maritime claims. Proceedings, 84th Annual Meeting of Am. Soc. Int’l L., 1990, p. 291. Attard, D., The Exclusive Economic Zone and International Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987, pp. 128–129. For the text of the French law, see Law of the Sea Bulletin, No. 16, p. 12. See also A.de Marffy-Mantuano, Harmonisation du droit interne et du droit international de la mer: Quel droit applicable ? (Manuscript, p. 13. To be published in Collection espaces et ressources maritimes, no. 5 (1992).) Agoes, E.R., Management of the seas and coastal zones: a brief outlook on recent developments in Indonesia. In The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Impact and Implementation, eds. E.Brown and R.Churchill, Law of the Sea Institute, Honolulu, HI, 1987, p.459. Edeson, W.R., Types of agreements for exploitation of EEZ fisheries. Ibid., pp. 160–162. Kwiatkowska, B., The 200 Mile Exclusive Economic Zone in the New Law of the Sea, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 87. Ibid.: Yahaya, J., Fisheries law enforcement program, practices and problems in Malaysia. In New Developments in Marine Science and Technology: Economic. Legal and Political Aspects of Change, eds. L.Alexander, S.Allen and L.C. Hanson, Law of the Sea Institute, Honolulu, HI, 1989, pp. 187–188. See also UN Doc. A/46/722 (1991), paras. 42 and 149.

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14.

15. 16.

17.

18. 19.

20.

21. 22.

23.

24.

25. 26. 27. 28. 29.

Varghese, P., Law enforcement capabilities in EEZs: Australia and the South Pacific Island States. Ibid., pp. 151–152; Moore, G., Enforcement without force: new concepts in compliance control for foreign fishery operations. In Law of the Sea: Essays in Memory of Jean Carroz. FAO, Rome, 1987, pp. 159–169. Kwiatkowska, op. cit., p. 88. Convention on Fisheries Cooperation Among African States Bordering the Atlantic Ocean, done at Dakar on 5 July 1991. Text reproduced in Law of the Sea Bulletin, No. 19, p. 33. In the North Atlantic, salmon fishery on the high seas has been banned by the 1982 Convention for the Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic Ocean (NASCO Convention). For the latest developments in the North Pacific, see M.Hayashi, The North Pacific fisheries: Japan at a turning point. Ocean Development and Int’l Law, 1991, 22, 343–364. Kwiatkowska, op. cit., p. 114; Lim, R.S.K., EEZ legislation of ASEAN states. Int’l and Comp. L. Quart., 1991, 40, 178. IMO adopted a set of “Guidelines and Standards for the Removal of Offshore Installations and Structures on the Continental Shelf and in the Exclusive Economic Zone” in April 1988. Ulfstein, E., The conflict between petroleum production, navigation and fisheries in international law. Ocean Development and Int’l Law, 1988, 19, 233. See de Marffy-Mantuano, op. cit., p. 53. Marine Scientific Research: A Guide to the Implementation of the Relevant Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, New York, 1991 (United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.91.V.3). Juda, L., The exclusive economic zone: compatibility of national claims and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ocean Development and Int’l Law, 1986, 16, 41. Conclusions of the study of legal aspects concerning the environment related to offshore mining and drilling within the limits of national jurisdiction. Environmental Law Guidelines and Principles: Offshore Mining and Drilling, UNEP, Nairobi, 1982. Protocol Concerning Marine Pollution Resulting from Exploration and Exploitation of the Continental Shelf, Kuwait, 1989. See UN Doc. A/46/722 (1991), paras. 45 and 155. See articles 208, 210, 214 and 216 of the Convention. Beauchamp, P.P., The management function of ocean boundaries. San Diego Law Review, 1986, 23, 629. Juda, L., The exclusive economic zone and ocean management. Ocean Development and Int’l Law, 1987, 18, 309.

BOUNDARIES AND OCEAN MANAGEMENT VICTOR PRESCOTT Professor of Geography University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia

ABSTRACT After defining the author’s concepts of boundaries and ocean management this paper examines three relationships between them. First the way that boundaries define the space to be managed. Second the management problems that boundaries can create. Third the use of boundaries as one of the tools of management. DEFINITIONS AND INTRODUCTION The term ‘boundaries’ in the title is interpreted in two senses. First and precisely a boundary is a line created by human action. So baselines from which maritime zones are claimed, the outer limits of those zones, lines separating areas of national jurisdiction and port limits will all be considered as boundaries. The second sense concerns the limits of elements of the marine and territorial domain. Those elements include large ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef off northeast Australia and small ecosystems associated with a single estuary or a bank of mangroves. These natural elements are not defined by precise boundaries, instead they grade, sometimes sharply sometimes imperceptibly, into adjoining elements. The edge of such elements will be described as limits so it is clearly understood that they are represented by a zone rather than a line. It is also understood that these limits will vary, sometimes as a result of

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human actions and at other times because of the operation of natural processes. Ocean management is assumed to be the organisation and supervision of human activities in particular sections of marine space. Following the lead of Smith these activities are grouped into three categories [1]. They are communication, resource use and all other activities. There can be no single title for the third category because it will include waste disposal, research and recreation and many others. This category possesses a unity based on the fact that most of these activities have helped to focus public interest on marine environmental issues. While no comprehensive list can be provided for the third category some elaboration of the first two is appropriate. Communication is primarily concerned with safe navigation of vessels. It could also include overflight of territorial seas and laying submarine cables. Burton has provided a useful classification of marine resources that is followed here [2]. First there are flow resources that are capable of sustained production. They include fish, crustaceans and seaweed. Management policies can sustain these resources or cause their increase or reduction. The worst possible management could cause their disappearance. Second there are stock resources of two kinds. Some, such as fuels, can be extracted and used only once. Others, such as metals and aggregate, can be recycled after their intial use. Burton calls the third category continuous resources of which there are two kinds. Some are continually available even if human action is associated with them. They include solar, wind and tidal energy, others, while continuously available might be affected in terms of locality or quality by human actions. Seawater and shores are the main resources of this type. These categories of resources do not exist independently of each other and managers of marine resources must realise that methods of using one resource might have adverse effects on other resources. For example, scallop fishing using flat metal trays dragged along the seabed in Port Phillip Bay off Melbourne was prohibited in 1990. The authorities decided that this efficient fishing technique was destroying the nursery habitat of snapper and other fish in the bay. The inter-related nature of resources underlay the requirements of management set out by Downes [3]. Although he was writing about resources on land his observations apply equally to marine resources. Downes first called for an understanding of the community’s needs for access to resources and for them to be satisfied even though the order of competing priorities might change from time to time. He then required an

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assessment of the usefulness of different resources and the sensible prediction of the potential hazards or changes that exploitation might produce. His third point was that future as well present needs had to be considered. Finally Downes argued that priorities and means of use must be designed so that the area would continue to serve the selected aim without deterioration in the future. Since ocean management is the subject under consideration it is appropriate to add one other requirement. As Fabbri has noted the importance of considering the coastal lands and seas together has been firmly understood since the 1970s [4]. The possible significance of developments on land to patterns of coastal erosion and sedimentation are well-known. Similarly the consequences of industrial discharges into rivers draining into the sea have been the basis for a number of campaigns by conservationists to prevent or modify plans for paper mills in coastal zones. Most recently Vallega has catalogued the harmful discharges or transfers from land to sea [5]. Without doubt along developed, populated coasts management of marine resources must be linked with management plans for the adjacent land. There are three sets of relationships between boundaries and ocean management. First some boundaries define maritime spaces that have to be managed. For example, straight baselines mark the seaward limit of internal waters and the landward limit of the territorial sea that in most cases will be 12 nautical miles wide. Second some boundaries and their relationship to the limits of various kinds of ecosystems will create problems for managers. For example Large Marine Ecosystems, defined as regions with unique hydrographic regimes, submarine topography and trophically dependent fish stocks, usually straddle the exclusive economic zones of at least two and often more states [6]. Ideally such Large Marine Ecosystems should be managed jointly by the countries concerned. Third the construction of boundaries is one of the tools that managers can use to facilitate the orderly use of marine resources. For example, in 1989 there were 50 oil and gas platforms in the sea over the Netherland’s continental shelf. Each was surrounded by a safety zone with a radius of 500 metres from which all unauthorised vessels were prohibited [7]. At the same time there were 5000 square kilometres of sea enclosed within military exercise zones; passage through these zones was banned at certain times. Each of these relationships will now be examined.

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Figure 1. The Australian Ship Reporting Area

BOUNDARIES DEFINING MARITIME SPACES The maritime spaces that have to be managed by national governments, federal states, local councils and government instrumentalities are defined by boundaries. At different levels of government these boundaries are defined in different ways. First there are global boundaries. This term has been coined to describe those boundaries fixed by international agreement to facilitate international shipping in the high seas. For example in many areas ship reporting regions have been defined by international agreements. In such areas vessels provide information on their location, course and speed to a central surveillance authority. This limits the time between the loss of a vessel and the initiation of a search when no distress signal is sent; limits the search area for a rescue action and provides current information about the location of vessels if a search or rescue operation is mounted. The Australian Ship Reporting Area is shown in Figure 1. Other global boundaries define areas connected with weather forecasting for mariners, cyclone prediction and load lines for vessels of various lengths in different seasons. Second there are boundaries that separate global and national areas. Global areas include the high seas and The Area. According to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention the high seas are those seas not included in the internal waters, territorial waters, archipelagic waters and exclusive economic zones of countries [8]. This definition also appears in the Hydrographic Dictionary [9].

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Figure 2. Vietnam’s baselines near the Mekong delta

If it is assumed that all coastal states will eventually claim an exclusive economic zone 200 nautical miles wide the high seas will lie beyond the outer limit of that exclusive zone. Internal and archipelagic waters lie landwards of straight baselines and closing lines that have been substituted for the low water line. Territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone lie seawards of the baseline that will often consist of the low water line in some sections and straight lines in others. The selection of the baseline therefore determines the outer edge of territorial waters and exclusive economic zones where there is no neighbouring state with overlapping claims. The selection of the baseline is a matter solely for the coastal state in accordance with the rules of international conventions. There are many cases where countries have breached the rules in a blatant manner [10]. Vietnam’s straight baselines in the vicinity of the Mekong’s delta are shown in Figure 2 and they cannot be justified by the present rules regarding baselines. The effect of improper baselines is to greatly increase the country’s area of internal waters and, in the worst cases, push the outer edge of the exclusive economic zone seawards. The Area is the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil that lie beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Those states which claim a continental margin 200 nautical miles wide will define that outer boundary unilaterally in the same fashion as the exclusive economic zone is fixed. When states claim margins wider than 200 nautical miles they are obliged to submit the proposed boundary to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and secure that Commission’s agreement. Those arrangements will come into operation when the 1982 Convention comes into force.

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International maritime boundaries will be necessary when the maritime claims from two neighbouring countries overlap. Although the 1982 Convention contains articles dealing with international maritime boundaries they contain nothing that would limit the ability of neighbouring countries to reach any agreement they choose. Since no country is more than 400 nautical miles from its nearest neighbour every existing coastal state may eventually find it necessary to negotiate over the location of an international maritime boundary. By 1991 there were about 120 agreed international maritime boundaries although some were still unratified. Boundaries fixed by Australia and Indonesia to separate their continental margins and their fishing or exclusive economic zones are shown in Figure 3. In federal states where there is a genuine sharing of major responsibilities the federal government will usually transfer management of some marine areas to the component coastal states. That has happened in Australia, Canada and the United States of America. Although the sharing of marine responsibilities will generally follow negotiations between the state and federal authorities the claims to national seas are made by the federal government. In both Australia and the United States for example the coastal states have been given responsibility for management of mining the seabed out to the limit of territorial waters as they existed when the claim was to 3 nautical miles. Although both countries now claim territorial seas of 12 nautical miles the states’ areas have not been increased. In Australia the baseline from which the territorial sea is measured had been settled. It included sections of the low water line, straight baselines and closing line. As a result there have been no disputes over the extent of the territorial waters between the federal and state authorities. The United States federal government has steadfastly refused to draw any straight baselines around its coasts and has sometimes been reluctant to close legal bays. This has led to a number of disputes about the extent of territorial seas 3 nautical miles wide before the Supreme Court. Alaska, California and Rhode Island are some of the states involved in litigation [11]. MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS CREATED BY BOUNDARIES National governments can unilaterally determine their global-national maritime boundaries and any allocation of maritime responsibilities to states in a federal system. The two global-national boundaries lie at the edge of the exclusive economic zone and the edge of the continental margin, where that margin is wider than 200 nautical miles. It was noted

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Figure 3. Australian-Indonesian maritime boundaries

earlier that eventually boundaries of margins wider than 200 nautical miles

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will require the agreement of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. That will not be necessary until the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention comes into force. In the meantime countries can define their continental margins in the terms of the 1958 Convention on the Continental Shelf. That Convention permits claims to the 200 metre isobath or beyond that limit where the depth of water allows exploitation of the natural resources. In 1990 twenty-nine countries couched their shelf claims in terms of the 1958 Convention. The boundaries that have not been settled unilaterally are the international boundaries. States have defended their claims against claims of neighbours in the South China Sea, the Andaman Sea and the Aegean for example, but no maritime international boundary has been unilaterally forced on a country by a neighbour in the way that victorious powers have forced land boundaries on defeated enemies. The lack of agreed international boundaries can be the most serious obstacle to proper management of national waters. At the beginning of 1992 the lack of agreed maritime international boundaries was hindering management of large areas of the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Aegean, the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It is in such semi-enclosed seas that coastal states find most of their claims overlapping with those of one or more neighbours. It is precisely this circumstance that has encouraged widespread boundary agreements in the Baltic and North Seas, the Persian Gulf, the western Mediterranean and parts of the Caribbean [12]. The lack of agreed international boundaries presents fewer difficulties to those countries that have long coastlines on open seas such as South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United States of America. In such cases undefined maritime international boundaries only hamper the management strategies for a small part of their marine domain. There is an added hindrance to management when the states are unable to agree on an international maritime boundary because of sharp disagreements on a matter of principle. For example, the lack of agreed maritime boundaries along the coast of West Africa from the Guinea Bissau —Guinea border in the west to the Nigeria-Cameroon border in the east results mainly from the pre-occupation of the countries involved with domestic economic and political problems and the limited resources off some shores. There is no reason to suppose that these countries would find it hard to negotiate an offshore boundary if that became a high priority or that the lack of the boundary hinders appropriate cooperation over management issues, in contrast the lack of a maritime boundary between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea results from an apparently insuperable

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disagreement over the proper Greek claims from islands close to the coast of Turkey. Similarly fundamental disagreements over delimitation principles or territory have prevented maritime boundaries being negotiated between Guatemala and Belize, Venezuela and Guyana, Iraq and Kuwait, Iran and Iraq, India and Bangladesh, Malaysia and The Philippines, China and Vietnam and North and South Korea, in these and other cases the sharp disagreements are an added obstacle to cooperation over management arrangements. Management problems can sometimes be created when the process of boundary delimitation is only partially completed. In the 1960s and 1970s the majority of agreed maritime boundaries dealt only with the continental shelf. In the 1980s and 1990s countries often agreed on maritime boundaries that divide the shelf and the waters that lie over it. In those cases where the original shelf boundary followed the line of equidistance it is usually a simple matter to employ the same line to divide the overlying waters. That is what India and Indonesia did when the shelf boundaries of 1974 and 1977 were used to separate their exclusive economic zones proclaimed in 1977 and 1980 respectively. When the shelf boundary does not follow a line of equidistance then it might be necessary to negotiate a separate boundary to divide the water column. That is what Australia and Indonesia did in 1981 after having settled the shelf boundary in 1972 [13]. Indonesia might decide that a similar accomodation is appropriate with Malaysia north of Borneo. The shelf boundary agreed in 1969 is not an equidistant line and favours Malaysia. Management problems can also be exacerbated when the fragmented territory of one country chops the maritime zone of a neighbour into parcels of varying size. Fortunately such patterns are comparatively rare. One of the most striking cases involves South Africa’s ownership of Walvis Bay and twelve tiny guano islands along the coast of Namibia (Figure 4). Plainly if South Africa insisted on making maximum claims from those territories there would be management problems for both countries. Fortunately on 20 September 1991 the two countries agreed to establish a joint technical committee to advise them on the functions and structures of a sensible administration of areas of common concern [14]. A similar situation is found off the Mediterranean coast of Morocco where Spain occupies the five Presidios of Ceuta, Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon d’Alhucemas, Melilla and Islas Chaferinas. International maritime boundaries also create the need for cooperative management when they intersect the limits of resource ecosystems and

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Figure 4. South African potential claims off Namibia

mineral or fuel deposits. Some fish stocks spend most of their adult life in the high seas but spawn in rivers. These are described as anadromous species and include salmon. Catadromous species, such as eels; reverse this pattern and live in fresh water apart from the spawning period which occurs in the high seas. These movements from international to national waters present management problems. Some fish migrate along coasts within Large Marine Ecosystems and cross international marine boundaries drawn between neighbouring states. In any of these situations uncontrolled fishing by nationals of one country could have adverse effects on the short and long term harvests in neighbours’ maritime zones. The main offshore mineral and fuel resources are found on the continental shelf that can be claimed by coastal states. Boundaries are very often agreed before comprehensive exploration of the shelf and its subsoil has been completed. It is therefore possible to discover that placer deposits of heavy metals or oil and gas fields have been intersected by the international boundary. To secure the maximum output from oil and gas

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fields it is essential that drilling should occur in the best location. Selection of a less suitable site can mean that some of the reserves will be unrecoverable. It is also possible that even if the deposit lies wholly within the boundaries of one country activities at that site might damage the marine environment to the detriment of fish resources in the waters of the neighbouring state. Patterns of sediment transport along coasts might also be intersected by boundaries. One example of this situation is found in northern New South Wales. The construction of harbour jetties at Tweed Heads, near the boundary with Queensland, has interrupted the northward drift of sand that previously nourished tourist beaches at Coolangatta in Queensland. Some erosion of Coolangatta’s beaches has been noted [15]. Finally some parts of the world’s coasts are still occupied by traditional communities largely insulated from the modern world and without any understanding of international boundaries. For some of these groups the establishment of a boundary separates them from their fishing grounds and strict enforcement of boundary regulations would create hardships that might damage their social structure and economic well-being. Situations of this kind have occurred in waters between Australia and Papua New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia, Indonesia and Malaysia and India and Sri Lanka. BOUNDARIES AS MANAGEMENT TOOLS The management of national territory on land or sea requires the definition of some boundaries so that governing authorities know where their responsibility ends and so that citizens know where special regulations begin to apply. The nature of maritime boundaries means that they present fewer management problems than equivalent boundaries on land. Looking first at international maritime boundaries they have the following advantages over land boundaries [16]. No international maritime boundaries have been forced on a defeated country after a war, so such boundaries do not afford the opportunity for the festering of national resentment that has sometimes bedevilled international relations in Europe. International maritime boundaries are modern constructions in the great majority of cases and therefore their negotiations are not complicated by ambiguous documents and maps that give one or both sides hope of securing an advantage.

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For the negotiation of international maritime boundaries there are international conventions that provide rules of varying precision. Although the rules might be interpreted in different ways they still provide a useful starting point that is not available for international boundaries on land. In addition there are a number of international maritime boundaries to define different kinds of areas whereas on land there is only one international boundary to serve every need. This degree of flexibility is useful for managers. Almost without exception marine boundaries are defined as straight lines of various kinds such as rhumb lines, great circles and geodesies. This means that they are not related to physical features of the seabed that might alter in form or location. This means that positional disputes that occur on land when rivers coincident with boundaries change their course do not occur offshore. It is one of the welcome and outstanding features of international maritime boundary agreements that they do not spawn disputes that are a common feature of international boundaries on land. There are two reasons for this satisfactory state of affairs. First the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea contains a number of articles that attempt to deal with potential problems associated with boundaries. For example, Article 83 (3) deals with the situation where countries cannot agree on a continental shelf boundary. In such cases they are urged to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature that do not prejudice the final outcome. This sensible recommendation was specifically accepted by Australia and Indonesia when they negotiated the extent of a zone of cooperation and the regulations that govern its exploitation in a treaty dated 11 December 1989 (Figure 3) . Articles 47 (6), 51 (1) and 53 deal with aspects of archipelagic waters. The first treats, in general terms, the situation experienced by Malaysia because a northward extension of Indonesia’s archipelagic waters include the most direct sea passage between Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak and Sabah. it is provided that the existing rights and all other legitimate interests that Malaysia has traditionally exercised shall continue and be respected. Article 51 (1) calls for traditional fishing rights of immediate neighbours in waters that are enclosed by archipelagic baselines to be recognized. Article 53 is long and sets out the rights of passage through sea lanes in archipelagic waters. These are only some of the examples of the way in which the 1982 Convention has tried to anticipate and defuse boundary problems. The second reason why maritime boundary agreements have not provoked subsequent disputes is that countries have been innovative in designing the regulations that accompany them. For example, there are

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now at least fifteen international agreements creating joint zones for fishing or exploitation of the continental shelf. Each one is tailored to the specific situation and there is now a variety of models that can be used by countries considering this solution to boundary disputes. It is also very common now to find that each international boundary agreement specifies a course of action if the boundary intersects a mineral deposit or hydrocarbon field. Article III of the 1974 agreement between India and Indonesia is typical of such provisions. If any single geological petroleum or natural gas structure or field, or other mineral deposit of whatever character, extends across the boundary line referred to in Article I, the two Governments shall communicate to each other all information in this regard and shall seek to reach agreement as to the manner in which the structure, field or deposit will be most effectively exploited and the benefits arising from such exploitation will be equitable shared. [17] In August 1975, when Ecuador and Colombia agreed on a maritime boundary, it was specified that within a zone 10 nautical miles wide on either side of the line, the accidental trespass of small fishing vessels from either country would not be regarded as a boundary violation. Sometimes countries reach separate agreements to deal with boundary problems. For example, in November 1974 Australia and Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to regulate the access of traditional Indonesian fishermen into areas that fell within Australia’s fishing zone. Domestic maritime boundaries differ from international boundaries in important ways. The domestic lines are created unilaterally by national or local authorities that have been empowered to manage the marginal seas. These unilateral lines can also be altered without difficulty if they are found to be unsuitable. While international boundaries of the territorial seas and the exclusive economic zone enclose areas within which many functions might be undertaken most domestic boundaries are concerned with a single activity such as drilling for hydrocarbons, exercising submarines and dumping dredged spoil. The information about domestic maritime boundaries is often buried in a welter of obscure government publications. When the information about management zones is collected they can be classified into categories by three systems. They are the authorities that proclaim the zones, the area within which they are located and the purpose for which they were created. The general discussion will be helped most by focussing on the purpose for creating management zones.

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There are six categories of use for which management zones might be defined. First there are those areas that have been delimited to make the passage of vessels as safe as possible. These domestic zones supplement the international areas concerned with reporting of ships, weather forecasts and search and rescue. Traffic separating schemes are now found off the shores of most developed continents and especially in narrow international straits. Such schemes ensure that in congested waters vessels heading in opposite directions are kept apart. The traffic separation schemes in Bass Strait are shown in Figure 5. Safety zones usually of 500 metres are also drawn around artificial islands and oil and gas production platforms. Dredged channels are marked and anchoring in the fairway is prohibited. Second ports and harbours are defined to facilitate the rules concerned with trade, migration, health and security. Economic areas provide the third category. These areas are generally concerned with mining and fishing. The mining zones consist usually of exploration tenements for hydrocarbons, mine sites for placer minerals and corridors for pipe and dredge lines. The fishing areas include zones set aside for particular species, or individual fishing techniques or holders of specific licenses, or stock regeneration. Around the Australian coast some of the largest zones fall into the category of conservation management. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority covers 34.38 million hectares. However most conservation areas are smaller and enclose bays or estuaries, seal colonies and sites of major wrecks. The fifth category may be styled naval waters. These zones are used for the dumping of explosives, target practice and providing security for naval bases. Lastly some zones are designed for different recreations such as water-skiing, power-boat racing, spear-fishing and swimming. Because these domestic boundaries are promulgated by many unconnected authorities there is no master copy of all these domestic management zones. Buchholz has shown how complex such a map appears and geographers could usefully develop his early efforts in this direction [18]. CONCLUSION This paper confirms that there are three general relationships between boundaries and ocean management. First maritime boundaries devised, more or less, according to the 1958 or 1982 Conventions on the Law of the Sea define the maritime space that

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Figure 5 Domestic maritime zones in Bass Strait, Australia

must be managed. Some of those boundaries are decided uni1aterally;

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overlapping claims by neighbours must be settled by negotiations. Second management problems can be created by the nature of some maritime boundaries. They might be caused by deep disagreement between countries trying to negotiate a common boundary, or when boundaries intersect ecosystems, mineral deposits and the fishing and circulation patterns of traditional groups. Third in the 1982 Convention, in existing international boundary agreements and in domestic marine legislation there are models of the innovative way boundaries can be used in ocean management. REFERENCES 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. 8.

9. 10.

Smith, H.D., The theory and practice of sea use management In The new frontiers of marine geography, eds H.D.Smith and A.Vigarie, Study Group on Marine Geography, International Geographical Union, Rome, 1988, pp. 16–32. Burton.J.R., Resource management in the maritime environment. In Australia’s maritime horizons in the 1980s Eds W.S.G.Bateman and M.W.Ward, Canberra, 1982, pp. 25–43. Downes, R.G.Goals for resource management. In The natural resources of Australia: Prospects and problems for development, ed. J.A.Sinden, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1972, pp. 19–31. Fabbri, P., Management of the sea: the case of the Mediterranean. In The new frontiers of Marine Geography, eds H.D.Smith and A.Vigarie, Study Group on Marine Geography, International Geographical Union, Rome, 1988, pp. 99–103 . Vallega, A., Ocean change in global change: introductory geographical analysis, Universita Degli Studi Di Genova, Istituto di Scienze Geografiche, Genova, 1990. Alexander, L.M., Geographic perspectives of Large Marine Ecosystems. In Biomass yields and geography of Large Marine Ecosystems, eds K.Sherman and L.M.Alexander, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Colorado, pp. 337–44. Second Chamber of the States General, Harmonization of North Sea Policy, The Hague, 1989–90. United Nations, The Law of the Sea: official text of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea with annexes and index, New York, 1988, p. 30. International Hydrographic Organization, Hydrographic dictionary, Vol.1, English, Monaco, 1990, p. 99. Prescott, J.R.V. Straight baselines: theory and practice. In The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: impact and implementation,

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11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17.

18.

eds. E.D.Brown and R.R.Churchill Law of theSea Institute, Honolulu, 1987, pp. 288–318. Briscoe, J., Delimitation questions in US v. California J.Urban and Contemporary Law, 1980, 25, pp. 203–31. Smith, H.D. and Vallega A. (eds), The management of semi-enclosed seas; the emerging global pattern and the Ligurian case, Commission on Marine Geography, Genova, 1990. Buchholz, H.J., Law of the Sea Zones in the Pacific Ocean, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1987. Prescott, J.R.V., Maritime jurisdiction in east Asian seas East-West Center, Honolulu, 1987. Prescott, J.R.V., Australia’s maritime boundaries, Australian Institute of International Affairs, Canberra, 1985. Africa Research Bulletin: Political Series, 1991, 28(9), p. 10260. Private communication from Dr E.G.F.Bird. Prescott. J.R.V., International disputes involving boundaries. In International politics since 1945, ed. R. Barston, Edward Elgar, London, 1991, 58–91. International Court of Justice, Delimitation of the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine (Canada/United States of America), Annexes to the Reply submitted by Canada, vol.1, State Practice, 12 December 1983, p, 370. Buchholz, H.J., The extension of regional planning into the maritime zones, in New frontiers of marine geography, eds H.D.Smith and A,Vigarie, Study Group on Marine Geography, International Geographical Union, Rome, 1988, pp. 72–6.

THE COMMUNITY FISHERIES POLICY Daniel Vignes Honorary General Director, European Communities Council, Brussels, Belgium

The Common or Community Fisheries Policy is, within the meaning of the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community, a policy, i.e. a set of mandatory rules which are adopted by the Community in the political, legal, economic and social order and which govern the fisheries sector as well as the market in fishery products. It evolved in the Seventies and has developed especially from 1976 onwards when there was worldwide both an economic phenomenon consisting in the decline of fishery resources due to overfishing by some fleets and to the blockage of fish reproduction as a result of marine pollution, and a legal phenomenon consisting in the tendency of coastal States to exclude foreign fishing in an increasingly growing area off their coasts. This tendency emerged before the Community was established, for it seems to have appeared already at the very beginning of this century; more recently, in 1958–59, it led to the failure (or rather the very limited success) of two United Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea. Although those Conferences did not directly concern the Community in that they were convened to a large extent at the instigation of Latin American countries, their failure, due to the refusal of a large number of Western States to extend their territorial waters (reserved for national fishermen) beyond 3 nautical miles or to create adjacent zones which would be reserved (more or less exclusively for coastal fishing), caused illregulated claims for fishery zones to be reserved for coastal fishermen to be made in the North Sea, a major fishing ground for several Member States.

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Thus the Community, while it had not yet worked out detailed rules of a fisheries policy, had to participate in London, in 1962–63, in a Conference on fisheries during which reserved waters were established which could go as far as 12 nautical miles and where only coastal fishermen would be allowed to fish, subject however to the rights acquired by fishermen of other States who traditionally fished in these waters. The possibility for the Community to conduct a common fisheries policy originates in the fact that under Article 38 of the Rome Treaty the common market includes in particular agricultural and fishery products; the Community was therefore able to regulate fishing activites and the market in fishery products. These activities and this market were also governed by the general rules of the Treaty, especially by one of the Community’s basic rules, the non-discrimination rule, by virtue of which all Community nationals are entitled to perform their economic activities on an equal footing in the entire geographical area of the Community. Consequently, the reservation of fishing in the territorial waters or in the 12-mile waters created by the London Conference (Convention) for the sole benefit of the coastal fishermen of the Member State concerned was contrary to the non-discrimination rule. As a result, a first set of Community regulations proclaimed in 1970 the freedom of access between Member States in their waters up to 12 nautical miles; at the same time the market in fishery products was organized with a pricing system and some trading rules. However, these arrangements raised problems during the negotiations for the accession of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway to the Community. We shall not deal here with the latter country, whose refusal to join the Community was inter alia a consequence of the abovementioned non-discrimination provision. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom obtained the concession that the non-discrimination rule would not apply until 1982 both within the 6-mile limit and in certain areas up to 12 miles, except—as in the 1963 London Convention—for specific fishing rights exercized in those areas (Accession Treaty of 22 January 1972, Articles 100 and 101). During the same period a creeping jurisdiction could be observed on the fishing grounds in the North Sea and throughout the world in favour of coastal fishermen. In the North Sea, Iceland claimed 50 miles whereas Norway and later the United Kingdom closed all their bays and estuaries to foreigners by means of straight base lines. Furthermore, what was claimed throughout the world was no longer a zone of 12 or 50 miles but one of 200 miles.

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At the new Law of the Sea Conference convened as from 1973 in New York, Caracas and Geneva, there gradually emerged the concept of a 200mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) where the coastal State could, if it was able to exploit them, reserve all the catches for itself, with merely the obligation to give the neighbouring States access to the surpluses. This concept asserted itself in the spring of 1975 and one year later it forced the Member States to establish similar zones around their Atlantic shores (the Hague Resolutions of 30 October 1976) and to draw the consequences thereof at internal and external level. This situation, from which one should not dissociate the still keenly felt apprehension of a further decline of fish stocks, was viewed in different ways in the Member States. Some of them, such as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, had coasts and hence EEZs with rather poor fish stocks and saw themselves expelled from their traditional fishing grounds, Iceland, Norway, Canada; hence, their only hopes were set on fishing in the high seas, less abundant in fish, or in the EEZs of the other Member States by virtue of the nondiscrimination rule. Others, like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and, to a lesser degree, France, were also expelled from their traditional fishing grounds; their greatest fear, though, was the arrival of increased numbers of Community partners in their own EEZs. Consequently, it was not one of the least paradoxes of the situation that fishermen of some regions of the Community, after having being driven out of the EEZs of third States as a result of the Law of the Sea Conference, were threatened on their own shores by fishermen from other Member States, who were entitled to fish there by reason of the non-discrimination rule. In Scotland and Ireland, the problem was quite acute for coastal areas entirely dependent on fishing and unable to convert to other activities. Finally, it was only at the beginning of 1983 that the main rules of the Common Fisheries Policy were adopted. Before considering in greater detail the various components of the Common Fisheries Policy, it may be mentioned that since then the accession of Spain and Portugal to the Community in 1985 made it necessary to resort to a number of transitions and derogations in favour of these countries, especially as regards the former. As a matter of fact, Spain had a large-sized fleet, not necessarily with modern equipment, its fishermen were therefore socially vulnerable and it was heavily dependent on third countries for its supplies; last but not least, the presence of Spanish fishermen in Community EEZs was not always exempt from incidents. Without dwelling on the contents of the exceptions granted, one

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may indicate that Spain is presently calling for a reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. As to the substance of the Community Fisheries Policy, it comprises an internal component, an component of relations with third countries, a structural component, and a trading or marketing component. While in the internal order of the Community some regulations gradually introduced technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources, it may be recalled that it was only in January 1983 that the Community managed, on the one hand, to set up a coherent catch limiting system with a share-out of the catches between the Member States and, on the other hand, to apply preferential measures in some geographical areas, consisting in the non-application (or deferred application) of the non-discrimination rule in such areas. This system is the successor of that provided for in Articles 100 and 101 of the 1973 Accession Treaty, which it expanded by prolonging the exemption within 6 nautical miles until 1992; in certain regions, the preferential system is even extended up to 12 miles, added to which there is a special “box” regime in the Shetland and Orkney regions, with a limitation of the vessels admitted (altogether about 700 vessels, of which 500 are British, plus special monitoring and conservation measures). This internal common fisheries policy is managed through the annual fixing of the Community’s total allowable catch (TAC) for each species and the allocation of quotas between the Member States and by means of rules on the fishing gear, in particular minimum mesh sizes so as to allow young fish to escape, authorized fishing seasons, with closed seasons for reserved areas, prohibition of by-catches to be discarded. In the external order, the policy is implemented by fisheries agreements with third countries which provide either for the admission of fishermen from non-Community States or for the access of fishermen from Member States to third-country waters, or for both, one being the counterpart of the other. Such agreements, which generally are framework agreements, apply on a year-to-year basis; there are 37 of them at present (summer 1991). They are negotiated by the Commission and concluded by the Council; it should be pointed out that this type of agreement lies no longer within the competence of the Member States. They differ from each other with regard to the counterpart that the Community receives or gives in return for the access option which it gives or receives under reciprocal agreements, under agreements based on trading concessions, under

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agreements based on financial compensation and under non-reciprocal agreements. The first category, which is especially concluded with Northern countries, provides that each party generally grants limited access to fishermen of the other party during one season of the year: thus the Community and Sweden exchange fishing rights on cod and herring, depending on the prospects of the fishing seasons and the usual availabilities. Agreements based on trading concessions are frequent with Canada and seem to tempt Iceland, with the Community receiving fishing rights in exchange of tariff concessions. Agreements based on financial compensation are concluded with developing countries: the presence of a fishing vessel of x tonnes in the waters of, for example, Mauritania yields to the latter y thousands of dollars for an 18-day presence, and Mauritania agrees to allow a given number of vessels to fish. There is an agreement with no real compensation with the United States but it involves only small quantities. Besides these agreements, the Community is party to regional agreements such as NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization) or to specific agreements which limit catches on the high seas through systems of quotas or licenses, such as ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas). The arrangements, whether internal or external, require monitoring measures. However, monitoring at sea raises legal difficulties. Within the Community itself, because the Community has not succeeded, due to its inherent system, in imposing on the Member States the surveillance of the application of its rules. At sea, because no territorial jurisdiction is exercized there except in territorial waters (12 miles). Therefore, monitoring is limited to inspections in the port of unloading and, at sea, to Community inspectors accompanying national inspectors on their inspection trips or even being accompanied by the latter. Control over the fished quantities thus appears to be quite insufficient and compliance with the quotas illusory. There remain two further branches of the Common Fisheries Policy to be looked at, structural measures on the one hand and trade measures on the other. As for the former, they deal with the overcapacity of the Community’s fishing fleet in vessels with obsolete equipment, which are not competitive or have become useless owing to changes on the fishing grounds or in the catch methods. The structural policy helps in deciding cuts in the fleet capacity or in promoting conversions or diversifications. Following the example of the Common Agricultural Policy, the trading or marketing policy provides for a common organization of the market in fishery products, including marketing standards, the fixing of reference prices for fish, the withdrawal of fish in certain cases, the possible granting

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of storage premiums, subsidies, measures in favour of canning entreprises, contributions from producers’ organizations. For the Common Fisheries Policy, 1992 presents both an opportunity for and an obligation of self-examination. An opportunity because it had been decided in 1983 that a general review would take place in 1992; an obligation because the Community is faced with a serious imbalance between available resources and actual fishing capacity. This is partly due to inadequacies in the management of and control over activities and has repercussions in certain fishing regions where the crisis is excessively severe. Under the 1983 arrangements, the Community will, in 1992, on the basis of a report from the Commission and a review of the coastal regions’ development, adjust the provisions of the Common Fisheries Policy to a new decade. The report was submitted on 18 December 1991 and will examined in April 1992. It suggests inter alia measures designed to ensure a better regulation of access to resources, the use of licenses rather than of quotas, mechanisms for the monitoring of vessels—real “black boxes” seem to be envisaged—, a dissuasive system of Community sanctions, new forms of structural action, and better cooperation with professionals .

A REVIEW OF DISPUTED MARITIME AREAS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA —by Dr. Phiphat Tangsubkul SEAPOL, Bangkok, THAILAND

I) Background The international movement towards appropriation of maritime areas began with the “Truman Proclamation” of 1945 on the continental shelf, this act being inspired by the American fear of a shortage of hydrocarbons. This US’s claim was followed immediatly by those of developing countries, beginning with the Latin American states who have large continental shelf off their Atlantic coast. Since World War II, however, the International Law of the Sea has revealed its multi-dimensional character. The first step in this direction was taken in 1958 at the First United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I) when the sovereign right of the coastal state to extend its jurisdiction to the sea-bed of the continental shelf was recognized. The only condition attached to this right was the obligation to respect the freedom of navigation on the surface. The UNCLOS I in Geneva produced 4 conventions: 1) Territiorial Sea and Contiguous Zone; 2) Contenental shelf; 3) High Seas; 4) Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas. In Southeast Asia, the ‘core’ of this region, the oceanic counterpart to Southeast Asia, might be said to consist of the waters of nine coastal states: The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,

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Brunei, Indonesia and Burma (or Myanmar) and with Laos as an landloked state. In terms of jurido-potitique speaking Southeast Asia have always been aware of the role and importance of the seas as a provider of living resources and as a medium for transport and communication. With its strategic geographic location at the “crossroads” of Europe, West Asia, and India on one side and Japan and China on the other side, together with the abundant wealth of natural resources within Southeast Asia itself, the region has for many centuries attracted attention from the world’s dominatiing powers. Before outside influences tried to gain a foothold in the region and in particular before the arrival of European powers, it is evident, based on historical investigation, that legal systems related to the uses of the sea were in existence. During the early centuries A.D. the flow of influences came mainly from the Indian subcontinent and China. The linkage was to be found in the Southeast Asian seas where goods and cultural patterns were exchanged in seasonal waves following the directions of the monsoon winds. Between the two poles, two great Southeast Asian empires emerged: the Sri Vijaya on Sumatra and later on the Majapahit with its base on Java. By way of the sea—through the Malacca Stratis from India and West Asia—the teachings of the Islamic faith reached Southeast Asia, and by the fourteenth century it had already gained a foothold in the region. Having discovered the Cape of Good Hope route to India in 1498, the Portuguese could, in the name of Christianity, take up the struggle against the spread of Islam. At the same time they gained direct access to the South and East Asian trade. Like the Portuguese and the Spanish, the Dutch and the British became in the sixteenth century increasingly interested in gaining access to the Spice Islands and the region’s wealth and trade. As a consequence, military conflict over the control of the region became unavoidable. In 1602, the Dutch won a decisive naval battle over the Portuguese off Bantam, and three years later they seized Amboyna, apart from East Timor the last important Portuguese stronghold in the archipelago east of Malacca—the spice market. Because of the military conflict to control navigation and passage through the Straits of Malacca, the Dutch government requested a young famous lawyer, Hugo Grotius, to write De Jure Praede to advocate the concept of “freedom of the sea” or mare liberum and at the same time defend the position taken by the Dutch. The concept of “freedom of the sea” became internationally recognized and practiced.

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II) Southeast Asia and the Law of the Sea Since the late 1960s, marine awareness of nations has been enhanced by technological advances in marine use and resource exploitation capabilities, increased expectations of benefits from potential ocean resources, and perceptions that the ‘freedom of the high seas’ was advantageous to those countries with the knowledge, capital, and technology to harvest ocean resources. This enhanced marine awareness has resulted in widespread unilateral extensions of national jurisdicion over ocean resources out to 200 nm or more from shore. All the coastal countries in South East Asia have extended their martime jurisdictions, leaving areal winners and losers, and many areas where claims overlap. The coastal states of South-East Asia are now engaged in efforts to identify and pursue their national development interests in the ocean arena. Several countries in the region have gained enormous marine areas with extended jurisdiction. The largest of these gains were made by Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam; others, such as shelf-locked Cambodia, Burnei, Singapore, and Thailand and land-locked Laos, were much less fortunate. Malaysia, although gaining considerable area, has been divided by Indonesia’s Natuna salient. The Philippines The Philippines was one of the first in the region, after the Truman Proclamation in 1945 on the Continental Shelf, to establish jurisdiction over resources on the continental shelf, although initially in a limited manner. This was done in the Petroleum Act of 1946 which declared that all petroleum resources or natural gas contained on the continental shelf, or its analogue in an archipelago, belongs to the state. The archipelago concept failed to gain acceptance at both UNCI.OS I and II. This explains in part why the Philippines did not sign the four Geneva Conventions adopted in 1958. On 17 June 1961, the Philippines enacted an Act to Define the Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 3046) which states that Under this Act, the baselines from which the territorial sea of the Philippines is determined consist of 79 straight lines joining 80 designated points on the outermost islands of the archipelago. Th Act also declares that all waters beyond the outermost islands of the archipelago, but within the Treaty Limits, comprise the territorial sea of the Philippines.

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Applying the straight baselines of the archipelagic concept, it defined its “inland waters” and, using the concept of historical international treaty limits, defined its territorial seas. This accounted for 148, 921 square nautical miles of national waters. The Philippines, although, did not sign nor ratify the four Geneva Conventions, declared jurisdiction over the exploration and development of minerals and all other living and non-living resources on the continental shelf in 1968 (Proclamation No. 370 of 20 March 1968). The petroleum industry in the Philippines is at present governed by the October 1972 Presidential Decree No. 87 which replaced the Petroleum Act of 1949. The main reason for replacing the Petroleum act of 1949 with that of 1972 was that the former was viewed as the major obstacle in attracting foreign investment due to its stipulation that exploitation in the field of the country’s natural resources required local capital investment of up to at least 60 per cent in the case of a joint venture with foreign co-operation. A 40 per cent share in the enterprise would obviously not allow the foreign oil companies sufficient control over management of the enterprise. Attempts were made to change the Petroleum Act by President Marcos’ government, but a hostile Congress and criticisms from the Filipino elite made passing of the bill difficult. One major criticism against any change in the Act was the loss of control by locals over utilization of the country’s natural resources. The confrontation came to an end when President Marcos declared martial law in September 1972. In October 1972, a new Presidential Decree regarding legislation of petroleum exploration and exploitation was issued. Under the new petroleum act, foreign or domestic oil companies may enter into a service contract with the National Petroleum Board. The split between the government and the company is in the ratio of 60:40 in favour of the government. The exploration period is for a period of seven years and extendable for another three years. A twenty-five year exploitation period is granted with possible extension of another fifteen years. The Philippines has not yet reached an agreement relating to the delimitation of the continental shelf boundaries with its neighbours, Indonesia and Malaysia. The major obstacles are, firstly, that Indonesia still refuses to recognize the Philippine claim on the “historic waters” that enclose the Palmas Island of Indonesia and secondly, the question of Sabah that is still not settled between the Philippines and Malaysia. The Philippines is also facing one of the most complex claims to the Spratly group of islands. After the use of military force in the claims to the Paracel

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Islands, the People’s Republic of China renewed its claim over the whole group of the Spratly Islands. Vietnam who has also claimed sovereignty over the Spratly Islands has already occupied three islands of the group. The Philippines, on the other hand, started to occupy islands in the group, which it calls the Kalayaan (Freedom) Islands, in 1971. Since then, the Philippines has also occupied some of the northern islands of the group, stretching to the Reed Bank area. The dispute has moved into the area of oil claims with the granting by the Philippines of a concession in the Reed Bank area to a Swedish-operated group. The Chinese Government and Taipei reacted to this grant adversely. The Reed Bank dispute directly raised issues of whether the continental shelves of the islands are part of the Filipino continental shelf. Indonesia Indonesia was to become, meanwhile, the first to break with “traditional” patterns when it unilaterally claimed through the Ministerial Decree of 13 December 1957 that an archipelago was to be considered as one single unit, with the islands and the water between and around to be seen as an integrated whole, now known as the “archipelagic state concept”. The Indonesian claim encompassed a total of 999,000 square nautical miles. Like most of the other ASEAN countries, Indonesia was colonized by a Western power with the consequence that her maritime borders before independence were governed by Dutch legislation. The Territorial Sea and Maritime Circles Ordinance of 1939 declared that Indonesia had a territorial sea of three nautical miles measured either from straight baselines connecting the outer edge of a group of two or more islands or from the low water mark of the islands. This Ordinance generally followed international customary law practice in European countries. It became part of Indonesian law after independence by virtue of A8 of the Agreement on Transitional Measures governing transfer of sovereignty which was adopted in the Indonesian Constitution as Article 192. Since 1950 this article has become Article 142 of the provisional constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. On 13 December 1957, the Djuanda Declaration revoked a number of provisions of the original Territorial Sea Ordinance. Inter alia, the width of the territorial sea was extended to 12 nautical miles measured from straight baselines connecting appropriate points of the outermost islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Ships travelling in the internal waters so enclosed would enjoy innocent passage provided that the security of the

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nation was not threatened. Despite protests from the United States, Australia, and Japan, the declaration was made law on 18 February 1960. This was the first major legal step taken by Indonesia towards establishing itself in a special position as an archipelagic state. The argument put forward by the Indonesians in support of this concept was that the concept of a united Indonesia dated back to the fourteenth century when Gajah Mada conquered the whole archipelago for the kingdom of Majapahit. As a consequence, the archipelagic concept was Indonesia’s state practice until a temporary interruption by Western colonization. In 1969, Indonesia proclaimed its sovereign rights over all mineral and other living and non-living resources in the sea-bed and subsoil outside territorial limits to the maximum distance that can be exploited. Where such shelves have a border with another state, the border line would be determined by negotiation. Because the Geneva Conventions of 1958 did not include the archipelagic state concept, Indonesia adopted only the Convention on the High Seas. The continental shelf is therefore governed by national legislation consisting of a decree enacted on 17 March 1970 and a law enacted on 6 june 1973. Singapore In view of her newly achieved independence (in 1965), the evolution of the Law of the Sea of Singapore is obviously less complicated compared to the other ASEAN countries. However, owing to her geopolitical situation as an important international port and trade centre, Singapore has vital interests in maintaining maximum maritime space of the existing high seas for navigation, especially the freedom of passage through the Straits of Malacca. Singapore’s policy is therefore similar to that of the maritime power countries: to keep narrow territorial waters or to oppose any kind of extension of national jurisdiction toward the high seas. On the other hand, the emerging Law of the Sea has provided an atmosphere that is conducive to extending coastal jurisdiction up to a distance of 200 nautical miles or more for a wide shelf area. Singapore, as a small island nation, surrounded closely by other ASEAN states, has as a consequence found herself in a geographically disadvantaged position. Under the new continental shelf approach or the EEZ (exclusive economic zone) concept, even an island the size of a nail’s head in the middle of the high seas can claim an economic zone up to 125,664 square

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nautical miles. The island of Singapore, however, which has an area of 227 square miles, can only claim 100 square nautical miles of economic zone due to its geographical position. Singapore’s stand can be summarized in four points. Firstly, it opposes the trend of an extended national juridiction towards the ocean space. Being a former British colony, Singapore has generally followed the British principles in the international law of the sea. One of the basic laws regarding the territorial water zones adopted by Singapore, and still in force, dates back about one century when England proclaimed a three-mile (one marine league) limit for itself and its possessions in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act of 16 August 1878. With respect to the demarcation of territorial sea between Singapore and the neighbouring countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore continues to recognize the agreement concluded between Great Britain and the Sultan of the State and Territory of Johore in 1928—The Straits Settlements and Johore Territorial Waters Act—which delimited the boundary between the northern part of Singapore and the southern part of Malaysia (Peninsular). There is, however, one problem. This arises out of a map issued by the Malaysian authorities in 1978 where the Horsburgh is considered as Malaysian territory. Singapore and Indonesia concluded their territorial boundary agreement on 25 May 1973. However, the government of Singapore has accepted the concept of the 12 mile territorial sea, in principle. This is set out in a Government statement issued on 15 September 1980. However, no new law has been enacted. Malaysia Malaysia as a former British colony followed English state practice in international law and this included the Anglo-Saxon concept of a threemile limit with regard to her territorial sea. After independence, Malaysia assumed the rights and obligations of its predecessor. On 2 August 1969, however, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agung (King) promulgated an Ordinance under Article 150(2) of the Constitution known as the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance, No.7, 1969. Under this Ordinance, the territorial sea was extended from 3 to 12 nautical miles, measured from a series of straight baselines (most of the segments of which did not follow the stipulations of the 1958 Convention). Section 3(1) of the aforesaid Ordinance reads as follows:

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…the breadth of the territorial waters of Malaysia shall be twelve nautical miles and such breadth shall, except in the Straits of Malacca, the Sulu Sea and the Celebes Sea be measured in accordance with Articles 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone (1958)… The three exceptions stated in the Section were inserted because all three maritime areas were less than 24 nautical miles in width separating Malaysia from another coastal state. It was felt that a solution by way of bilateral agreement was preferable. On 17 March 1970, Malaysia reached an agreement with Indonesia regarding the width of their respective territorial seas in the Straits of Malacca. The territorial waters in the Sulu and Celebes Seas are as yet not determined by agreement due to friction between Malaysia and the Philippines over the question of the Sabah claim. There are favourable indications, however, that this issue may be settled in the near future. At present, therefore, Malaysia has retained the three-mile limit along the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak by virtue of S4(2) of the aforementioned Ordinance; S6 of the Ordinance enables the Yang Di-Pertuan Agung to modify this limit. Malaysia has also assumed the rights and obligations of the Straits Settlements and Johore Territorial Waters (Agreement) Act, 1928, entered into by Great Britian and the Sultan of Johore in 1928 to divide the Johore Strait between the southern part of Malaysia and the northern part of Singapore. The development of the law on coastal jurisdiction in Malaysia really started when this country enacted successively two legislations with regard to the continental shelf and the exploitation of its resources. Firstly, there was the Continental Shelf Act of 1966 (Act 83); and secondly, the Petroleum Mining Act, 1966 (Act 95) which provided for the mining of petroleum and other matters connected therewith. Obviously, the Malaysian claim for sovereign rights over the continental shelf was a claim for exclusive rights for the exploitation of natural (non-living) resources. In other words, beyond the territorial sea limit, freedom of navigation and overflight was still recognized, and fishing activities were not affected. However, when Malaysia made public a map defining her continental shelf limits, several of her neighbours raised protests.

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Vietnam On May 12, 1977 Vietnam claimed an entire suite of maritime zone—a 12 nm territorial sea, a 12 nm contiguous zone, and a 200 nm exclusive economic zone. At the same time, Vietnam also claimed a continental shelf to the edge of the continental margin or out to 200 nm from baselines. In July 1982, Vietnam and Cambodia delineated common historic waters and agreed to administer them joinly. However, the closing line in the Gulf of Tonkin and the baselines in the common historic waters of Vietnam and Cambodia and the Paracel and Spratly islands have not yet been drawn. On November 12, 1982, Vietnam established straight baselines and claimed a substantial portion of the Gulf of Tonkin as historic (internal) waters. Vietnam’s claimed boundaries overlap the claim of China in the Gulf of Tonkin, that of Indonesia north of the Natuna Islands, that of Malaysia in the southern Gulf of Thailand, and those of Thailand and Cambodia in the eastern Gulf of Thailand. Vietnam is also one of the five claimants to the Spratly Islands (the others are China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan). Thailand The evolution of the Law of the Sea in the case of Thailand is quite different from those of the four other ASEAN states. Since Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that has never been colonized by Western imperialists, there are, as consequence, no basic documents directly relevant to the Western notion of the Law of the Sea. Nevertheless, during the reign of Rama III (1824–51) certain laws that controlled fishing in rivers as well as in the sea had already been issued. Under Rama IV, there was a tax act of 1852 (B.E. 2395) that allowed the Nai Akorn (collector of taxes) to collect taxes from fishing boats which plied in marine areas. Rama V (1868–1910), who faced political pressure and military menace from Great Britain on the western front and from France on the eastern front, realized that the time had come for the country to modernize the traditional laws and adopt the Western rules of law. In 1899, therefore, he sent a delegation to participate in the First Hague Conference on international law codification. Rama VI (1910–25) was also aware of this situation and encouraged his government to renegotiate with the big power countries, particularly France and England, for the relinquishment of the right of extra territory. To do so, Thailand had first to modernize the juridical structure; thus,

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with regard to matters of international law, Thailand adopted the British seas law principles as far as they were relevant in the content of Thai law. Article 5, par. 1 of the Thai Vessels Act of 1938 gave the definition of “Thai Waters” (Nan Nam Thai) as every water zone found under the sovereignty of Siam. With regard to the width of the territorial sea, Thailand had not, prior to 1966, issued any legislation relevant to the limitation of the zone. In practice though, since approximately the beginning of the regin of Rama VI in 1910, Thailand has followed the Anglo-Saxon concept of three nautical miles. Due to the political situation (internal as well as external) during the period between the two World Wars, the development of the Law of the Sea of this country unfortunately ceased temporarily. Although Thailand participated in the Hague Conference of 1930 for the codification of the international Law of the Sea which failed to reach a major international agreement, it was UNCLOS I in 1958 that stimulated the Thai Government to give more serious consideration to the Law of the Sea issues. It was also at this First U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea that Thailand claimed, for the first time, her “sovereignty” over the inner part of the Gulf of Siam as “historic bays”. It is interesting to note that the Thai Government made the decision to fix the width of the country’s territorial sea limit, not only because Thailand joined the moderate trend, but also because at that moment the Thai Government started to seriously consider offshore exploration and exploitation. A few years later, on 23 May 1968 (B.E. 2511), with the approval of the Constituent Assembly acting as the National Assembly, the Thai Government gave ratification to the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea, namely (1) Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone; (2) Convention on the High sea; (3) Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas; (4) Convention on the Continental Shelf (drawn up at Geneva on 29 April 1958). Just over a year after ratification, on 29 April 1969 (B.E. 2512), a Notification Relevant to the Enforcement of these four Conventions was proclaimed, bringing them into force in Thailand as of 1 August 1968 (B.E. 2511). These four Geneva Conventions became the basis of the sea law implemented by Thailand and are still being enforced. On 11 June 1970, Thailand issued another Notification of the Office of the Prime Minister announcing straight baselines that enclose three particular areas as internal waters of Thailand; they are:

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Area No. 1: East Coast of the Gulf, between Laem Ling at 12 12’.3 Latitude North; 102 16’.7 Longitude East and the ThaiCambodia boundary. Area No. 2: West coast of the Gulf, between Laem Yai at 10 53’.7 Latitude North; 99 31’.4 Longitude East and Laem Na Tham at 09 12’.4 Latitude North; 99 53’.2 Longitude East. Area No. 3: In the Andaman Sea, between Ko Phuket at 07 46’.5 Latitude North; 98 17’.5 Longitude East and the ThaiMalaysia boundary. The reason for this claim was based on two main criteria: (1) according to Article 4 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, coastal states could draw or use the method of straight baselines in localities where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or if there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity; (2) to secure a better position in case of delimiting the offshore boundary lines that are shared with neighbouring states and that are still not yet completely settled. III) Settlement of Boundaries Delimitations Meanwhile, over the last two decades the coastal states of Southeast Asia have accumulated considerable experience in the treatment of ocean boundaries delimitations issues, especially with regard to continental shelf or seabed boundaries. Indonesia started to negotiate the first continental shelf boundary agreement in the region with Malaysia in 1969, to be followed later by similar agreements with Singapore, Thailand, Australia, India, and Papua New Guinea. Thailand, although having reached several agreements relating to the delimitation of the continental shelf boundaries with its neighbours, still has several other boundaries to be settled with non-ASEAN states. On 21 December 1971, Thailand concluded agreements relating to the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf Boundaries in the northern part of the Strait of Malacca with Malaysia and Indonesia. She also concluded another tripartite treaty with Indonesia and India relating to the delimitation of seabed boundaries in the Andaman Sea off the western entrance of the Straits of Malacca on 22 June 1978. In the same year Thailand and India signed an agreement on the delimitation of the seabed

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boundary in the Andaman Sea between the Nicobar Islands and the western coasts of Thailand. However, there are overlapping seabed boundaries found between Thailand and Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, and Thailand and Malaysia in the Gulf of Thailand. In the Andaman Sea some maritime delimitations between Thailand and Burma still remain unsettled. Malaysia reached an agreement with Indonesia relating to the Delimitation of the Continental Shelves in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea in 1969. In 1971, Malaysia, as already mentioned, concluded an agreement relating to the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf Boundaries in the northern part of the Straits of Malacca with Indonesia and Thailand. The seabed boundary delimitation between Malaysia and Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand, however, has still not been settled due to the recent discovery of two deposits of natural gas, although an offshore joint development agreement for the exploitation of oil and gas towards the overlapping area has been made. On 21 February 1979, Malaysia and Thailand agreed on a joint development zone off the terminus of the land boundary on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. This joint development area, which covers a maritime zone of about 2,100 square nautical miles, has been divided by a single line to distinguish areas of jurisdiction over criminal offenses. A joint authority will be established which will regulate the exploration and exploitation of the seabed, and it has been decided that the agreement will last for fifty years in the absence of any agreement about the final boundary settlement. The Philippines has not yet reached an agreement relating to the delimitation of the continental shelf boundaries with its neighbours, Indonesia and Malaysia. The major obstacles are, firstly, Indonesia still refuses to recognize the Philippine claim on the “historic waters” that enclose the Palmas Island of Indonesia and secondly, the question of Sabah is still not settled with Malaysia. The Philippines is also facing one of the most complex claims to the Spratly group of islands. After the use of military force in the claims to the Paracel Islands, the People’s Republic of China renewed its claim over the whole group of the Spratly Islands. Vietnam, which has also claimed sovereignty over the Sprately Islands, has already occupied three islands of the group. The Philippines, on the other hand, occupied some of the northern islands of the group, stretching to the Reed Bank area and the Kalayaan (Freedom) Islands. The Reed Bank dispute (with P.R.C. and Taipei) raised issues of whether the continental shelves of the islands are part of the Filipino continental shelf.

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As the dispute over ownership of the Spratly Islands is not only a regional dispute in Southeast Asia but also an international (political and military) struggle and conflict; it poses not only a legal problem but also one of economic significance and national security. As far as Thailand is concerned, conflicts on maritime frontiers have still existed and will not be settled in the near future with neighbouring states, especially countries around the Gulf of Thailand because of the divergence in the political situation. The overlapping marine area with Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as the joint-development area with Malaysia, can potentially lead to legal disputes. IV) Problems and Conflicts as Created by the New Law of the Sea Since the beginning of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) in 1973, nations have worked together under the auspices of the United Nations in an unprecedented collective attempt to develop an “equitable international rule” for a broad range of oceanrelated issues. After years of intensive negotiation and consensus-building, a comprehensive package deal has gradually emerged. Despite the major change in the negotiation position of the U.S. and the dissatisfaction of some countries over some specific articles of the new Convention, many of the new or newly defined concepts evolved from UNCLOS III have gained acceptance either through international practice or by unilateral proclamation and enforcement. UNCLOS III finally concluded its negotiations on April 30, 1982. The new Convention was adopted by an overwhelming majority of the more than 140 delegations, including all those from Southeast Asia. Since some of the major concepts deal directly or indirectly with jurisdiction over resources, their enactment will have enormous impact on a country’s national development. It is therefore essential, especially for the developing countries, to identify these new concepts and jurisdiction and to examine their effects or possible effects on resources and development if the advantages are to be maximized and the adverse effects mitigated. Because of the transnational nature of the ocean-related issues, conflicts and misunderstanding can easily arise-especially among neighbouring countries-over implementation, interpretation, and enforcement of the new law of the sea. Under this new Convention, there are seven major international regimes that constitute the infra-structure of the new law of the sea: those of the

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EEZ Claims in Southeast Asia (chronologically arranged)

*Renewed by a Decree of Council of State issued on 31st July 1982.

territorial sea and contiguous zone, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone, straits used for international navigation, archipelagic states, high seas, and the Area, respectively. The only “macro-regime” missing from the new treaty framework is that of internal waters, presumably because it is deemed to “belong” to the municipal, rather than international, level of legal development. Now that the 1982 Convention has been concluded for ten years, attention has moved away from the negotiation of issues to the issues of treaty ratification and implementation. Of the nine coastal states of Southeast Asia, only two, the Philippines and Indonesia have ratified the 1982 Convention. However, before the new Convention come into force, there seem to be serious problems and unavoidable conflicts associated with the application of the EEZ in Southeast Asia. Because of the proximity to one another in semi-enclosed seas, most of the coastal states of the region find their EEZ claims overlap with one or more of their neighbours’ claims. This new development has also several implications for the region: such as, the question of navigation and overflight and laying of submarine cables and pipeline; the question of fishing right and of access to surplus stocks in neighbouring waters; the question of other activities that State may carry out in, on or above, the areas which were previously considered as the high seas; and the question of boundary-making. Of the nine coastal states of Southeast Asia, only two, Brunei and Singapore, have not yet made any formal claim to an EEZ. All of the other seven have made EEZ claims in one form or another between 1977 and 1981.

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These seven claims, taken together, have brought under national jurisdiction over 2,650,000 square nautical miles of waters that previously belonged to the regime of the high seas. In their various forms, these claims generally adopt the language of the Convention. It is too early to tell whether any of the variations of wording that do exist should be construed as significant deviations from the international regime negotiated at UNCLOS III. Most of the claims at present go no further than “confirming” the claimant’s rights under the Convention. Only Burma has resorted to a legislative form of claim for general EEZ purposes, but in 1985 Indonesia and Malaysia enacted fairly comprehensive fishery legislation for purposes of enforcement and effective implementation within their EEZ. The question of freedom of navigation through the EEZ as the high seas for all types of vessels is now facing serious problems in Southeast Asia. About two years ago Malaysia has asked Thailand for notification of the Thai fishing vessels passing the Malaysian EEZ to the internaitonal waters. Obviously this kind of practice is against the language consituting the EEZ regime, it is why Thailand has always refused to accept such requirement. The question of freedom of navigation and overflight in and over the EEZ of neighbouring states is also a direct concern for Singapore and Brunei. For Thailand, any kind of legal requirements which create obstacles for navigation in the EEZ could convert Thailand into an Economic Zonelocked State, due to her geographical postion which is surrounded by the EEZ of her neighbouring states. The question of access to surplus stocks in neighbouring waters in also acute for Thailand, the region’s only distant fishing state. It is estimated that because of the proclamations of the nieghbouring EEZ, the Thai fishing fleet has lost access to 300,000 km2 of fishing grounds. In the absence of negotiated arrangements for their access to their neighbours’ surplus stocks, Thai fishermen must conduct within the national zone of about 94,700 nm., or have been induced to fish illegally within foreign EEZ’s, the locus of their historic fishing grounds. In 1985, when Malaysia enacted law on EEZ, more than 1300 Thai trawlers were confiscated and at least 15,000 Thai crew fishermen were arrested and jailed by Malaysian authorities. Meanwhile, Vietnam also began to seize Thai fishing boats which were found in the Gulf of Thailand and in South China Sea. In counting those Thai fishing fleets which were arrested and its crews who were imprisonned by Malaysia, Vietnam, Burma and Indonesia, the value of marine industry properties confiscated by foreign governments totalled approximately US$ 240 million and the Thai government had to

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spend about US$ 4 million to bail out Thai fishermen. Unfortunately, ASEAN as a regional organization has never tried to solve Thai-Malaysian fishing dispute although both are ASEAN members. The question of boundary-making is rather problems associated with the application of the regime of the EEZ and continental shelf. Under the new Convention, the continental shelf of a State is the natural prolongation of the land territory of that State into the sea. However, in geological and scientific contexts, in Asia the Sundra Shelf is the whole Asian Continental itself. In the conventional context, Art. 76 of the 1982 Convention stipulates that the continental shelf terminates at the continental margin, and includes the slope and rise but not the ridge of the deep ocean floor. This new language constituting the regime of the continental shelf and the historic back ground of Asia, however, created at least 8 “Trouble Spots” in Southeast Asia: namely, the Spratly Islands, the Gulf of Tonkin, the Gulf of Thailand, Celebes Seas, Natuna Islands, Sulawesi Sea, Straits of Malacca and Timor Sea. V) Unsettled Offshore Boundaries in Southeast Asia and Obstacles to Solutions A. Gulf of Thailand 1. Summary of Issues There are three countries with overlapping claims: Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, In making their claims each state chose an interpretation of equidistance that gave the maximum area of seabed to itself by ignoring some small islands and giving special significance to others. Reunified Vietnam subsequently rescinded its claim to Paulo Wai and thus the only remaining areas of overlap are those between (a) Cambodia and Thailand (b) Thailand and Vietnam.

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2. Countries’ Positions a. Thailand’s Claim Thailand appears to have drawn its boundary as a line of equidistance between the Thai mainland and large islands such as Kao Rong while ignoring the Thai islands of Ko Kra and Ko Losin, the Cambodian islands Kao Wai, and the Vietnamese islands Hon Panjang. (see Map 1 in appendix) Because the islands of the other two countries are farther from their coast than the Thai islands are from the Thai coast, this discounting shifts the equidistance line eastward in Thailand’s favor. However, two factors in Thailand’s geographical situation with regard to maritime areas under its jurisdiction motivated it to be a strong proponent of regional cooperation. 1. Zone Locked Thailand is zone locked because its vessles cannot get access to and from the high seas without passing through the exclusive economic zones of its neighbouring countries. 2. Shelf Locked Thailand is shelf locked since at no point can its EEZ be extended to 200 n.m. Thus, even though the length of Thailand’s coastline (3219 km) is close to that of Myanmar (3060 km), its EEZ area is only about 94,700 sq.km. while that of Myanmar is about 148,600 sq.km. 3. Actions Taken by Thailand in Dispute Areas In 1971, Thailand granted petroleum concessions to a number of major oil companies in the Gulf of Thailand. Subsequently, after Cambodia and Vietnam asserted jurisdiction over areas of the Gulf, Thailand suspended concessionaires’ work obligations in the “dispute areas”.

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b. Vietnam’s Claim In 1967, Vietnam declared its rights over the continental shelf in the form of a presidential proclamation, without reference to any delimitation of the Gulf of Thailand. In 1972, it extended its fishing zone to 50 n.m. beyond the territorial sea. On 12 May 1977, Vietnam proclaimed a 200 n.m EEZ. The zone of overlapping claims is 4,000 square miles. c. Cambodia’s Claim In 1972, Cambodia asserted jurisdiction over an area of the Gulf which overlapped exploration areas granted by Thailand. d. The Brevie Line The Brevie Line provided a bone of contention between Cambodia and Vietnam over the allocation of islands in the eastern part of the Gulf of Thailand. Both Vietnam and Cambodia are prepared to accept the Brevie Line as a way to allocate the islands; however, Vietnam is not prepared to accept Cambodia’s proposal that the Brevie Line should mark the maritime boundary between the two countries. If Vietnam accepted the proposal, it would forfeit an area of sea and seabed measuring about 860 sq.n.m to Cambodia. 3. Recent Developments a. Between Thailand and Vietnam In January of 1978, following the visit of the Vietnamese foreign minister to Thailand, a joint communique noted that the two countries’ rival claims in the Gulf would be settled on the basis of equitable principles.

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b. Between Cambodia and Vietnam In May of 1976, Cambodia abandoned its claim to Dao Phu Quoc, an island in the gulf of Thailand. A dispute over this major island had persisted since 1913. In July 1982, Vietnam and Cambodia agreed on joint historic (internal) waters that encompass the core of the Panjang Basin, whose hydrocarbons, it was announced, would be developed by “common agreement”. The present joint historic waters agreement already provides for the two countries to continue historic fishing practices in the joint area encompassing the core of the Panjang Basin. c. Proposed Agreement on Thailand-Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Development B. South China Sea This section of the paper is based primarily on the account of the various “dispute areas” in the South China Sea given by Johnston and Valencia in their recent book “Pacific Ocean Boundary Problem”. 1. Gulf of Tonkin-Description The Gulf has maximum depth of about eighty meters and the topography of its seabed is fairly smooth. Beneath much of those shallow waters is located the Lui-Chow sedimentary basin which has characteristics believed to encourage oil exploration. a. Dispute: Between China and Vietnam The Chinese say that the maritime boundary is unresolved; the Vietnamese say that it was resolved by the Sino-French Treaty signed in Peking on June 26, 1887.

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1. Wording of Sino-French Treats “The islands which are east of the Paris meridian of 105 43’ east, that is to say the north-south line passing through the eastern point of Tch’a Kou or Quan-Chan (Tra-Co) which forms the boundary, are also allocated to China. The island of Gotho (Kao Tao) and other islands west of this meridian belong to Annam (Vietnam)” b. Account of Actions taken by China and Vietnam near Dispute Area During the peace talks with Vietnam following the Sino-Vietnamese border war in 1979, China was prepared to share the Gulf half and half, but Vietnam rejected the proposal. China had subsequent agreements with a consortium of Western oil companies for seismic survey work close to the disputed area. In September 1979, Vietnam accused China of granting oil exploration concessions in the disputed area. The seismic survey work for China was completed in 1980. In 1982, China signed its first drilling contract with an American Company, Atlantic Richfield, awarding rights to exploration and production in a 3500 km2 area near Hainan Island. Subsequently, both China and Vietnam conducted oil exploration ventures near the disputed area in the Gulf of Tonkin. c. Complicating Political Factors Sino-Vietnamese relations are poor. Border and maritime clashes in the Spratlys have erupted frequently. Further, the Soviet Union has provided assistance to Vietnam in oil exploration while French and U.S. companies are concessionaires for China. d. Current Situation What exists at present is a “conflcit avoidance arrangement” where both parties have refrained from exploiting or exploring petroleum in the dispute area. It is believed that a higher priority is currently being given to reach a settlement. China has proposed negotiations to delineate boundary based on the equidistance principle. However, the LOSC and recent

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decisions by the International Court of Justice has ruled that equidistance is no longer a governing principle. An increased emphasis for an equitable settlement can reasonably be foreseen. 2. South China Sea: Spratly Islands—Description The Spratly Islands are in the South China Sea south of 12 north and east of 111 east, excluding those contained within the treaty limits of the Philippines or within 40 n.m. of the coasts of Malaysia and Brunei. Currently, there are a total of thirty-three islands, cays, and rocks that stand permanently above sea level. The islands are in a region of confused topography. Parts of the region can be identified as continental slopes, others are continental rises, and still others have hilly characteristics where seamounts and plateaus stand above the sea floor, and in some cases, break through the surface of the sea as islands and reefs. The Spratlys are in a strategic location and there are indications that they may have commercially valuable oil and mineral resources. Chinese research indicates that the area claimed by both Malaysia and the Philippines includes some elongated pods and reefs which are well situated to be used as drilling platforms. There are also some sediment pods under the continental slope in presumed Vietnamese waters to the west of the Malaysian shelf claim and along the continental margin off Vietnam. Chinese estimates place resources at 105 billion barrels of oil, 25 billion m3 of gas, and 300,000 tonnes of phosphorous. a. Who Occupies What 1. The Philippines occupies seven islands: Loaita, Thitu, Northeast Cay, West York Island, Flat Island, Nanshan Island, and Lankiam Cay on Loaita Bank. 2. Vietnam occupies five islands: Spratly Island, Southwest Cay, Sin Cowe, Namyit Island, and Amboyna Cay. 3. Taiwan occupies Itu Aba Island. 4. There are thirteen unoccupied cays,

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b. Issues 1. There are seven countries with coasts on the South China Sea, and only Brunei and Indonesia do not make claims to the Spratly Islands. 2. China, Taiwan, and Vietnam each claim all the Spratly Islands and do so on historical grounds that the islands have long been a part of their territory. 3. The boudnary issues are further complicated by the number of claimants, the emotional intensity of the claims, the strategic nature of the area and the willingness of several claimants to use force. 4. The most unpredictable factor is the possible resumption and spreading of Sino-Vietnamese hostilities. Forces of the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Taiwan and Malaysia remain interspersed throughout the region and violent clashes have occurred. In March of 1988, Chinese and Vietnamese warships clased in the region, leaving three Vietnamese dead and seventy missing. 5. Brunei has a possible claim to the area. Although it does not seem to have present intention to make a continental shelf claim to the Spratlys, it has claimed a fisheries zone through a “corridor” extending to the margin of the Malaysian shelf, touching upon the extreme southern sector of the Spratly area. 6. The Philippines, on June 11, 1978, claimed the Kalayaan Island group by issuing Presidential Decree 1596. It established its sovereignty by history, indispensable need, and effective occupation and control. Its claim includes Amboyna Cay, but not Spratly Island nor any rocks that stand above high water level on Royal Charlotte, Swallow, nor Louisa Reff. A. The Philippines has claimed the entire water area as territorial waters which include the seabed, subsoil, continental margin and the air space. B. Philippines’ Need for Natural Resources Of all the claimants, the Philippines has the most urgent need for hydrocarbons from the Spratly area, and has licensed exploration there. C. Dispute Between the Philippines and China/ Taiwan Scarborough Shoal (15 08’ N., 117 45’E) is not claimed by the Philippines but by China and Taiwan. The conflict arises over the identity of the Scarborough Shoal. It is not clear whether China and Taiwan regard it as a rock or an island and the rights attached to it would differ respectively. This would significantly affect the bargaining position of China and Taiwan in establishing boundary lines with the Philippines. D. Possibility of Formation of a Cay

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It is possible that a cay will eventually form on Scarborough Reef. Such development would permit the whole suite of maritime zones to be claimed from that feature. 7. Malaysia claims the following reefs and rocks: Amboyna Cay, Marivels Reef, Commodore Reef, Louisa Reef, Swallow Reef, Royal Charlotte Reef, and Barque Canada Reef. c. Important Considerations: 1. Different Rights Attached to Rocks and Islands Article 121 of LOSC states that islands, being naturally formed areas of land, surrounded by waters, and standing above high tide, may be used to make claims to territorial waters, contiguous zones, EEZs, and continental shelves. However, rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own may not be used to claim EEZs or continental shelves. All seven groups of rocks in the Spratly Islands fall in the latter category and can only be used to claim territorial seas and contiguous zones. 2. Geographical Complications “Because of the crazy-quilt geography and pattern of occupation on the island, linear settlements in the form of lines, enclaves and direct allocations of area are probably not a lasting peaceful solution…. A bold stroke—a cooperative regime—is the only realistic alternative to the dangerous status quo.” d. Efforts to Resolve the Disputes 1. Philippines Initiatives In March 1989, a Resolution was passed in the Philippines House of Representatives, which called for “a regional diplomatic conference” to launch a Philippine formula for a peaceful solution to the Spratly Islands

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(Kalayaan) dispute by undertaking a North Sea-type partition of the South China Sea and/or creation of a demilitarized five nation condominium with undivided interest in the area and for other purposes. 2. Vietnamese Initiatives Vietnam has repeatedly proposed to China a mutual pledge not to use force and to negotiate settlement of their maritime boundary disputes. 3. Chinese Intitatives The Key country is China, and China has now agreed to put aside for the time being the question of sovereignty and to discuss joint development of the area. There is, of course, the uncertainty whether Taiwan should be included in such an arrangement. 4. Bandung (Indonesia) and Hanoi (Vietnam) Conferences In July of 1990, a conference among the nations which ring the South China Sea explored for the first time ways to avoid military clashes in the much disputed Spratly archipelago. Singapore, Laos, and Thailand which have no claims to the Spratlys also participated because each has a stake in ensuring regional peace. The Bandung Conference was followed up by another Conference which has been held in Hanoi in November 1991. e. Possible Solutions to the Disputes According to Johnston and Valencia, the Spratly Islands areas could be a regional analogue to Antarctica—a demilitarized zone designed to evolve into a zone of genuine peace and cooperative development. An International Spratly Authority would be established to eliminate conflict, to encourage cooperative exploration and resource development, to facilitate fishery management, and to protect environmental quality.

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3. South China Sea: Tanjong Datu and Natuna Area The countries with overlapping claims are Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Natuna islands themselves are not currently involved in dispute. a. Vietnam and Indonesia A. Original Claim The area originally claimed by both Vietnam and Indonesia measured about 40,000 km2, bounded on the south by a shelf delimitation line claimed by Vietnam on 6 June 1971 and on the north by Indonesia’s claimed equidistance line drawn between Vietnam’s baseline and Indonesia’s archipelagic baseline. Both Indonesia and Vietnam had granted concessions for oil exploration in the area. B. Current Situation for the last eight years, negotiations between Indonesia and the government of reunified Vietnam have been held on an annual basis. Vietnam has proposed a “harmonized line” based on “equitable principles” to delineate the area of overlapping claims. Indonesia has not accepted this proposal. In short, the current overlapping claims are as follows: Vietnam claims the disputed area lies between the “harmonized line” and an equidistance line based on the Natuna islands, while Indonesia claims the disputed area lies between a line approximating the old line claimed by South Vietnam before reunification and the equidistance line proposed by Indonesia.

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b. Indonesia and Malaysia A. Agreement Between Indonesia and Malaysia On October 27, 1969, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed upon boundaries in this region for seabeds but not EEZs. B. Factors that Affect Future Boundary Determination Future determination of how to continue the boundary delineations will depend on whether Malaysia owns Amboyna Cay and Spratly Island. China, Vietnam and the Philippines also have made claims on Amboyna Cay. VI) Summary of Thailand-Malaysia Join Development Area A. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)—February 21, 1979 1. Purpose: The MOU established a joint authority for the exploration and exploitation of seabed resources in the Gulf of Thailand. The agreement recognized that there are overlapping claims on their adjacent continental shelves in the gulf. The countries would continue to try to negotiate the continental shelf boundary. 2. Structure of the Joint Authority: The joint authority is to be composed of equal numbers of members from each country. It will exercise all powers necessary for regulating the exploration and exploitation of the seabed in the defined zone. However, this agreement was not to affect or curtail the validity of concessions or licenses already issued. 3. Duration of the Agreement: The arrangements have a proposed life of fifty years. 4. Terms of Reference: All costs incurred and benefits derived through the activities conducted in the joint development area will be equally borne and shared by both governments.

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5. Effect of Agreement on Boundary Disputes: The agreement did not affect the boundary disputes and if the disputes are not settled during the life of the agreement, then the existing arrangements shall continue. 6. Significance of the MOU Agreement: It was the first time that a joint development area was used while negotiations continued for a final boundary. B. The Agreement on the Constitution and Other Matters Relating to the Establishment of the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority, May 30, 1990, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1. This agreement established the Joint Authority which will implement the MOU enacted in 1979. The necessary enabling laws have been enacted in each country. 2. The Joint development Area was defined This pentagon area measures 2100 sq.n.m in the Gulf of Thailand. 3. The next steps for the Joint Authority are to appoint members of the Board of Joint Authority. These are expected to include seven from each side. A headquarters site is expected to be selected in Songkla or Kota Baru. A modified production sharing contract will be signed with two joint ventures: a. With a joint venture of PTTEP and Carigali in the northern portion of the JDA (former unrelinquished area of blocks 16 & 17) b. With a joint venture of Triton and Carigali in the southern portion of the JDA (former unrelinquished area of blocks 18) 4. Article 17 of the 1990 Agreement describes the mandatory terms of the modified production sharing contract. These include 10% royalty, 50% cost recovery, a 50:50 profit split, 0.5% research CESS, a progressive petroleum income tax, and 10% export duty on profit oil sold outside Malaysia and Thailand.

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VII) Possible Application of the Malaysia-Thailand JDA Precedent to Other Areas in the Region A. Spratly 1. In August 1990, Chinese Premier Li Peng for the first time hinted that China might be interested in the idea of a joint development of the Spratlys while temporarily putting aside the question of sovereignty. 2. Conference Among Nations Involved in Dispute over Spratlys Participants in the July 1991 Bandung conference, which included representatives of the nations that ring the South China Sea, ended talks on a disputed cluster of islands in the South China Sea on 18 July 1991 by agreeing they would not use force to settle their claims. The participants are believed to have discussed the idea of a joint authority to oversee exploitation activities in the Spratlys. B. Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia 1. In June 1991, Vietnam is reported to have agreed to Thailand’s proposal for the two countries to conduct joint development in the sea where their exclusive economic zones overlap. Vietnam has also proposed that the two countries jointly fish and prospect for oil and natural gas, both offshore and inland. 2. The Cambodian government on June 10, 1991 invited foreign oil companies to bid for exploration rights in twenty-six onshore and offshore exploration blocks by August 10, 1991. 3. A proposal is reported to have been made on Thailand-VietnamCambodia Joint Development, along the following lines: a. Scope of Agreement The proposed agreement covers twenty blocks in the northern Gulf of Thailand, over 6,200 km2 of shallow water.

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b. Structure of Agreement The Agreements would comprise two separate accords, one outlining the development scenario and the second the split of profits. The majority of the blocks would fall under Thai jurisdiction, which appears to leave the way open for Americans to participate. Any future profits would be split among PTTEP, Vietnam’s Oil and Gas General Department and a trust fund for a future Cambodian government. Cambodia would send an acknowledged representative from the current government and all three resistance groups.

Bibliography

Sucharitkul Sompong. “Paper on Thailand: Thailand’s Positions in the Light of the New Law of the Sea.” SEAPOL Studies No. 3. Bangkok. 1991. Torell Magnus. “Paper on Thailand: Thai Fisheries and Fishing Industry: Its Development and Prospects with regard to the 1982 V.N.Law of the Sea Convention.” SEAPOL Studies No.3. Bangkok 1991. Chandler T Albert & Tangsubkul Phiphat. “Overview of Unsettled Martime Boundaries in Southeast Asia.” Southeast Asia Australia Offshore Conference’ 91. (July 30–August 2, 1991). Darwin. Australia 1991. Johnston M.Douglas & Valencia J.Mark. “Pacific Ocean Boundary Problems Status and Solutions.” Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.” London. 1991. Yusof Heliliah. “Paper on Malaysia: The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in Southeast Asia.” SEAPOL Studies No. 2 Bangkok 1988. Johnston.M.Douglas. “An Overview on the New Law of the Sea in Southeast Asia: Problems and Prospects of Implementation.” SEAPOL Studies No 1. Bangkok 1988. Chao Hick Tin. “Paper on Singapore: Law of the Sea.” SEAPOL Studies No. 2. Bangkok 1988. Kittichaisaree Kriangsak. “The Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Delimitation in Southeast Asia.” Oxford University Press. Singapore New York. 1987. Tangsubkul Phiphat. “The International Implications of Extended Martime Jurisdiction in the Pacific.” The Law of the Sea Institute. Honolulu. 1987. Hall.R.Kenneth. “Martime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia.” Honolulu, 1985

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Tangsubkul Phiphat. “ASEAN and the Law of the Sea.” Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Singapore. 1982.

MULTIPLE USE CONFLICTS AND THEIR RESOLUTION: TOWARD A COMPARATIVE RESEARCH AGENDA BILIANA CICIN-SAIN Center for the Study of Marine Policy Graduate College of Marine Studies University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 USA

ABSTRACT The article first identifies different types of marine conflicts that occur among users over the use or non-use of particular ocean areas and conflicts that take place among government agencies which implement marine laws and policies. Next, some general observations are made on the nature, causes, tractability, and consequences of marine conflicts and some hypotheses are presented. “Reactive” and “proactive” methods of conflict resolution are then examined. The article concludes with some suggestions for a comparative research strategy on marine conflicts and their management. INTRODUCTION Conflicts among multiple uses of ocean and coastal areas (such as commercial and recreational fisheries, oil development, marine aquaculture, marine recreation) as well as among government agencies that govern marine resources are one of the problems most often cited by marine managers, user groups, and academic observers around the world. Notwithstanding the pervasiveness of multiple-use conflicts in ocean and coastal areas, however, there has been little systematic comparative research analyzing what types of conflicts occur, where, and why, and how they can be resolved. Isolated case studies of various conflicts in different coastal and marine locations may be found in the literature, but these are

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difficult to aggregate into a national perspective for particular countries, or into a cross-national perspective since these studies tend to use varying definitions of conflict and rarely collect data on the same variables, making systematic comparison very difficult [1]. Given the widely acknowledged importance of marine conflicts and the dearth of systematic comparative information about them, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to advance conceptual understanding of various dimensions of marine conflicts and to propose a comparative research strategy to better understand the nature, causes, consequences, and modes of resolution of marine conflicts. I should note that my concern in this article is primarily with “domestic” conflicts, that is, conflicts that occur within national jurisdiction (within the coastal zone, territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone of a nation) rather than with “international” marine conflicts, conflicts occurring among nations. “Domestic” conflicts, in fact, may be the predominant form of marine conflict, as is suggested by research on the multiple uses of the North Pacific region by Miles et al who conclude that the role of national or local authorities (and not international) was paramount in the resolution of conflicts in that region [2]. Most of my examples are drawn from the U.S. experience with marine conflicts, particularly conflicts related to offshore oil and gas development. DEPICTING MARINE CONFLICTS Definitions of conflicts abound in the social sciences literature; conflict studies have represented a central concern for psychologists (interpersonal conflict), sociologists (group conflict), and international relations experts (international conflict). For the purposes of this article, borrowing from a number of these traditions, conflict is defined as “a situation in which an actor (either an individual, group, or a nation) is engaged in opposition (violent or non-violent) to another actor who is pursuing what are, or appear to be, incompatible goals” [3]. Two major types of conflicts in human interactions related to ocean governance can be distinguished conceptually, although these are interrelated: 1) conflicts among users over the use or non-use of particular ocean areas; and 2) conflicts among government agencies which implement marine laws and policies.

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Conflicts Among Users By “users” I am referring to both direct and actual users of the marine environment as well as to indirect and potential users. “Direct” users include those who actually physically participate in marine activities (such as recreational and commercial fishermen, oil operators) as well as parties with allied roles (such as bait suppliers, fish processors). Examples of “indirect” or potential users include environmental groups which promote and protect the non-utilitarian values of the ocean, members of the public who do not directly utilize the ocean or who live in areas remote from the coastline, and future generations. Because most marine resources are public property, the rights of such indirect users also need to be taken into account in marine decision-making. Some typical manifestations of conflicts among users suggested by Miles involve: 1) competition for ocean space, 2) operational impacts, 3) ecosystem impacts, 4) onshore systems [4]. Typical kinds of conflicts also reviewed by Miles involve: 1) ocean uses versus environmental protection; 2) fishing versus marine cables; 3) fishing versus military uses; 4) nearshore conflicts; 5) fishing versus environmental quality; 6) offshore oil and gas development versus navigation [5]. A possible exception to the point made earlier regarding the dearth of empirical data on marine conflicts is the case of conflicts between commercial fishing and offshore oil operations as a number of studies have been conducted on this topic [see, for example, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Miles and Gesselbracht, for example, provide a summary of the major types of conflicts which take place between fishing operations and the oil and gas industry, e.g., loss of access to fishing grounds, gear damage from debris, removal of obsolete installations, and reduced marketability of products as a result of superficial contamination by spills [6]. Conflicts Among Government Agencies Conflicts also occur among government agencies which implement marine laws and policies as these agencies pursue courses of action which are incompatible or inconsistent with the actions of other agencies. Conflicts can occur among agencies at the same level of government—inter-agency conflict, or among different levels of government (federal, state, local)— Intergovernmental conflict. Such agency conflicts often parallel conflicts among user groups, and informal coalitions linking particular agencies with particular user groups take place.

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Agency conflicts occur for a variety of reasons: because agencies carry out divergent statutory mandates and agency missions, or because agencies may display divergent modes of action and style which are rooted in such factors as agency history and type of agency personnel. Agencies may also clash because they respond to different external constituencies which demand opposing actions, or because of lack of information or communication among them. There is general consensus that inter-agency and intergovernmental conflicts have increased in the United States in the past twenty years as a result of the implementation of about a dozen federal ocean laws enacted by the Congress in the 1970s (see, generally, articles in Silva (1986) [11]). As discussed in previous work [12, 13, 14], during the passage of these laws, the U.S. Congress spoke with many, and often conflicting, voices, in response to single-issue interest groups. In the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972), for example, Congress sought to unilaterally protect one aspect of the marine environment—marine mammals—while in other legislative actions, such as the Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Congress sought to promote and develop a rival aspect of the ecosystem—fisheries, without addressing potential conflicts between the two. Growing inter-agency and inter-governmental conflicts in the U.S. are thus rooted in several factors, i.e.: 1) As described by Knecht elsewhere in this volume [15], U.S. ocean policy is characterized by a single-sector approach whereby for each major marine use (e.g. , fisheries, marine mammal protection, offshore oil and gas development) there is a separate law and administrative implementation structure; 2) there are few, if any, formally established mechanisms to “link”, coordinate, and ultimately reconcile, the activities of the separate sectors; and 3) no priorities have been made among various uses of the ocean insuring that interest groups will continually engage in “free-for-all” battles to promote or protect their own preferred aspect of the marine environment. SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON MARINE CONFLICTS AND EMERGING HYPOTHESES Experience with marine conflicts in the U.S. suggests a number of observations, some of which are in the form of hypotheses. Conflicts Vary According to Location The configuration of conflicts among various users (who conflicts with whom) appears to vary significantly in various marine regions of the U.S.

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depending on such factors as the physical characteristics of the region, the nature and extent of resources found in the region, the nature of coastal industries and interests, and the nature of jurisdictional and political alignments. In fact, in each region, different “mixes” of issue areas and conflicts appear to predominate as is suggested by the following examples of prominent regional issues found in different marine regions in the U.S. [16]. In the Gulf of Maine (New England area), for example, there are significant conflicts over how to address problems of contaminated sediments in the harbors in the area, long-term fisheries productivity, and management of coastal population growth. Prominent issues in the MidAtlantic region which pit various interest groups against each other include the management of nonpoint sources of pollution, the management of the several important estuaries present in the region, addressing threats to the barrier beach systems which are a feature of the region, including accelerated sea level rise; and the control of coastal population and the management of groundwater supplies. Issues in the Southeast region of the United States are similar to those in the Mid-Atlantic with one major addition—controversies surrounding the management of coral ecosystems, including the creation of marine protected areas as a management approach (and the attendant prohibition of certain uses, such as offshore oil and gas development, in the marine protected area). In the Gulf of Mexico region, major areas of concern and conflict include the physical and socio-economic cumulative impacts of offshore oil development; and the restoration of lost wetlands. In the Pacific coast states, conflicts over whether development of offshore oil resources should proceed have been very visible in recent years—these conflicts have involved extensive controversy between state and local governments, fishing groups, and environmental groups on the one hand, against industry groups and federal agencies on the other. Other important ocean use conflicts in the Pacific Coast include conflicts between marine mammals and fisheries (and between the two national laws which govern these two resources), and conflicts between port development and the preservation of wetlands. In the insular Pacific (Hawaii and the American Flag Pacific Islands), major concerns have centered on the relative distribution of power and authority between federal and state governments in the management of the extended territorial sea (3 to 12 miles offshore) and the Exclusive Economic Zone. Similarly, important regional variations may exist regarding conflicts over one particular use of the ocean. For example, in the case of offshore oil and gas development, this ocean activity has proceeded with varying degrees of acceptance and opposition in various parts of the U.S. For

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example, in some areas (such as Louisiana), offshore oil activities became an integral part of state and local communities and were warmly received, while in other areas (such as Northern California), vehement local opposition preempted lease sales of offshore submerged lands, while in yet other areas (South-Central California) oil development was accommodated only after protracted and complex negotiations which resulted in the adoption of extensive permit conditions and mitigation measures. In a recent review of regional variations in public responses to offshore oil development and in resulting socio-economic impacts, the author and colleagues [17] hypothesized that these variations were related to the following variables: 1) the time period during which the first announcement of a proposed lease sale or actual development occurred; 2) the physical characteristics of the ocean and coastal zone in the particular region; 3) the socio-economic and cultural context of the affected localities and states (including their relationship to the environment); 4) the extent to which other major users of the ocean were present; and 5) the level of political mobilization of the local communities. The Range of Impacts that Can Occur as a Result of Conflicts May Go Beyond Standard Physical and Economic Variables In the case of oil/fishery conflicts, for example, most studies have pointed to what might be called standard physical and economic impacts of offshore oil development on commercial fishing operations, e.g., displacement from traditional fishing areas because of the presence of drilling rigs and production platforms, damage to fishing gear, increased competition for onshore facilities, and possibly adverse impacts on fishery resources because of spills, use of dispersants, and the like. Some studies which have attempted to operationalize such effects, taking each of them separately, have concluded that these are often insignificant (for a very thorough review of the oil/fishing conflicts literature, see Yu (1992) [18]). What this neglects, however, is consideration of the potential cumulative impacts of separate effects such as areal displacement, competition for harbor space, and the like. As these separate effects become aggregated, fishermen may experience “death by a thousand cuts” as described by fishermen affected by offshore oil development in Central California. In addition to the kinds of effects noted above, other second—and thirdorder consequences may ensue, as also reported by commercial fishermen in Central California in a survey conducted by the author [10, 19]. The effects of areal displacement, for example, are not only that fishermen can

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no longer fish in traditional grounds, but may also have to travel further to other areas, incurring more travel time, costs, and personal hardship. Fishermen in non-oil areas, in turn, are affected by the increased competition, and fish processors—who may need to travel further to pick up the product or whose supplies and markets are also disrupted—are negatively impacted as well [10, 19]. Added to physical and economic impacts, conflicts may also involve impacts of a social and political nature. In the Central California oil/fish conflict case, for example, oil companies provided payments to individual fishermen to “assist” the oil industry in a variety of ways—such as moving fishing gear or serving as watchguards for oil equipment—activities which the more skeptical fishermen viewed as “paying fishermen not to fish.” These side payments to individual fishermen proved quite controversial and, according to some of the older fishermen, tore the fishing community apart through petty jealousies and bickering. Some claimed that this was a conscious “divide and conquer” strategy on the part of the oil industry; as one fisherman put it, “The oil industry has successfully divided the Santa Barbara fishing fraternity in half” [10]. A recent National Research Council study on the adequacy of environmental information for outer continental shelf oil and gas decisions underscored that such social and political effects—although not part of the standard impacts usually thought of—are nevertheless real and often prove costly [20]. The report, for example, suggests that significant social/ political effects may begin even before a lease is sold, i.e., “The mere announcement of a lease sale can raise fear and uncertainty, stimulate organized political resistance, encourage land speculation, lead to lawsuits, and result in widespread anger and alienation among citizens who feel that their rights are being violated and their ways of life threatened. Responses to the possibility of sales have constituted intense, effective, and costly opposition to the government’s leasing program, but the information necessary to analyze them and other prelease impacts has not been gathered” [20]. Costs and Benefits of Conflicts While it is common to view conflicts in a negative perspective, group conflicts are part and parcel of democratic systems of government and can serve as catalysts for change and creativity. Conflict can energize individuals to activity and serve an integrative function through the promotion of group cohesion. As several mediation experts put it, “Conflicts can create opportunities for individuals and groups to clarify

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their own values, goals, and objectives; to expose each other to new information and points of view; and to balance competing interests” [21] . Similarly, when referring to inter-agency and inter-governmental conflicts, one should note that intergovernmental conflict and bargaining are inherent in federal systems of government such as the U.S. whereby the traditional political culture has emphasized the distribution of functions to different levels of government rather than the concentration of power in any one center. Fragmentation, duplication, and overlap are almost natural companions to a federal system of government. In many ways, these features are thought to militate against the appearance of a tyrannical majority by offering multiple points of access to divergent groups, thus allowing for the simultaneous expression of possibly contradictory perspectives. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of empirical information which operationalizes the actual costs and benefits of specific conflicts. These data are not generally collected by government or other entities, leaving the comparative policy researcher with a very difficult analytical challenge. Benefits and costs of conflicts, too, often involve a range of values— economic, social, political, and environmental—each of which needs to be operationalized and measured. In the case of oil/fishing conflicts, for example, as discussed above, the analyst is faced with the challenge of measuring impacts on: economic variables such as the effects of preclusion from fishing grounds, increased vessel traffic, gear loss or damage; sociopolitical variables such as the divisions of the fishing community and loss of fishing as a way of life; environmental effects such as the effects of seismic exploration activity on fish eggs and larvae and on fish dispersal. In the analysis, attention must also be paid to differentiating the impacts that result from the conflict itself—i.e., the interaction between oil development and commercial fishing operations—from the impact of other external factors which could be affecting each party to the conflict; for example, competition from international seafood markets or overfishing factors which may be driving commercial fishermen away from an area, rather than offshore oil development. To understand the full costs of conflicts, some historical analyses need to be carried out, also, to understand the range of consequences that can occur over time as a result of unresolved conflicts, such as, for example, continued resource depletion or outright and continuous preclusion of some uses in a particular ocean area. Decisions to favor one ocean use over another are seldom made purposively and explicitly in the U.S.; nonetheless given the nature of the marine policy decision-making framework in the U.S., decisions made in the context of the administrative

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framework of a particular sector can often lead to negative, although not explicitly addressed, consequences for another ocean sector. For example, the decision to lease large areas of the ocean at a certain point in time for offshore oil development purposes will often have the result of precluding for a long time (for the lifetime of the oil development projects) the use of these areas for other uses of the ocean space such as offshore aquaculture. Operationalizing the costs of conflicts among governmental agencies is also quite difficult—both conceptually and empirically. Here one needs to distinguish between the costs that accrue to the process of engaging in conflicts (e.g., agency personnel time, monetary costs, delay, expenditure of unnecessary resources and diversion of time and effort from possibly more important endeavors), from the costs which agency conflicts may create for the public interest in the orderly development and management of ocean space and resources under national jurisdiction (e.g., possible resource depletion; threats to public safety and order because of conflicts among users; inequitable treatment of various uses; loss of potential income from the public treasury from foregone opportunities for ocean resources development). Sources of Conflicts and Tractability of Conflicts Conflicts may be rooted in a variety of bases of disagreement: disagreement over values (over “what should be?”), disagreement over interests (over “who shall get what?” in the distribution of scarce resources or space), disagreement over facts (over “what is?”) , and non-substantive disagreements (based on factors other than values, interests, or facts, such as the perceptions of various interests or the style of interactions used by various parties) [22]. Normally, conflicts are complex and multi-layered and are rooted in some combination of disagreements. Differences over values, for example, may be deeply embedded in the cultures of various parties in a dispute, and therefore may underlie differences in facts and interests. Although as Wehr suggests [22], each type of conflict tends to involve a predominant basis of conflict, groups may clash on the basis of disagreement in one dimension, and yet join together in coalition on another dimension. Commercial and recreational fishing groups, for example, often disagree on issues of allocation and access to fishery resources, yet at a philosophical level they may join forces against oil development or other interests. Conflicts Among User Groups. Conflicts can be usefully categorized according to two variables: the roots of the conflict (differences in values, interests, and facts) and the parties to the conflict (direct users and indirect

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users), and arrayed on a scale ranging from most intractable to most resolvable. The most intractable conflicts, philosophical conflicts, involve value differences which usually occur between indirect and direct users. These philosophical conflicts are most pronounced when parties deny that other parties have legitimate concerns to be considered; when, for example, environmentalists hold that oil operators should simply “not be there” and the oil industry opposes the environmentalists’ right to a say in marine operations. In such philosophical conflicts which have moral overtones as well, one party may not even recognize the rights of the other to a stake in the same marine environment, and the likelihood of negotiation, and conflict resolution, is rather low. Interaction conflicts occur with increasing frequency among direct users who share the same ocean space or who are pursuing the same or related marine resources. Although they may involve value differences, interaction conflicts are primarily manifested as competition over allocation and access to marine resources and space, and usually involve parties which have the same kinds of stakes in the marine resources/space but disagree as to their distribution. In interaction conflicts involving allocation, contending parties may be in competition over their respective shares of a limited resource; for example, commercial and recreational fishermen competing over the allocation of scarce fishery resources. Interaction conflicts involving access to marine resources and space involve spatial and traffic control issues and are rooted in disagreements over “who shall be where when?” Access disputes between commercial fishermen and the oil industry frequently arise when oil operations interfere with or displace fishermen. Offshore oil platforms and drillships, for example, prevent fishermen from having access to popular fishing grounds or present obstacles to trawling operations. Notwithstanding the management difficulties posed by these types of disputes, interaction conflicts usually pose few moral overtones, and some form of bargaining can eventually lead to resolution of the dispute. Serious dialogue among the various parties in such a conflict, however, often does not occur until the controversy becomes acute in a particular region. Conflicts among direct users may involve actual conflict (a seismic survey vessel cuts loose lobster and crab traps), but can also involve the potential for conflict (potential conflict). and imagined conflict. Potential conflicts among direct users may be rooted in differences over facts and interests, but may involve important value differences as well. Disputes over the impacts some marine activities may have on the quality of the marine environment are often of this type. Frequently, scientific experts themselves disagree about the potential impacts of various marine

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FIGURE 1 Tractability Of Conflicts

operations, contributing to disputes over facts and to an overall conflictual climate. Generally, actual interaction conflicts are more easily managed than potential conflicts which may also be partially rooted in fears about the goals or activities of other parties rather than in actual differences in interests. Imagined conflicts may be rooted more in differing perceptions of facts and probabilities of impacts, perhaps because of poor communications among interests, and may be resolved more easily by improved data collection and information sharing. Hypothetically, these types of conflicts could be arranged on a “ tractability” scale ranging from the most intractable to most resolvable. As shown in Figure 1, philosophical disputes involving disagreement over values between direct and indirect users are the most intractable. Potential interaction disputes are next, typically involving differences in facts and interests, and perhaps in values. Actual cases of interaction conflicts, involving allocation and traffic control issues, and based in differences over facts and interests, are more amenable to conflict resolution. Imagined conflicts involving misperceptions are the most tractable, and can often be minimized by improving communication among interests. Conflicts Among Agencies. Although only conflicts between user groups are depicted in Figure 1, as discussed earlier, conflicts also occur among government agencies implementing marine programs; agency conflicts often parallel conflicts among users, and informal coalitions linking particular agencies with interest groups often take place. One could

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hypothesize that most of the conflicts involving government agencies are also based on the same types of differences discussed above—values, interests, and facts, with the caveat that agency conflicts probably most often revolve around differences in interests. Agencies may, however, also clash on the basis of differences in values. As a function of their historical mandates and personnel make-up, most agencies have “world-views” which may well be philosophically opposite to the world-view of other agencies (for example, the world view of the Minerals Management Service whose main objective is the maximization of profits from the exploitation of oil and gas resources differs significantly from the conservation orientation of the Environmental Protection Agency). Because agencies must operate in a political context in which give-and-take is the common modus operandi, however, it would be rare for agencies to push valuebased philosophical conflicts to the extremes manifested by some environmental group-industry interactions. Agencies typically clash, I would hypothesize, on the basis of differences in interests—expressed as different legislative mandates, differences in the outlook and training of agency personnel, and differences in the external constituencies with which the agencies relate—as well as because of the seemingly inevitable tendency of agencies to wish to aggrandize themselves, generally at the expense of other agencies. Potential interaction conflicts may also occur among government agencies and much time can be spent defining, anticipating and attempting to counteract the next “move” from a rival agency. Differences over facts can also create problems between agencies (imagined conflicts) but such problems are generally readily solvable, particularly if standing mechanisms for inter-agency communication (such as interagency committees) are available. A special case of inter-agency conflict is the intergovernmental conflicts that occur between state and federal agencies that implement marine laws and policies. An effort to understand why marine intergovernmental relations are generally quite cooperative in some cases (for example, fisheries) versus quite adversary in other cases (such as in the case of offshore oil development) was made earlier by the author [23] using, in part, variables drawn from the literature on policy implementation success (see Sabatier and Mazmanian [24] for a good example). Variations in patterns of state/federal relations were explained as a result of variations in the following variables: 1) the nature of the ocean resources at stake, considering both their worth and tractability, 2) the previous history of state/federal relations in the area, 3) the structure of the legislation and the extent to which the statute incorporates other levels of government in decision-making, 4) the disposition of the implementors toward the other

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level of government, 5) the similarities/differences in the make-up and world-view of the state and federal agencies, and 6) the patterns of alignment of external interest groups (e.g., are they aligned with state or federal agencies or with both?) ADDRESSING MULTIPLE USE OCEAN CONFLICTS When, by whom, and how should ocean conflicts be managed. As discussed earlier, group conflicts are a typical characteristic of democratic systems of government—in fact, they can be thought of natural manifestations of the divergent interests that exist in pluralist societies. Conflicts, then, are not necessarily problematic and do not necessarily need to be managed. Ocean use conflicts, however, often raise questions related to the public interest since they involve conflicts over the use of publicly owned and managed waters. For ocean use conflicts, thus, it is important to develop some guidelines as to when or under what conditions these conflicts become problematic and need to be managed. Different analysts would no doubt propose somewhat different guidelines as to when conflicts become problematic and need to be managed. The following list represents my own viewpoint and is offered to encourage discussion and debate on this important question. In my view, marine conflicts need to be managed when the following conditions are present: 1) when the conflicts pose threats to public safety or public order (“interaction conflicts” among users, for example, can often involve threats to safety and navigation, or pose the potential for violence); 2) when they threaten the long-term viability of common property marine resources, or involve irretrievable environmental damage; 3) when efforts to manage a dispute over common property marine resources are confined to a small number of participants who are unrepresentative of all the interests affected; 4) when conflicts involve excessive duplication, waste, or inefficiency on the part of government. Who can manage marine conflicts? The answer to this question depends, in part, on whether one is referring to ocean use conflicts whose manifestations take place largely on coastal land and immediate nearshore waters (e.g., conflicts over the siting of aquaculture facilities, conflicts between fishermen and oil operators over harbor space) or on or in the ocean [25]. Land-based coastal conflicts, it would seem, are, at least theoretically, easier to resolve since on land there tend to be generalpurpose governments (cities, counties) or multi-purpose agencies (e.g., multipurpose state coastal commissions in some U.S. coastal states) which

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are empowered with the authority for making decisions about competing uses. The situation regarding ocean conflicts taking place in or on the ocean is often more difficult since there are generally no readily available means for resolving the conflicts in a public arena given that the U.S. ocean management system is characterized by single-purpose laws and government agencies with narrow mandates. Some ocean use conflicts which involve a single marine use such as fisheries, can be resolved more or less successfully by a single agency or power center. Allocation between commercial and recreational fishermen of a fishery resource which falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of a specific fishery management council (under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976) is an example. This situation of exclusive government jurisdiction is, I would hypothesize, relatively rare. Many conflicts over marine resources involve different agencies at different levels of government which have only partial jurisdiction over the issue. The eventual resolution of these conflicts must involve the full array of public and private actors located at other levels (local, state, federal, and, occasionally, international). Unfortunately, under the currently segmented and sectorally oriented management regime, there are no readily available mechanisms for focusing the attention of this wide array of actors on a specific conflict. Effective mechanisms that promote public/private interface and intergovernmental and interagency cooperation in the marine policy field have yet to be fully developed. How can conflicts be resolved? Strategies for resolving conflicts may be thought of in two categories: reactive and proactive. “Reactive” refers to efforts to address and resolve conflicts that have already flared up, while “proactive” strategies involve anticipatory planning and attempts to forecast what conflicts could develop and try to prevent them. Reactive Forms of Conflict Management In the United States, because there is a lack of established governmental mechanisms for dealing with disputes over ocean uses, there has been a growing tendency to deal with marine conflicts in an ad hoc, informal manner, often involving third party mediators and what is generally referred to as “alternative forms of dispute resolution” (ADR). In some cases, such as in the conflict between oil development and fisheries offshore central California and in the conflict between state, local, and federal agencies regarding air pollution from offshore platforms, also in California, formal mediation services have been utilized. More typical, however, I would hypothesize, are cases where a coastal/ocean conflict

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flares up and a neutral third party (such as the Sea Grant marine advisors) serves a catalytic role in bringing parties together to negotiate their differences. Recognition of conflict intervention as an area of action and study in the United States developed first in the labor-management field and in international relations. During the mid-1960s, intervention techniques developed in these fields were applied to a variety of domestic conflict situations—to social conflicts over schools, hospitals, race relations. In the 1970s, with the growth of environmental legislation and subsequent litigation, intervention techniques were applied, with increasing frequency, to conflict over environmental issues (26, 27, 28). A taxonomy of methods of conflict management is offered by Nyhart and Smith [29], as shown in Figure 2. These authors array alternative methods of conflict management on a continuum which ranges from adjudication (involving the highest degree of involvement of third parties in a coercive or obligatory role—where a court or other entity is making a decision which is binding on the parties to the dispute) to avoidance and two party adjustment which the authors suggest involves the least degree of formal involvement by third party mediators. “Conflict avoidance,” however, in my view, often would involve a great deal of involvement by third parties—either public or private—and should best be thought of as a form of “proactive” conflict resolution (see discussion later in article). Figure 2

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In the past decade or so, extensive experience has been garnered in the application of alternative dispute resolution techniques to resolve environmental conflicts. This experience is aptly summarized in a book by Gail Bingham (Conservation Foundation) on Resolving Environmental Disputes: A Decade of Experience [30]. Bingham notes that while by the end of 1977 only 9 environmental disputes in the U.S. had been mediated, by mid-1984, mediators and facilitators had been involved in over 160 disputes (no marine conflicts appear to be included in this listing). The author notes that surprisingly, most environmental dispute resolution cases do not fit the commonly thought model of cases in which environmental groups challenge proposals made by private industry. Instead, many mediated environmental disputes have involved only public agencies; in others, citizen groups were engaged in disputes with their local government, or a mix of government agencies were in dispute with one another and a variety of interest groups. The author notes that environmental groups were at the negotiating table in only 33 percent of the site-specific cases that were studied as were private corporations; however, surprisingly, environmental groups and private corporations were involved together in negotiations only in 18 percent of the cases. Federal, state, and local agencies were involved in 81 percent of the conflict cases. Factors that were found to contribute to a successful resolution of conflict include: 1) parties must have an incentive to negotiate an agreement with one another; 2) to the extent that disputes are negotiated on the basis of “interest-based” differences between parties versus what the author calls “positional” differences [akin to value-based differences in our earlier categorization], the more likely an agreement; 3) the number of parties involved, surprisingly, does not appear to affect the outcome; 4) the most significant measurable factor in the likelihood of success in implementing agreements appears to be whether those with the authority to implement the decision participated directly in the process. Unfortunately, these type of data are not available on marine conflicts, although at least one attempt has been made [31] to compare several mediation experiences on ocean and coastal disputes. As has been done in the case of environmental disputes discussed above, the experience on the application of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution techniques in ocean and coastal conflicts needs to be synthesized and analyzed to see how well these efforts at conflict resolution have worked out, with what consequences and with what distribution of costs and benefits.

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Proactive Strategies For Conflict Management Proactive strategies for conflict resolution entail an anticipatory approach, typically involve government agencies as major players and may involve private sector mediators as well. Proactive approaches would entail, for example, planning efforts for particular marine regions aimed at setting goals for the area (e.g., what should the area look like 5, 10, 20, 50 years from now?; determining carrying capacity for the area; and deciding on a mix of appropriate uses, both actual and potential [i.e., anticipating future changes in patterns in use]). Some techniques for such an anticipatory approach include the use of ocean zoning and the establishment of priority systems which may give preference to some uses over other uses. The type of proactive approach suggested here needs to be studied and further developed. It will be difficult to accomplish since it will require change and adaptation on the part of single-purpose marine agencies as well as their willingness to come together to engage in such anticipatory planning efforts. Involvement of the public and the private sector in these activities would also be important. Some examples of proactive conflict resolution include: the detailed ocean zoning schemes utilized in the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia [32]; the separation of uses and zonation employed in crowded areas of the North Sea, particularly the Dutch sector [33, 34]; policies enacted by the state of Oregon in the United States positing that in the event of conflicts between ocean uses, priorities shall be given to renewable marine resources versus nonrenewable marine resources. Proactive conflict resolution must take place both at the national level and at the regional/local level where the uses actually interact. At the national level, national authorities (legislative and executive) must set up ocean governance goals, policies, and priorities. At the regional/local level specific ocean use plans must be prepared and implemented specifying in detail what uses can occupy what space, go after what resources, in what time frame, etc. An important challenge in both reactive and proactive forms of conflict resolution is determining the impacts that one use creates for another use and, if possible, avoiding or at least mitigating, negative effects. In the case of the impacts of offshore oil development, a wide range of mitigation measures have been used—ranging from payments to local communities (Scottish Isles, Native Alaskan communities), to the creation of special compensation funds for fishermen (Norway), establishment of a coastal enhancement fund to acquire and protect special coastal areas (California), compensation for damage to fishing gear (United States, under the Outer

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Continental Shelf Lands Act). Key questions on mitigation and compensation are who has a right to mitigation and compensation and how can these rights be ascertained? how can the rights of direct and indirect users be balanced? and who shall bear the burdens of paying for the mitigation and compensation measures—e.g., government agencies through special funds, the ocean industry which is creating the negative impact? TOWARD A COMPARATIVE RESEARCH STRATEGY Given the growing importance of multiple use ocean conflicts and the lack of systematic data on them, there is a need for undertaking a comparative research strategy to better understand the nature, causes, consequences, and modes of resolution of marine conflicts. A suggested outline for such a research strategy is offered below. This outline builds on discussions of a small group of experts chaired by the author which examined research needs related to marine conflicts at a workshop on socio-economic research needs sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, in September 1991. The Need for National Surveys of Marine Conflicts and Typology Building A national survey/inventory should be conducted in nations where marine conflicts are endemic and problematic to answer the following kinds of questions: what types of conflicts occur, where, and why? Who conflicts with whom? How do the patterns of conflicts vary according to geographical location (given differences between marine regions on such variables as resources present, nature of the user groups, political culture)? How do coastal (land-side) conflicts compare to offshore conflicts? Useful approac hes to developing a national inventory of marine conflicts include literature review and syntheses of the existing literature (mainly consisting of case studies) and the conduct of a national survey of knowledgeable individuals (in the U.S., for example, personnel from the Sea Grant program, coastal management officials, marine policy academics, others) aimed at identifying the range, type, characteristics of marine conflicts, and the interaction effects between marine uses (e.g., are the interactions harmful or conflicting? are they potentially hazardous? mutually beneficial? On the basis of such a national inventory, a typology of conflicts would be

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created, building on the matrices of uses interactions reported in Couper [35] and Vallega [36]. In-Depth Case Studies of Selected Conflicts Once the inventory has been completed, a representative number of prototypical conflicts (representing different types of conflicts in different locations) would be chosen for in-depth study and analysis. These studies would focus on such variables as: the lifecycle of conflicts, their evolution, and their dynamics, as well as the costs and benefits that they generate. In addition to doing studies of contemporary conflicts, there is also a need to conduct historical studies on selected conflicts to understand the range of consequences that can occur over time as a result of unresolved conflicts, such as, for example, continued resource depletion or outright preclusion of future uses. Understanding the lifecycle of conflicts is particularly important as a basis for decision-making on whether and when to intervene in a conflict. Wehr [22], for example, suggests that conflicts have common, though not always predictable, life cycles. Conflicts typically go through the following stages: 1) precipitating events which signal the emergence of a dispute; 2) specific issues are transformed into multiple and generalized feuds, impersonal disagreements often become personalized; 3) issues become polarized; 4) spiraling occurs—each party increases hostility or damage to opponents in each round, corresponding increases in hostility occur, in retaliation from the opponents; 5) stereotyping and mirror-imaging takes place—“opponents come to perceive one another as impersonal representations of the mirror-opposite of their own exemplary and benign characteristics.” Research Needs Related to Conflict Management Three major research needs related to conflict management of marine disputes, in my view, are the following: 1) the need to determine under what conditions public intervention is necessary to manage a specific marine conflict; 2) the application of the literature on environmental conflict management to marine conflicts and the explicit comparative study of specific marine conflict cases where mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution have been used; and 3) analysis of existing experiences with proactive, anticipatory conflict management and further conceptual development of this approach.

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Public/private issues. In cases where conflicts are already occurring, it is important to understand when, how, and under what circumstances, the public sector should intervene in the conflict and where conflicts can be solved through private means. Most conflicts involving water use typically raise questions related to the public interest since they involve conflict over the use of publicly owned and managed waters. However, given that with marine conflicts there are generally no readily available means for resolving the conflicts in a public arena, increasingly, attempts to resolve conflicts involving public marine space and resources are being made by third-party intervenors. While such efforts can lead to results that satisfy both the parties to the dispute and the broader public interest in the management of ocean space and resources, sometimes, too, such efforts can lead to an inappropriate “privatization” of the conflict where conflict resolution involves only the private parties to the dispute and neglects broader public interest considerations. It is thus important, in my view, to define the public and private aspects of marine and coastal conflicts and to draw up guidelines detailing under what kinds of conditions public intervention is necessary. Applying the literature on conflict resolution in environmental policy to marine/coastal conflict situations. As discussed earlier, an extensive literature has developed in the past decade and a half on third-party efforts to solve environmental disputes. There is a need to synthesize the lessons learned from the vast experience with conflict resolution on environmental issues and to analyze to what extent and in what ways such lessons could be applicable to marine/coastal conflicts. This is both a job of synthesis and analysis given that the marine/coastal environment has certain distinctive characteristics (such as the fluidity and transboundary nature of resources, the public character of ocean waters and space, the interdependence of resources and processes) which may not be present, at least to the same degree, on land. The experience of conflict resolution of land-based environmental disputes hence, cannot be applied in a wholesale fashion to marine/coastal conflicts. There is a need, too, to critically examine the number of marine/coastal conflicts which have been the object of third-party mediation. Experience on these kinds of cases needs to be synthesized and analyzed to see how well these efforts at conflict resolution have worked out, with what consequences, and with what distribution of costs and benefits.

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Advancing understanding of proactive forms of conflict resolution. The most important priorities in this area, in my view, are twofold: 1) systematic comparisons of the effectiveness of cases where extensive ocean use zoning has been utilized (such as in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park); and 2) further conceptual work on methods that can be used for anticipatory ocean use planning in areas under national jurisdiction, such as joint goal setting for particular marine areas by a broad cross-section of stakeholders, the establishment of general guidelines and principles for use of the territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. General guidelines and principles for ocean use have been suggested by some authors. For example, Archer and Jarman [37] propose the following set of guidelines for making decisions about multiple uses: 1) presumption in favor of non-exclusion as opposed to exclusive use; 2) activity that involves reversible commitment of resources over irreversible commitments; 3) ocean dependent uses versus not ocean dependent uses; 4) preservation of biodiversity; 5) resource developer bears the cost of the analysis. In this connection, I should note that the Ocean Governance Study Group, an initiative of the marine policy academic community in the United States to examine options for improvement in ocean governance, is focusing on the question of principles and guidelines for use of ocean areas under U.S. jurisdiction—in effect, attempting to define a “stewardship ethic” for the management of the territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. This work is expected to be discussed at the next conference of the Study Group in January 1993 in Berkeley, California. As the above discussion suggests, studies of proactive ocean conflict avoidance and studies of improved ocean governance may be largely the same thing. Hence, the study of marine conflicts in its broadest sense should be seen as an integral part of the on-going process of improving our governance of ocean space and resources. Conflict studies designed along the lines that we have suggested can clearly play a large and important role in that process. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This article builds on earlier work by the author Cicin-Sain, Management of Marine Conflicts, in Fisheries 7. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Fisheries Symposium. Fort Lauderdale, Florida,

presented in: Biliana Marine Recreational Marine Recreational May 10–11, 1982.

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Ocean Management Studies. University of Rhode Island. Times Press, 1984, Wakefield, RI, pp. 123– Bingham, Gail, Resolving Environmental Disputes: A Decade of Experience , Washington, DC: The Conservation Foundation, 1986. Susskind, Lawrence and Scott McCreary, Techniques for Resolving Coastal Resource Management Disputes Through Negotiation. Journal of the American Planning Association, 51 (3), Summer 1985, pp. 365– 374. Kelleher, Graeme G. and Richard A.Kenchington, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park: Making Development Compatible with Conservation. Ambio, Vol. 11, No. 5, 1982, pp. 262–267. Peet, Gerard, “Sea Use Management for the North Sea,” The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Impact and Implementation, edited by E.D.Brown and R.R.Churchill, Law of the Sea Institute, University of Hawaii, pp. 430–440, 1987. Couper, Alastair D. and H.D.Smith, “The North Sea: Bases for Management and Planning in a Multi-State Sea Region,” including commentaries, The Law of the Sea and Ocean Industry: New Opportunities and Restraints, edited by Douglas M.Johnston and Norman G.Letalik, Law of the Sea Institute, University of Hawaii, pp. 63–95, 1984. Couper, Alastair, ed., The Times Atlas of the Oceans. London: Times Books, 1983. Vallega, Adalberto, Ocean Change in Global Change. Commission on Marine Geography, International Geographical Union. Universita Degli Studi Di Genova. Institute de Scienze Geografiche. Pubblicazione 44. 1990. Vallega, Adalberto, Ocean Change in Global Change. Commission on Marine Geography, International Geographical Union. Universita Degli Studi Di Genova. Istituto di Scienze Geografiche. Pubblicazione 44. 1990.

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION IN MANAGING CONFLICTS: LESSONS FROM THE NORTH SEA EXPERIENCE PATRICIA BIRNIE IMO INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW INSTITUTE, P.O. BOX 31, MSIDA MSD 01, M A L T A

ABSTRACT Conflicts concerning fisheries in the North Sea date back to the eleventh century. Methods of conflict resolution, including resort to Joint Commissions and conclusion of agreements, thus have a long history here, as also does provision of independent advice to regional bodies by a nongovernmental scientific body (ICES). Intensive use of the North Sea today, including for disposal of industrial effluents, has generated new conflicts. Problems are resolved by establishment of new ad hoc commissions and use of the many other bodies relating to the region, including the European Community. Rarely is there resort to international courts. Negotiation, delay, ambiguity and compromise, within an established legal regime with appropriate machinery is the key to conflict resolution and avoidance. INTRODUCTION TO ORIGINS OF CONFLICTS CONCERNING NORTH SEA ACTIVITIES AND THE INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE “Oh blessed northern sea, a real sea with clean merciful tides, not like the stinking soupy Mediterranean! They say there are seals here, but I have seen none yet” (1).

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The above quotation neatly encapsulates two of the major areas of conflict in the North Sea—the pollution of its waters and the over-exploitation of its living resources, be they fisheries or marine mammals. It also highlights a source of disputes concerning these derived from the fact that all North Sea States (except Norway) are members of a European Community that includes some Mediterranean States. This paper will concentrate on these problems and the attempts in the North Sea region to resolve them in a peaceful if not always amicable manner. Fisheries disputes: Concern relating to the degradation of the North Sea from various sources of pollution is of comparatively recent origin, but disputes concerning fisheries go back to at least to Norman times (2), eventually stimulating an English/Scottish King, at the start of the seventeenth century, to enclose the English Channel as “Kings Chambers” (3), later abandoned by his descendants (4), who accepted the doctrine of Mare Liberum following the great doctrinal battles that ensued between Grotius in the Netherlands, who advocated this, and Selden and Welwood in England and Scotland respectively, who argued for a Mare Clausam (5). It is appropriate on the occasion of this conference to recall that it was the great voyages of trade and discovery of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, including that of Colombus, that generated this dispute and that the solution lay only partly in the exchange of legal arguments and much more largely in adoption of a shrewd policy of self interest whereby England, eventually abandoned its exclusive policy in favour of the mare liberum. This solution was repeated in the late twentieth century when the UK, having first resorted to legal argument before the International Court of Justice concerning Iceland’s unilateral extension of jurisdiction over fisheries within 50 miles of its coast, which it only partially won, itself enacted a 200 mile exclusive fishery zone two years later. Fisheries continued to be an intermittent source of conflict over the succeeding centuries (6), associated with the question of determining the limits of the territorial sea of North Sea coastal States, since until the mid-twentieth century jurisdiction over fisheries was regarded as co-terminous with the latter. One major dispute concerning dredging for oysters was settled bilaterally by a Joint Commission appointed in 1837 by the British, French and Belgian Governments, followed by a bilateral convention (7). Attempts to resolve the problems of overfishing and disputes between Britain, France, the Netherlands and Denmark that resulted from the mare liberum doctrine and uncertainty concerning territorial sea limits led to the first international (regional) conference on North Sea fisheries, inter alia, and conclusion of a multilateral convention on this subject (8), i.e. to a negotiated solution, based on the fixing of a 3 mile territorial limit in the

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North Sea (except for the Skagarrack) and the requirement that States whose fishermen engaged in high seas fisheries regulate their conduct of the fishery in relation to gear used. Marine scientific research: This solution did not wholly resolve the problem of overfishing, particularly of herring, which remains a source of conflict to this day, and attention was drawn again to this issue following the institution, in 1902, by scientists from North Atlantic States concerned in marine biology, of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) (9). Its aims were internationally to promote and organize research and investigations for the study of the sea, particularly its living resources, and to disseminate publicly and widely the results of research carried out under its auspices. Its areas of study thus cover a broad range of issues and now include not only fisheries and marine mammals but pollution and its effects on these species. It was ICES’ studies and recommendations that led to the convening by the League of Nations of the first Law of the Sea Conference in 1930, to the conclusion of the first Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1931 (10), to the establishment of the International Whaling Commission in 1946 (11), and the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) in 1947 (12), all of which contributed to the development of the North Sea legal regime and provided mechanisms and forums for the resolution of conflicts. The ICES provided advice on fish stocks and quotas to the NEAFC and now provides advice both to the reformed NEAFC and to the European Community (EC). Originally advice was given through an ICES/NEAFC liaison committee that met separately from the NEAFC; now this is provided through the ICES Advisory Committee on Fishery Management (ACFM). Both the NEAFC and the ACFM now reflect the adoption by almost all North Sea States of 200 mile Exclusive Economic (EEZs) or Fishery Zones (EFZs) and the role of the European Community in itself formulating fisheries policy and regulations for its member States. Whilst ICES does not resolve the political conflicts arising from the economic and social consequences of acting upon its advice, it does provide advice based on data discussed in a purely scientific body meeting separately from the political commissions, on which there is a broad measure of agreement among scientists from all the North Sea and North Atlantic States. Protection of the marine environment: Whilst fisheries conflicts have been long-standing in the North Sea, disputes concerning protection of the marine environment from pollution have arisen only from the 1970s onwards, following the convening of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in 1972, its adoption of a Declaration of Principles on the Protection of the Human Environmental,

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and the institution of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (13) to encourage their application. The UNCHE led to the establishment in 1972 of the Oslo Commission to supervise implementation of the Oslo Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft (14), followed in 1974 by the Paris Commission, based on the Paris Convention on Prevention of Pollution from Land-based Sources (15). Vessel-source pollution was already covered by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN specialized agency whose headquarters are in London; atmospheric pollution became the subject of the UN’s regional Economic Commission for Europe’s (ECE) 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (16) administered by ECE in Geneva. Although pollution from offshore activities is also a matter of concern and became the subject in 1976 of a North West European Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage Resulting from Exploration for and Exploitation of Seabed Mineral Resources (17), this is limited in scope, does not establish a Commission and has never come into force, though signed by all its twelve parties; the issues have been left to national regulation and bilateral agreement within the framework of the relevant UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea and a multilateral co-operative agreement on dealing with oil spills (18). This has sufficed since the few disputes that have arisen concerning continental shelf boundaries have been resolved by negotiation leading to bilateral agreement or, in one case, by reference to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), followed by bilateral agreements (19). Expansion of the European Community: In 1972, Britain, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, became members of the European Economic Community (EEC), joining the original six members (Belgium, France, Germany (Fed. Rep.), Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands). Thus bringing, for the first time, into the maritime areas within the scope of the Treaty of Rome, the waters of an island State, the United Kingdom, with a longcoastline bordering the less polluted but heavily fished Western sector of the North Sea. All North Sea States except Norway were now thus within the Community and bound to apply its policies and instruments. UNCLOS III: During the decade following this event, the progress of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) and the programmes and principles elaborated by the UNEP put pressure on the North Sea system as the UNCLOS reached a consensus (in which all North Sea and EC member States participated) on the concept of the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This concept included obligations both to conserve fisheries and to promote their optimal utilization, as well as conferring jurisdiction over marine pollution and

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scientific research. Consensus was reached also on detailed provisions for protection and preservation of the marine environment (20), which required the development of rules and standards to regulate six sources of marine pollution, through ad hoc diplomatic conferences or competent international organizations, at the international or regional or sub-regional level. These developments imposed strains on the North Sea States; which in 1976–1977 adopted 200 mile EEZs or EFZs (Exclusive Fishery Zones only), according to the choice on individual States. But the zones of EC members at once became subject to the policies and requirements of the Treaty of Rome, especially those concerning economic integration and harmonization of laws. This led to the Community as such (through the European Commission), as an entity, representing all its member States in organizations and commissions established for exclusively economic purposes. The EC was required under its Treaty to establish a Common Fisheries Policy and to harmonize such policies concerning pollution prevention and conservation of wildlife as have economic and social implications. When oil and gas deposits were, in the early 1970s discovered in the continental shelves of some North Seas States, (notably the UK and Norway), the Commission also sought to bring their exploitation of their minerals within the aegis of the Community, but this policy was strongly resisted by the U.K (21), the EC’s major oil producer, and the Commission abandoned this policy. CONFLICTING USES AND INTERESTS IN THE NORTH SEA TODAY It has been aptly remarked that the North Sea and its coasts constitute a vast natural resource which is intensively used in a wide variety of ways by its bordering States and the international community at large (22). Solutions to conflicts are not always susceptible to regional solutions, though some, e.g. land-based pollution, are; others require international solutions, for example, those concerning navigational or pollution incidents arising from ships registered under foreign flags or fishing by States from outside the region. The interests and uses represented in the North Sea are very varied. They include shipping, fisheries, tourism and recreation, oil, gas and other mineral extraction, energy generation, waste disposal, control of pollution from all sources, land reclamation (for housing and industry, involving draining of wetlands that provide habitat for wildlife), military uses, overflight and preservation of birds and other wildlife (23). There is obviously conflict between these uses and interests. It is, however, difficult to assign values and priorities to these activities; pressure

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from the oil and gas industries resulted in priority being placed on this activity in the 1970s and 1980s, with displacement of fishermen from some traditional fishing grounds. Trawling itself can damage pipelines and cables; discharge and dumping of pollutants from oil platforms and from other industrial sources may adversely affect certain fisheries and wildlife. More recently, pressure from certain environmental non-governmental organizations (N-GOs) has to some extent determined priorities in this field, e.g. concerning transport and disposal of radioactive waste, dumping and incineration at sea; protection of sea birds, seals and sensitive areas. The conflicts between these uses are well documented (24). Attention was drawn early to inadequacies in the existing regime and its scope for generation of conflicts which could only be resolved by international action, which also has to take account of the fact that the North Sea is not a closed sea; regimes established for it have to interrelate with those for adjacent areas to the North and South. To the North is Norway, an non EC member, outside the EC; to the South, France, a member of the EC which also abuts on to the Mediterranean (25). Nonetheless solutions arrived have all been ad hoc, ex post facto arrangements that generally evolved slowly in response to change in or intensification of uses, when these resulted in critical situations (26). No new overarching or even overall co-ordinating body has been established; reliance has been placed on a sectoral approach, responding to issue areas that require regional or international management, rather than a horizonal inter-connection of the management policy for the North Sea as a whole. The long standing historical origin of fishing patterns, and thus fisheries conflicts and their solutions, still dominates this sector, new problems such as pollution, have been the subject of new arrangements but they have been absorbed within the processes of existing organizations. Before examining some case studies, it is necessary, therefore, briefly to outline the organizational framework of the North Sea through which disputes can be resolved. AVAILABLE MACHINERY FOR SETTLING DISPUTES All North Sea States are members of the United Nations; Article 2(4) of the UN Charter requires them to eschew the use of force and Article 33 to settle all disputes by peaceful means of their choice. The latter article draws attention to a wide choice of means of settling disputes—mediation, negotiation, conciliation, good offices, arbitration, judicial settlement (which, for EC members bordering the North Sea area, could include the European Court of Justice as well as the International Court of Justice),

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resort to regional means and any other means of the disputants’ choice. The North Sea is particularly well equipped with regional bodies within which disputes can be resolved and, as illustrated, has a long history of settlement of disputes through establishment of ad hoc commissions and regulatory regimes. The present organizational framework of the North Sea (27) derives partly from the post World War II era and the establishment of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, partly from the four 1958 UN Law of the Sea conventions regulating navigation, fisheries and exploitation of the continental shelf, and partly from the post 1972 UNCHE era, when interest in protection of the marine environment developed. Both international and regional organizations available for resolution of North Sea conflicts proliferated in the 1940s–1970s and have been much used for this purpose. International Bodies available for North Sea Conflict Resolution International Maritime Organization (IMO) (28): Shipping is an international business that cannot be regulated on a regional basis. This UN Specialized Agency has thus played a primary role in the North Sea since its aims are to facilitate co-operation amongst governments on technical matters affecting international shipping in order to achieve safety at sea and avoidance of collisions, and to protect the marine environment from pollution from ships and other craft. The many conventions and codes it has adopted have defined these, as appropriate, to include offshore platforms and mobile drilling rigs. IMO has a Council and Assembly and acts also through various specialised committees. Its secretariat is located in a North Sea State (UK). It can, inter alia, convene conferences to deal with contentious issues, coordinate its activities with other UN bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It is engaged in conflict avoidance as much as resolution. IMO also administers the London Dumping Convention (LDC) (29) and convenes the meetings of its Consultative Parties within which various disputes have risen (30). The UK is responsible for about half the waste dumped in the North Sea outside internal waters and is the only State still dumping sewage sludge; it also disposed of low-level radioactive waste in sea until it responded to pressure from other parties to the convention to

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suspend such operations pending further scientific investigations under the aegis of the LDC’s Scientific Committee. NGOs, especially Greenpeace, had also launched campaigns against this practice, endeavouring both to intercept UK dumping vessels and to obtain injunctions to inhibit it. Its campaigns resulted in dock workers refusing to load cargoes of such materials for dumping and increased pressure on the UK government to co-operate in an interim moratorium proposed by the LDC meetings. More recently, opposition to UK unilateral legislation providing for the possibility of leaving certain oil installations in situ at the end of their working life (31) instead of totally removing them, as required by Article 5 (6) of the 1958 Continental Shelf Convention to which the UK is a party, was resolved by the negotiation of guidelines through the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (32). IMO has no enforcement powers but, by aiming to achieve a balance of interests between shipping and governmental interests and the growing public interest in environment protection, manages to achieve a wide measure of acceptance for the measures laid down in its treaties and codes, which if left to unilateral action would cause major conflicts. It has successfully promoted harmonization of shipping laws; States implementing its conventions in their national laws can do so without fear of conflict. Recently, the North Sea was added to the list of special areas. An interesting development to improve implementation on ships navigating in the North Sea of the international standards was laid down in certain IMO and other Conventions (e.g. the Conventions on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) 1974/78 and MARPOL); higher standards must be maintained under Annex V of the Convention on Prevention of All Forms of Marine Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 1973/78) relating to garbage disposal (33), the 1976 ILO Convention on Minimum Standards for Merchant Ships), all of which permit inspection in port by their parties to ascertain compliance with certain of their requirements was the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Jurisdiction (MOU) (34), first adopted in 1978 between 8 North Sea States and later expanded at Paris in 1982 to include 14 West European States. Since to arrest or detain vessels of States not party to IMO or ILO conventions would lead to conflict, the Memorandum, which is not a treaty but an agreement between officials of the States concerned, provides only for inspection of a target number (up to 25%) of vessels entering the ports of the parties to see whether or not they conform to the international standards set by these conventions. If they do not, the deficiencies are merely reported to the flag State concerned; vessels are detained only if they pose a threat to safety or to the marine environment, and then only for the period required to repair

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the deficiencies. A small Secretariat in the Netherlands administers the Scheme. Other UN bodies: Although the ILO and FAO have important roles at the international level in relation to seafarers and fishing activities respectively, they play no role in conflict resolution in the North Sea, nor does the UNEP. Unlike for the Mediterranean, there is no UNEP Action Plan or Convention under its Regional Seas Programme for the North Sea, with co-ordinating mechanisms, since regional organizations with broad mandates were either already in existence in the North Sea at the time of the UNCHE or were set up ad hoc thereafter. UNEP has, however, now adopted a number of guidelines etc. to encourage harmonization of standards in various maritime activities, inter alia, which contribute to conflict avoidance, e.g. Principles on Shared Natural Resources, on Transport of Hazardous Waste, on Pollution from Offshore Platforms, on Prevention of Pollution from Land-based Sources. Conventions have also been concluded under its auspices on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous and Noxious Wastes (35). IOC: Finally, mention should be made of the role of UNESCO’s International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) in enabling internationally co-ordinated scientific research in the oceans, and in particular of the inter-agency Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP), which provides the factual information for development of harmonised international and national rules and standards, and developed the agreed definition of marine “pollution”, which suitably adapted, forms the basis, of the UNCLOS Paris, Oslo, London Dumping, MARPOL and other conventions governing North Sea activities. Regional Bodies The Council of Europe (CE) was established in 1948 with the broad mandate of achieving a greater unity between its members to safeguard the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitate their economic and social progress. Its Committee of Ministers, meets in closed sessions; its deliberative organ, the Parliamentary Assembly, meets in open sessions, but neither body has any binding powers. Cooperation in economic, social, cultural, scientific, legal and administrative matters is encouraged, including in relation to environmental protection. Conventions concluded by the CE and administered by it include the Berne Convention on Protection of Wildlife and Habitats in Europe, for which it provides the Secretariat (36). Participation in this convention

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allows governments to enact legislation and take restrictive measures, which might otherwise causes conflicts if adopted unilaterally. The CE also convenes or organizes numerous conferences, including on maritime problems of local and regional authorities. Members of its Assembly can call for production of reports on contentious issues such as fisheries and pollution. Over 200 European NGOs have consultative status with it and can thus influence its work programme to ensure discussion of such issues. The European Community: This body is the most powerful of North Sea regional bodies but is neither confined to nor inclusive of all North Sea States. These limitations both create conflicts of interests and aims and limit its scope for resolution of conflicts. It is also limited by the fact that its objectives remain primarily to promote economic and social progress through harmonious development of economic activities, expansion of trade and improved living standards, through creation of a common market and progressive approximation of economic policies. However, the EC has unique law-making powers to achieve these aims, which are exercised by its Council of Ministers, on the basis of proposals from the European Commission, and has a European Court of Justice to settle disputes arising from interpretation of the EC treaties, which can also pass judgement, at the request of national courts, on the interpretation or validity of Community laws. Its judgements have both resolved, as in the Kramer Case—concerning the right of the EC as such solely to represent its members in fishery commissions (37), and created disputes, as in the recent case concerning UK legislation aimed at preventing Spanish fishing vessels registering in the UK from gaining access to the UK fish quota (38). Though the Rome Treaty did require the adoption of a Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) as part of the Common Agricultural Policy) and did not specifically require adoption of a policy on environmental protection, development of both has proved contentious. In relation to the former the disputes have related to equitable allocation of the catch taken in Community waters; in the case of the marine environment, they have related to the legal basis of the policy, the standards to be applied to control polluting discharges and the pollution sources to be regulated. The adoption in 1987 of the Single European Act (39), amending the Treaty of Rome, went some way towards resolving some of this problem, by providing a firmer basis for an environmental policy but, to meet the objections of certain States to expansion of its scope, the Act qualified this by providing that account should always be taken of the environmental conditions and economic development of the regions and the potential

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benefits and costs of action or lack of action. Coupled with the existing requirements in EC Action Programmes that the appropriate “level” of action be established (international, regional or national) and that whenever possible action should be taken nationally, the principle of the “subsidiarity” of environmental to economic goals is well established. The conflict has been resolved by an ambiguous compromise (40) and meanwhile conflicts continue in relation to both the fisheries and environment policy and will no doubt be resolved in similar fashion. Common Fisheries Policy: The difficulties encountered in the original NEAFC in setting catch quotas low enough to bring them into conformity with scientific advices, in allocating these among States parties, and in instituting international inspection, seem merely to have been transferred from that forum to the EC. There is said to be 40% overcapacity in EC fishing fleets. The EC regulations implementing the CFP require the laying down of equal conditions of access to fisheries in all waters under the maritime jurisdiction of EC member States. All of the 200 n.m. EEZs and EFZs adopted by North Sea States (other than Norway) after the ICJ’s Icelandic Fisheries Case judgements in 1974, became subject to this policy. The entry of Spain, Greece and Portugal into the EZ has added to the strains. Quotas for stocks that migrate between EC and Norwegian waters are set jointly and are fished by fishermen of both, which also causes problems. The EC, not its members, acts as the negotiating party. Despite some success in determining the optimum sustainable yield of the fish stocks, controversy has surrounded all efforts to adjust catching capacity to catch potential established on this basis. Churchill suggests that EC experience shows that direct regulation (i.e. using financial tools, such as funds for restructuring the industry, rather than legal rules to influence conduct) may be as effective as direct regulation (41). He regards the EC, as a fisheries regulatory body, as diffuse and multipartite. The position has worsened; the conflict continues; reducing fishing effort by licensing Community vessels is being advocated, as is expansion of the limited Community fisheries inspectorate, hitherto resisted. The difficulty of achieving this makes it likely that the dispute will continue, especially following the ECJ’s rejection, as discriminatory, of the UK’s attempt to prevent Spanish fishing boats registering in the UK by requiring that they, inter alia, have British Captains. Marine environmental policy (42): The major controversy here has centred on the UK’s rejection of the Commission’s proposals for establishing Uniform Emission Standards (UES; maximum EC discharge limits at source which must not be exceeded) for all member States on the grounds that this would be economically wasteful since the cold, fast

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flowing waters lapping its North Sea coasts could safely disperse and degrade a higher level of potentially polluting discharges than could the warm waters of the virtually tideless Mediterranean, or even excessively polluted eastern North Sea, which receives the heavily contaminated waters of the Rhine. The UK instead sought acceptance of Environmental Quality Objectives (EQO). These require that the receiving water be regularly monitored to ascertain the levels of pollutants in relation to the EQOs set. The four Community Action Programmes on the Environment adopted from 1973 onwards stress the need to establish EC quality objectives. The solution in relation to water pollution has been a compromise; adoption of the so-called “parallel approach”, giving some priority to the UES principles but allowing also the EQO approach, as something of an exception to the rule (43). A number of directives have now been adopted on that basis (44), setting “limit values”, though controversy has surrounded implementation in some States of some directives, such as that on the quality of bathing water, which has resulted in numerous beaches formerly used for bathing failing to meet the required standards. But the approach has been pragmatic (since that is all Member States have been prepared to agree) and there is no EC North Sea environmental plan as yet, since many proposed directives, such as one dumping, remain contentious and thus in draft. The Nordic Council established in 1953 by Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden for purposes of co-operation, includes one EC North Sea member State. It has risen to the challenge presented by the EC and now meets more frequently to tackle controversial areas such as energy and conservation, exchanging Observers with the CE, EC and OECD. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): This has a more limited scope than the others referred to since its concerns are exclusively economic, but include fisheries and some environmental issues. Moreover, its industrialised member States include Canada, USA and Japan as well as Western Europe. It has contributed particularly to development of the regime for control of transfrontier pollution and of the polluter pays principle (later adopted by the EC as the basic approach to liability), which itself helps to resolve potential conflicts concerning liability. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS): This has contributed “pilot studies” on various environmental issues, in which groups of interested member States and others are led by a “pilot country”. The NATO Secretary-General was called upon (unsuccessfully) to mediate in the

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Icelandic Fisheries dispute in the 1970s when Iceland threatened to close NATO’s Keflavik base. The NATO Summit in 1989 highlighted the importance of the CCMS (45) in facilitating international co-operation in science and technology. In 1990 it was agreed that its programme should be expanded to include, inter alia, protection against marine biological fouling, and prevention of air pollution from marine engines (46). The Oslo and Paris Commissions’(47): Their scope extends to the North Atlantic. In addition to providing a regional framework for control of dumping (and incineration) at sea and for regulation of discharges to air and water from both point and diffuse sources respectively, meetings of their Commissions provide a forum for exchange of information on marine pollution issues and discussion of policy objectives at regional level. It should be noted that the EC, as such, is permitted by the relevant constituent convention, to become party to the Paris but not to the Oslo Convention. Disputes have arisen within these Commissions concerning interpretation of key words in their constituent conventions, such as e.g. “persistent” or “eliminate”; the setting of UES or EQOs; allocation of substances to annexes; whether OSCOM should extend its scope to dumping of debris from offshore activities; adoption of the phasing out of PPP and use of PCBs; dumping of sewage sludge; oil based muds; incineration and use of best available technology; discharge of radioactive wastes. The two commissions work closely together, however, participating in a Joint Monitoring Group and Scientific and Technical Working Groups and holding joint as well as separate meetings of commissions. Their secretariat is shared, and has also been used for the Bonn Oil Spill Cooperation Convention. A Ministerial level meeting of both Commissions is planned for 1992 to set the policy directions for the 1990s and take further binding decisions on elimination of pollution. The resolution of conflicts within these Commissions has taken the form of compromises and delays (since the conventions do not allow for imposition of majority decisions on contracting States), which have not met favour with the more environmentally minded States and NGOs, but the pressure brought inside and outside this forum has led to gradually tighter control and the setting of goals for elimination of polluting activities, both of which aims originally seemed too controversial to be susceptible of any solution. Attitudes can be and have been changed within their negotiating processes. The Commissions are now moving towards abandonment of their separate conventions and negotiation of a single convention merging their activities.

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Continental Shelf Problems and Commissions: Surprisingly, the delimitation of the overlapping continental shelves of North Sea States took place in the 1960s and 1970s without conflict. The only exception occurred when the Federal Republic of Germany’s neighbours, Denmark and the Netherlands, asserting that the basic principle of delimitation, in the absence of agreement, was that equidistance lines should be drawn, proposed to delimit the shelf between themselves on this basis in such a way that the FRG, with its concave coast, was shut in by the lines drawn by its neighbours and deprived of access to the median line area of the North Sea. The FRG argued that it should receive a just and equitable share of the shelf, proportionate to the length of its coastline. Negotiations to resolve the resulting impasse having failed, the three States in 1969 took the dispute to the ICJ, which rejected the arguments of all three and ruled that the disputants should arrive at a negotiated solution applying equitable principles, taking account of various factors, some of which it identified. This decision resulted in further negotiations, in which these factors (including access to the median line, allowance for an already exploited deposit in the Danish sector and some degree of proportionality of the German sector with its coastline) were clearly taken account of, although only the proposed co-ordinators of the new delimitation lines were published and not their basis. Where oil and gas deposits overlap boundary lines, bilateral commissions have been established by negotiated agreements, which supervise unitisation of operations and equitable sharing of the proceeds as well as safety of operations. These arrangements have all worked well, e.g. the UK-Norwegian Agreements on the Frigg Field (48), Statfjord (49) and Murchison (50) fields. States bear their own costs; six person consultative commissions are established with two representatives each drawn from the States and the operator concerned. Joint inspection is provided for; each State retains jurisdiction over its own sector but must consult on safety and pollution matters. Though only the Frigg Field Agreement has formal dispute settlement procedures, all the arrangements have worked smoothly, perhaps because of the small numbers involved. It should be noted that the question of fixing the limits of strict liability for oil pollution damage from offshore installations proved too contentious for the treaty concluded on this subject to be acceptable to all North West European States and the matter has been left to private industry compensation agreement (51). The UK oil industry has also established a fund (administered by the fishermen themselves) for compensating fishermen for damage caused to their vessels and gear by debris from offshore installations (52), which had led to conflicts. Norway has a similar

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arrangement. The Oslo Commission has also recommended clean-up of debris. The International North Sea Conferences (INSC) (53): The lack of any permanent overall North Sea policy-making or co-ordinating body to ameliorate conflicts has been remedied in the short-term in relation to pollution control by the convening to date of three Ministerial INSC. The first was convened by the FRG in response to pressure from its Green parties and NGOs and was held in Bremen in 1984. A report on the Quality Status of the North Sea was produced and the Conference adopted a non-binding Declaration (54) emphasizing coastal State and EC responsibility to present and future generations for conservation of the important marine ecosystems of the North Sea, and the need to take timely preventive measures, without waiting for harmful effects to occur (the hitherto controversial “precautionary principle” (55) was thus implicitly recognized at regional level). It called for speedy implementation of existing agreements and urged action on various specified sources of pollution. This was regarded by some as a success, by others as inadequate because of its generality. A second INSC was held in London in 1987, following compilation of an updated Quality Status Report (each State produced a report on its own sector, these were synthesised into a final report, agreed by scientists from all North Sea States) and a survey of progress on the First INSC. A Declaration was adopted further endorsing the precautionary principle and recommendations were made for further action on various pollution sources (56), including reduction of inputs of specified pollutants, especially from land-based sources, and the ending of waste dumping at sea. Despite some criticism, as not all demands were met, a political action programme of far-reaching measures was arrived at. Dumping of sewage sludge and garbage from ships remained controversial, however. The third INSC was held at the Hague in 1990 (57) and also adopted a Declaration reaffirming the precautionary principle and entering into commitments to phase out, where feasible, use of the sea disposal option (including atmospheric emissions) for wastes containing dangerous substances; to identify these and by the year 2000 to reduce their levels to a point which avoids damage to man or nature. The Declaration’s scope was extended by its references to the possibility of increasing coastal State jurisdiction in accordance with international law; to protection of marine wildlife and to fisheries (requiring various studies). A Memorandum of Understanding on Small Cetaceans—the direct and indirect killing of which in fisheries had become in controversial issue—was attached, laying

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down interim management measures to be developed. It seems likely that a Fourth INSC will be held in about 1993 to follow up these issues. CONCLUSIONS As pointed out by the editors of a recent work on the North Sea, who made a survey of previous publications on the North Sea regime (58), it is noticeable that interest in North Sea affairs reached a high point in the mid 1970s, spurred by the boom in the offshore oil and gas industry, provoking demands for sea-use planning in the North Sea (59) and studies of potential sea-use conflicts (60), especially concerning resource exploitation (61). It then, somewhat surprisingly, died away during the 1980s, when the first multilateral International North Sea Conferences (INSC) were held, perhaps because this was a period of consolidation of the fishery, pollution and oil and gas regimes established in the 1970s, but it has currently revived, following the public concern generated by the INSC and the insight they have provided into the operational weaknesses and failures of the regimes established in the 1970s. Thus the very regimes established to resolve conflicts are now themselves the subject of disputes. Nonetheless, it remains the case, as emphasised in another recent study, that establishment of the legal regime is the key to the solution of conflict problems (62). That has been the traditional approach in the North Sea since the nineteenth century and remains the most successful approach today. But the recent innovation of the series of Ministerial INSC is a particularly interesting development, enabling North Sea States to reach the speedy political agreement on resolution of conflicts that is now necessary for effective protection of the marine environment on the basis of an agreed scientific analysis, with implementation of its Declarations left to the existing legal regime with its numerous commissions and other bodies. Conflict resolution in the North Sea is more in the nature of conflict avoidance through negotiation of compromises or of delaying treaties. Unsatisfactory as this may be in many respects (63); it does work in that disputes other than the Anglo-Icelandic “cod wars” have never escalated into use of armed force in that area. 1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

I.Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea (Penguin Books, London, 1980) p. 2. See T.W.Fulton, The Sovereignty of the Sea (Blackie, Edinburgh, 1911), Ch. I, pp. 26–56, Ch. II, pp. 57–85 and Ch. III, pp. 86–117 for the history of this period. Ibid, Ch. IV, pp. 118–164 and Ch. V. pp. 165–208. Ibid, Ch. VI, pp. 209–245. Ibid, Ch. IX, pp. 338–377.

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6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20.

21. 22.

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

Ibid, pp. 604–649. Ibid, pp. 611–612. International Convention for the Purpose of Regulating the Policy of the Fisheries in the North Sea outside Territorial Waters, signed at the Hague, 6th May 1882, Fulton, op.cit. n. 2, p. 637; see also pp. 634–649. For details of its early History, see A.Went, Seventy Years Agrowing: A History of ICES 1902–1972, Rapp. Conf. Int. Explor. Mer 165, 1972. LNTS, CLV, 349. International Whaling Convention 1946; as printed by direction of the Commission 1964. 486 UNTS 158. Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 5–16 June 1972, UN Doc. A/Conf. 48/14/Rev. 1. 11 ILM (1972), p. 262. 13 ILM (1974), p. 352. 19 ILM (1980), p. 1442. For details see H.Henderson (ed.), Oil and Gas Law: The North Sea, (Oceana, Dobbs Ferry, 1984), p. 1.0051. Bonn Agreement for Co-operation in Dealing with Pollution of the North Sea by Oil, 1969, 704 UNTS 3. North Sea Continental Shelf Case (Netherlands v. Federal Republic of Germany; Federal Republic of Germany v. Denmark) (1969) ICJ Rep. p. 3. For details of the relevant provisions see United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, U.N., New York 1983, Part V, Exclusive Economic Zone and Part XII Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment. For details of this see M.Saeter and I.Smart. Political Implications of North Sea Oil and Gas (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1975). R.B.Clark (ed.), The Waters Around the British Isles: Their Conflicting Uses (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987), p. 1; see also D.Freestone and T.IJlstra. The North Sea: Perspectives on Regional Environmental Cooperation. Special Issue of the International Journal of Estuarine and Coastal Law (Graham and Trotman/Martinus Nijhoff, London, 1990), at p. xix. This work also provides a comprehensive bibliography of literature on the North Sea at pp. 332–345. M.Sibthorp (ed.), The North Sea Challenge and Opportunity (Europa, London, 1975) illustrates these uses and the potential conflicts. Clark (ed.), op.cit. n. 22, Chs. I and IX, pp. 1–278. Sibthorp (ed.), and Clark (ed.), op.cit. supra n. 22. Sibthorp, op.cit. n. 22, Ch. VI, pp. 210–45. Ibid, p. 210. For a detailed description of the relevant organizations see Clark (ed.), op.cit. n. 22, Ch. XI, pp. 322–365. Basic Facts about IMO, Focus on IMO, IMO, Feb. 1990.

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29. 30.

31.

32.

33. 34.

35. 36. 37. 38.

39. 40.

41.

42.

43. 44. 45.

London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by the Dumping of Waste and other Matter, 1046 UNTS 120. For details of these and their resolution see report submitted by IMO to the Preparatory Commission for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED); UNCED Doc. A/CONF. 151/PC/31, 28 January 1991. Petroleum Act 1987, C. 12; for potential conflicts see Hansard, vol. 486, No. 61 24, March 1987, cols 119–140; T.IJlstra, Removal and Disposal of Offshore Installations, 13 Mar. Pol., 1989, pp. 269–288. Guidelines and standards for the removal of offshore installations and structures on the Continental Shelf and in the Exclusive Economic Zone, IMO Assembly Res. A. 672 (16), IMO Doc. A16/Res. 672, 6 Dec., 1989. See V.Sebek, The North Sea and the Concept of Special Areas, in Freestone and IJlstra (eds), op.cit n. 22, pp. 157–166. 21 ILM (1982), pp. 1–30; for details of its operation see G.Kasoulides, Paris Memorandum of Understanding: A Regional Regime of Enforcement, in Freestone and IJlstra (eds.), op.cit. n. 22, pp. 180–192. Basel Convention on the control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal, 1989, 28 ILM (1989), p. 649. Eur.T.S. n. 104; for details see S.Lyster, International Wildlife Law, (Grotius Publications, Cambridge, 1985), Ch. 8, pp. 129–155. Officier van Justitie v. Kramer (Jointed Cases 3, 4 and 6/76), (1976) ECR 1279; (1976) 2 CMLR p. 440. Commission of the European Communities, supported by the Kingdom of Spain, intervener v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, supported by Ireland, intervener, case 246–89; Times 1 October 1991. 25 ILM (1987), p. 506; see in particular Article 130R, Article 100A. S.P.Johnson and G.Corcelle, The Environmental Policy of the European Communities, (Graham and Trotman/Martinus Nijhoff, London/ Dordrecht/Boston 1989), Ch. 17, pp. 342–349. R.Churchill, EEC Fisheries Law (Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1987), p. 279; see generally ibid, Ch. 9, pp. 277–284 for various suggestions on means of reducing fishermen’s resistance to regulation. Johnson and Corcelle, op.cit. n. 40, Ch. 3, p. 25–26; see also N.Haigh, EEC Environmental Policy in Britain (2nd revised ed; Longman, London, 1989) Ch. 3, pp. 13–24; and Clark (ed) op.cit. n. 22, Ch. VIII, pp. 214–253, see also J.L.Prat, The Role and Activities of the European Communities in the Protection and the Preservation of the Marine Environment of the North Sea, in Freestone and IJlstra (eds.), op.cit. n. 22, pp. 101–110. Johnson and Corcelle, op.cit. supra n. 40, Ch. , pp. 27–108; Haigh, op.cit. n. 40, Ch. 4, pp. 25–126. Haigh, op.cit. n. 42, pp. 61–69. NATO Review No. 3, June 1989, p. 31.

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46. 47.

48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

NATO Review No. 4, 1991, p. 27. P.Hayward, The Oslo and Paris Commissions, in Freestone and IJlstra (eds), op.cit. n. 22, pp. 91–100; see also The Oslo and Paris Commissions: The First Decade (London, 1984). Agreement relating to the Exploitation of the Frigg Field Reservoir, 1976, Cmnd. 6491 (1976). Agreement relating to the Exploitation of the Statfjord Field Reservoir, Cmnd. 7813 (1980). Agreement relating to the Exploitation of the Murchison Field Reservoir, Cmnd. 7814 (1980). OPOL, pub. Offshore Pollution Liability Association Ltd., London, U.K; for 1976 version see VII New Directions Docs., p. 515. J.Grant, The Conflict between fishing and the oil industries in the North Sea: A case study, 4 Ocean Management (1978), pp. 137–150. See P.Ehlers, The History of the International North Sea Conference, in Freestone and IJlstra (eds.), op.cit. n. 22, pp. 3–14; J.Side, The North Sea Conference, Bremen 1984—London 1981, 17 Mar. Pol. Bull. (1986), p. 394. Declaration of INSC, Bremen, 1984 and Synthesis of Quality Status of the North Sea, pub. FRG 1984; see Y.van der Mensbrugghe, Legal Status of International North Sea Conference Declarations in Freestone and IJlstra (eds.), op.cit. n. 22, pp. 15–22; G. Peet, The 1984 North Sea Conference: A Preview, 8 Mar. Pol. 1984, pp. 259–270. L.Gundling, The Status in International Law of the Precautionary Principle, in Freestone and IJlstra (eds), op.cit. n. 19, pp. 23–30; but for a controversial comment see J.S.Gray, Statistics and the Precautionary Principle, 21 Mar. Pol. Bull. (1990), pp. 174–176 and letters in response from A.S.Josefson, pp. 558, and J.Lawrence and D. Taylor, pp. 508–509; and Gray’s reply, pp. 599–600. The content of the principle remains controversial. Second International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea, London, 24–25 November 1987, Ministerial Declaration, Guidance Note on the Ministerial Declaration, UK Department of the Environment (1988); Report of the Meeting; See also Quality Status of the North Sea, Report by Scientific and Technical Working Group, September 1987 and Summary thereof. North Sea Conference, The Hague, March 7–8, 1990, Ministerial Declaration and Memorandum of Understanding on Small Cetaceans, UK Guidance Note on Ministerial Declaration, Department of the Environment July 1990;1990, Interim Report on the Quality Status of the North Sea, The Implementation of the Ministerial Declaration of the Second International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea, Executive Summary. Freestone and IJlstra, op.cit. n. 22, p. xix.

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59. 60. 61.

62.

63.

E.Young and P.Fricke, Sea Use Planning (Fabian Society, London, 1975). Sibthorp (ed.) op.cit. n. 22. C.M.Mason (ed.). The International Control of Resources: The Law and Politics of the North Sea (Pinter, London, 1979) op.cit. n. 41, D.C.Watt (ed.), The North Sea: A New International Regime (Westbury, Guildford, 1980). Clark (ed.), op.cit. n. 191 p. 1; see also P.Birnie; The North Sea: A Challenge of Disorganised Opportunities, in Watt (ed.) op.cit. n. 61, pp. 3–29, P.Fotheringham and P.Birnie, Regulation of North Sea Marine Pollution in Mason (ed.) op.cit. n. 61; P. Birnie, The North Sea Legal Regime in 16 Ocean and Shoreline Management (1991) pp. 1–21. S.Saetevik, in Environmental Cooperation between the North Sea States, (Belhaven Press, London and New York, 1988), Ch. 11, p. 134–137, at p. 137 concludes that “the preference of the actor least in favour of environmental regulations (generally the EC but also sometime the UK, FRG or Denmark), and whose reservations cannot be accepted determine the outcome in such disputes and that the views of the EC States’ least in favour of strict regulation in turn determine the EC Commission’s view.

THE PROTECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT: A KEY POLICY ELEMENT Lee A.Kimball World Resources Institute 1735 New York Avenue, N.W. #700 Washington, D.C 20006

ABSTRACT This presentation examines the challenges for the 1990s in establishing protection of the marine environment as a key policy element in using the ocean and its resources. Following a brief introduction to the trends affecting the marine environment, it focuses on three aspects of policies and regimes for this purpose: the scientific agenda; the process for defining objectives and priorities for sustainable marine use; and the means to improve implementation of environmentally-sound ocean management regimes. INTRODUCTION The trends affecting the preservation of the marine environment are not new. Growing world population means that the scope and scale of human activities continues to expand—together with the variety of environmental stresses they cause. Increasingly, that population has migrated to coastal areas, and it is projected that by the year 2000 over 60% will live at or near the shore. Urban and industrial concentrations aggravate the problems of wastes disposal and intensity the contamination of recreational beaches and edible marine species by biological and chemical pollutants. In some cases, the effects may reach epidemic proportions, as in recent cholera outbreaks in Latin America. The mounting volume of nutrients entering the marine environment—due to disposal of human or animal wastes or as a result of

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fertilizer and pesticide use in upstream or coastal agriculture—is changing species composition and causing eutrophication of coastal and nearshore areas. Together, these pressures destroy critical habitats and breeding grounds for many marine species, including seabirds. Unsightly plastic debris not only mars our beaches but threatens marine mammals and birds through ingestion or entanglement. The health of the marine environment is undermined by more than the wastes that accumulate from run-off and deliberate disposal. The normal conduct of numerous activities like forestry and farming, dredging and construction, lead to erosion and siltation, destroying marine life on the seafloor and terminally clogging coral reef communities. Large-scale freshwater management projects also alter sedimentation in coastal zones, degrading coastal habitats and ecosystems, while mangroves and wetlands are threatened by mariculture and recreation. Airborne pollutants— originating from multiple local sources—are now recognized as a significant contributor to coastal pollution, whether deposited directly into the marine environment or carried by rivers and streams. Conversely, global phenomena are likely to disrupt local and regional marine ecosystems with greater frequency. There is increasing evidence that as a result of ozone depletion in polar regions, exposure to ultraviolet rays adversely affects the growth and reproduction of surface marine micro-organisms. Sea-level rise associated with global climate change will redound in numerous ways on coastal uses and habitats. And we have already seen where the composition of marine biological diversity in one locality has been significantly altered by non-indigenous species transported from afar in ballast waters or attached to the hulls of ships. The 1990 report of the U.N. Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP) informs us that the open sea is relatively clean today, but that coastal habitat destruction, if unchecked, will lead to global deterioration in the quality and productivity of the marine environment. It asserts that while chemical contamination of coastal areas is problematic in many areas, sewage contamination is far more serious. The following relative percentages are attributed to sources contributing to marine pollution [1]: offshore production maritime transporation dumping run-off and land-based discharges atmosphere

1% 12% 10% 44% 33%.

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Other sources remind us that enclosed and semi-enclosed seas are like giant bathtubs without a drain. There are alarming reports that the Black Sea may be unable to sustain the yield of living marine resources, and that the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and the Yellow Sea are heavily stressed. [2] Having reviewed the titles of the other presentations at the Colombo ’92 International Conference, it was difficult to identify issues in marine environmental protection that might not have been covered elsewhere. At the same time, it is clear that marine environmental protection must become a central element in marine policy if this and succeeding generations are to continue to benefit from the ocean’s power to inspire and serve human endeavors. I do not plan to talk about the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that affect marine environmental protection, nor to evaluate regional agreements in this field. The 1982 Convention remains the basic framework for the conduct of ocean activities and the mother lode for principles that will be spun into more detailed agreements. Already numerous regional agreements give flesh to this framework in such areas as pollution from land-based, atmospheric, and offshore installation sources, marine protected areas, conservation and protection of marine species, dumping, and response to pollution emergencies. Legal instruments prepared under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) amplify it with detailed pollution control requirements for vessels and cover such topics as removal and disposal of offshore installations. There is no doubt that additional regional and global instruments will further define LOS Convention objectives and policies for protecting the marine environment and conserving marine species. I could talk about the need for more elaborated regimes on land-based pollution, high seas fisheries conservation, protecting marine biodiversity and marine areas that harbor other unique values, or liability and compensation for damage to the marine environment. But these issues have already received substantial attention, not least in the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. [3] I prefer to take another tack. THE CHALLENGES FOR THE 1990s The challenges for protecting the marine environment in the 1990s go well beyond the extension of international law. In my view, what is needed is a re-orientation away from piecemeal marine management regimes toward ensuring that they encompass the full range of activities that undermine sustainable use of the marine environment and marine

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ecosystems. This does not necessarily mean doing away with specialized regimes for maritime transporation or land-based pollution, for example, but rather that the relationships among a wide range of evolving global and regional regimes must be evaluated in a more deliberate manner, and measures to support and implement them designed in an integrated context. I plan to consider three aspects of this question: (1) the scientific agenda, (2) the process for defining objectives and priorities for sustainable use of the marine environment, and (3) the means to improve implementation of environmentally-sound ocean management regimes. The Scientific Agenda It would seem commonplace to state that if our goal is to avoid damage to marine ecosystems and irreversible harm to the oceans as a global lifesupport system, we must be aware of the changes occurring and understand their causes. I leave it to the scientists to determine how and why we are affecting the oceans, but there are some aspects that cannot be left to the scientists alone. We need far better means for informing policymakers through scientific and technical assessments, and for strengthening the policy relevance of contributions by such expert advisers. For those of us who were educated before the 1980s, if not the 1990s, it was not possible to combine a physical and social sciences education without spending endless years in university to acquire more than one degree. Very few opportunities existed for inter-disciplinary study, and the programs in resources or environmental management more common today, which combine policymaking skills with scientific and technical training, were even rarer. Just as economics has been denigrated by the “hard” scientists, “policymaking” or “management” were even more suspect. Let me give you an example. For over ten years, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the development of Antarctic policies, and what will stay with me longest from that experience is the continuing opportunity to exchange views with the Antarctic scientific community. That only happened because the community of those working on Antarctica— scientists and policymakers together—was small enough to favor joint participation in meetings. The result, in my view, has been an effective and relatively expeditious process of refining policy objectives in a manner that recognizes current scientific knowledge, and at the same time honing

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scientific investigations to serve policymakers’ needs, without losing the benefits of “pure” science. By establishing a new Committee on Environmental Protection in the 1991 Madrid Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, its parties have given added recognition to the value of a regular, interactive process between policymakers and experts in scientific, environmental, and technical aspects of Antarctica. (The Antarctic nations created a similar advisory body on the narrower issue of fisheries conservation and management in the 1980 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.) In 15 years of working on oceans policy, opportunities for direct and focused exchange among scientists and policymakers have been far more limited. The practical effect of this closer interaction in Antarctic policy matters is illustrated by the issue of environmental monitoring. As protecting the Antarctic environment gained prominence during the 1980s, policymakers placed more emphasis on environmental impact assessment and the baseline studies and environmental monitoring necessary to determine just what were the effects of human activities in Antarctica. The scientists were reluctant to devote too much attention to this line of work, because “technical” environmental monitoring would detract from the funding and time available for “cutting-edge” scientific investigations. Several factors helped modify that view. First, more intense use of Antarctica—while restricted to a very small portion of the continent—raised questions of cumulative impacts and potential conflicts that could adversely affect scientific investigations or results (logistics and supply operations, waste disposal, or tourism, for example). Second, public opinion became a significant factor in some countries in mobilizing governments to support policy and funding commitments to monitor the impacts of human activities in Antarctica. And third, the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole revealed dramatically that environmental monitoring was an essential element in tracking global change. Many scientists have argued that designing quality environmental monitoring programs in order to understand global change phenomena is indeed basic research, and that it requires the same kind of broad vision and inter-disciplinary knowledge as solving other critical scientific puzzles of the day. The verdict is not yet in on the scientists’ contributions to Antarctic policies on environmental monitoring and broader aspects of protection. The scientists concede that baseline studies should be pursued to identify important parameters and methodologies for long-term environmental monitoring aimed at studying global change, and they have sought to integrate Antarctic studies into global change research programs. On the other hand, they consider monitoring the impacts of local Antarctic

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activities to be of secondary importance [4], and local monitoring still competes with scientific research for funding. Despite calls since 1987 for more attention to this issue, the first experts meeting on the subject takes place in June 1992. [5] The fact that the 1991 Antarctic Treaty Protocol requires environmental monitoring may put more pressure on treaty parties to deal with this issue. What analogies can be drawn for managing the far more numerous activities affecting the oceans in a manner that gives marine environmental protection its due? First, protecting the ocean environment presents a challenge and an opportunity for greater collaboration and interaction among scientists and policymakers. We need more education and training programs that merge economic, social, and environmental studies so that we can produce policymakers capable of planning and managing environmentally-sound ocean use. This process has begun in some countries, but there is still a long way to go. The U.N. Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea has for many years promoted integrated sea-use planning and management and supportive international seminars, as has the Commonwealth Secretariat. The programs sponsored by the International Center for Ocean Development of Canada and the International Ocean Institute of Malta also deserve special recognition for early training initiatives in this field. Multidisciplinary scientific analyses must be combined with integrated, multisectoral management. The scientific agenda for the oceans can no more be segregated into physical, biological, and social sciences than can ocean management be organized around a single use. It is not possible to study changes in a single marine species without looking at compensatory changes in other species in the ecosystem or modifications of the physical/ chemical parts of their habitat. Similarly, the parallels and linkages between marine and terrestrial systems must be studied at the level of ecosystems. In order to capture natural and human-induced changes in appropriate spatial and temporal scales, it has been recommended that monitoring strategies be tailored to different types of large marine ecosystems, linked ultimately to global scale oceanwide processes. [2] This proposal not only addresses the need to study the full range of impacts on a dynamic and coherent marine system, it helps define a logical geographical context for management regimes.

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During the 1990s, new partnerships must be formed among the different countries that make use of a given ecosystem. For no management regime will succeed if the nations impacting the ecosystem do not hold common objectives for protecting it. Developing a shared scientific agenda will be just as important for these partnerships as developing shared policies for marine environmental management—and that research agenda must support management objectives in the region in addition to promoting understanding of global systems and cycles. Specifically, coastal monitoring programs that help identify and alleviate problems of immediate local concern—such as contamination by sewage or toxic wastes or depletion of marine species used for food—must become an integral component of a broader ocean monitoring strategy that “shares the burden” among developed and developing nations for protecting the world’s oceans. Another lesson from the Antarctic experience is that we will have to reexamine during the 1990s the institutional vehicles that allow policymakers to interact with scientists and benefit from independent advice. In addition to the primary world-wide scientific and conservation organizations—the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN)—a number of issue-specific advisory bodies have been established pursuant to international treaties, in particular relating to fisheries management. Other specialized international bodies provide advice to marine managers in specific regions. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) was founded in 1964. Two recent examples may set the trend for regional marine management advisory bodies in the future, the Pacific ICES (PICES), established in 1990, and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), established in 1991 (which covers marine and terrestrial areas). These organs specifically identify policymakers as a target for their collaborative investigations and research. Second, the lessons of Antarctica indicate that it would be wise to establish ocean monitoring programs before cumulative uses further undermine the ability of marine ecosystems to sustain that use. And unless local impacts are part of the strategy, they may once again overtake us with an unanticipated disaster of regional or global proportion. We shouldn’t wait for the equivalent of the Antarctic ozone hole before acting. Today, national and international scientific research programs are giving greater emphasis to monitoring the world’s oceans to improve understanding of global systems and cycles, in particular world weather patterns and, more recently, climate change. International programs have also begun to devote more attention to supporting coastal monitoring programs worldwide. The

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World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) are designing GOOS/COOS (Global Ocean Observing System/ Coastal Ocean Observing System) to monitor physical, chemical, and biological properites of the world ocean. COOS specifically aims to better document and interpret human inputs into coastal areas—the equivalent of monitoring “local” activities in Antarctica. Third, the scientific and technical agenda cannot exclude more technical environmental monitoring and other information gathering initiatives. In another Antarctic analogy, when confronted with proposals to tighten regulations for wastes management and disposal requirements, it took the science program managers six years to pin down existing practices before they could consider how to improve them. The moral of the story is the need to document current practices and their impacts as a basis for upgrading protective measures. (The Antarctic initiative led to the inauguration of a cradle-to-grave wastes disposal and waste management strategy which will bind nations once the 1991 Protocol enters into effect.) Although dealing with waste streams in Antarctica is far less complex than doing so in the lower latitudes where dense population and economic activities prevail, the importance of inventorying substances, sources, and pathways contributing to marine pollution in a given region cannot be overemphasized. Without this information, it will be far more difficult to design effective controls, identify priorities, or evaluate the effectiveness of existing measures and upgrade them as necessary. Two major challenges, however, as with Antarctica, remain mobilizing financial support to pay for these data collection and assessment programs, and funding international participation in them so that the developing nations also gain knowledge and experience. Public opinion can play a major role in insisting that national and international laws governing activities that impact the oceans require and fund related marine environmental monitoring programs. In addition, the international development assistance agencies—multilateral and bilateral—should ensure that the relevant projects they support incorporate an ocean monitoring component. The World Resources Institute has called for the new Global Environment Facility (GEF)—co-sponsored by the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP—to devote one-tenth of its financial resources to improving developing nations’ capabilities in inventorying and monitoring related to the GEF’s four program areas—which include protection of the marine environment.

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Defining Objectives and Priorities This conference focuses heavily on integrated ocean management and multiple-use conflicts, with good reason. It is increasingly difficult to manage the oceans in discrete bites having to do with particular fisheries, marine protected areas, deliberate disposal of wastes at sea, or various types of offshore installations, let alone incorporate into the equation extensive hinterland activities that impact the marine environment. On the one hand, we are challenged by the cumulative effects of an infinity of local decisions and actions that affect the health of the oceans. But on the other, we cannot forget that two-thirds of Earth’s surface is comprised of oceans, and that these form an integral part of global systems and cycles that sustain and stabilize our planetary habitat. The cumulative assault on the marine environment cannot be dealt with on a piecemeal basis or by nations acting alone. Monitoring marine environmental conditions and trends and determining their causes is only the first step. The next is using that information to improve our ability to predict the events and trends that may result in unacceptable or irreversible change and to develop response measures to avoid or mitigate any adverse changes. Environmental impact assessment is by now twenty years old, although it is not yet effectively applied worldwide. But it has been used primarily to evaluate the impacts of a single proposed activity or project. There have been very few efforts to assess marine environmental conditions and trends on a regular basis and in relation to global systems, with the exception of the two GESAMP reports on the state of the marine environment issued in 1982 and 1990. Regionally, UNEP’s ocean and coastal affairs program has launched nine action plans based on initial assessments, but these have not been followed up in any systematic way. The Blue Plan for the Mediterranean represents a significant departure in this regard, and its results will have to be carefully evaluated. Even when applied to specific projects or activities, environmental assessment has rarely been used to alert neighboring states that may be affected by potential transboundary impacts. The 1991 ECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context represents a major breakthrough in this regard. It covers both coastal and offshore activities like crude oil refineries, large-diameter oil and gas pipelines, and major construction projects, as well as hinterland dams and groundwater extraction initiatives that may have transboundary marine impacts. Today our policy processes for ocean management must become capable of examining the full range of activities impacting on a particular marine

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ecosystem and take into account transboundary, regional, and global dimensions. Not only must potential environmental impacts be considered before proposed activities are approved, so too must potential conflicts of use with other established uses of the area. Management measures proposed for one type of activity must be evaluated for their impacts on practices or activities that are controlled under other regimes, just as measures to reduce or control marine pollution must be examined to determine whether they may transfer, directly or indirectly, damage or hazards to land or freshwater environments or transform air pollution into marine pollution, or vice versa (article 195, LOS Convention). Assessment is a broader concept that environmental impacts alone. It requires analysis of the costs and benefits of alternative policies, in the short and long term. If the ocean frontier—or at least the coastal frontier for the time being—is no longer boundless, then it will increasingly become necessary to choose between certain types of activities, giving priority, for example, to wetlands conservation in one area and developing coastal recreational facilities in another. Other decisions may involve preferences for more costly land-based disposal of certain types of wastes as opposed to disposal into the marine environment. These choices should not be made in a vacuum. The costs of foregone options or environmentally-sound technologies may seem too high to pay, particularly in strapped economies or where the “endless frontier” mentality still holds (even when it may be someone else’s frontier). But the costs of disease and clean-up, of lost recreational opportunities and species depletion and loss, are costs borne by all of us. The environmental economists continue to work on methodologies that better incorporate the environmental costs and benefits of resource and environmental use, and policymakers use fiscal tools to create incentives and disincentives for different approaches, including the development and use of low-waste or “clean” technologies. The private industries that move ahead in the game will be those that take the lead in modifying product and processing streams to reduce adverse effects, and help inform the policy environment of how to encourage such developments. During the 1990s we will have to perfect and apply new tools to account for and minimize adverse impacts on the marine environment. Nationally, governments must become capable of integrated planning and management for ocean development to avoid unsustainable use or significant environmental harm. That requires structure of governance that facilitate the definition of objectives and priorities for marine use acrossthe-board, including acceptable environmental conditions and change; allow different means of attaining those goals and conditions to be

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compared; and provide for regular review of progress toward these goals and procedures for adjustment. The process for defining and reviewing goals and strategies on a regular basis should include the full range of constituencies who carry them out, benefit from them, or suffer their consequences. [6] Internationally, the appropriate geographic scope for addressing the economic, environmental, social, and technological developments and trends that affect marine environmental protection must be defined. As noted in the previous section, large marine ecosystems have been suggested as a basis for defining regional marine units of ‘manageable’ scope. Where major river systems help shape marine ecosystems, it will be necessary to ensure that international river basin regimes mesh effectively with marine management regimes. Similarly, air pollution control regimes must ensure that marine deposition is evaluated and taken account of in regional marine pollution monitoring and control strategies. Capturing the biological element, it is high time that management approaches for marine living species—both national and regional—become more closely linked with environmental protection measures, so as to give effect to ecosystem management. As the relationships among these management regimes are further illuminated, it will become easier to identify gaps and measures that may be usefully consolidated. Where regional regimes give greater precision to global regimes, they may provide the basis for elaborating the global regimes or harmonizing measures among different regions. The implications for international institutions in this regard are not insignificant. Multidisciplinary expertise is a necessary underpinning for marine ecosystem management. The scientific and policy advice provided to national governments by international organizations should come in a coherent, multidisciplinary package, rather than piecemeal. By consolidating their skills at regional levels, U.N. system organizations such as UNEP, IMO, IOC, and FAO could usefully serve regional needs on a cost-effective basis and in a manner tailored to conditions in the region. Regional data management systems could also be established, both to serve local and national needs and to help define regional and global conditions and trends. Moreover, different international programs—global and regional—must avoid working at cross purposes. As long as agricultural development programs favor intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides to increase productivity in the short term, efforts to reduce nutrient build-up in coastal areas will continue to be undermined. When internationally-funded development projects fail to take account of transboundary marine environmental impacts, they erode sustainable marine use in more than one

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country. The international system of governance needs better means to identify potential conflicts at the programmatic level and in the planning stages and to review and adjust such programs if and when conflicts emerge. The annual report prepared by the U.N. Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea already provides a very useful basis for an integrated overview of ocean developments, including those related to marine environmental protection. This could certainly be developed further as a means of identifying gaps, conflicts, and priorities among the international programs—both within and outside the U.N. system. Let us hope that the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development has taken major strides toward a more integrated program planning and review process. I have already noted the importance of participatory processes to define national needs, objectives, and priorities. As regional initiatives gain momentum, regional forums should also provide for consultations and input from non-governmental constituencies and can help bring public pressure to bear for sustainable use of marine ecosystems. Protecting the marine environment in the future is not going to result from confrontational, adversarial proceedings between the “environmentalists” and others who use the ocean and its resources. We are going to have to develop far more effective consultative mechanisms that identify potential conflicts of use and adverse environmental impacts early on and help broker mediated solutions to them. In my final analogy, during the Law of the Sea negotiations, there were numerous dialogues between the individuals who represented major international consortia planning to mine the deep seabed of its manganese nodules and the diplomats bent on international regulation of their activities. This interchange helped the regulatory process accommodate the economic and technological constraints affecting seabed mining, albeit not as much as the industrialists might have preferred. (After ten years, it appears that we may be close to re-designing the international regulatory system to make it more responsive to changing economic and technological conditions.) Eleven years ago, as a result of the role played directly by the industrialists in the deep seabed mining negotiations, and the informative panels on economic and operational issues hosted by third-party groups to establish basic facts, I advocated disseminating technical, economic and commercial information widely among those involved in international decision-making on these issues, promoting cooperative international research programs with the industry, and establishing ad hoc advisory bodies so that corporate representatives could interact directly with participants in international negotiations affecting their interests. These

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advisory bodies would require balanced representation of different interest groups. [7] I believe the point is even more valid today. The Means There are two issues I would like to treat under the heading of the means to enhance implementation of environmentally-sound ocean management regimes: (1) strengthening compliance with them, through financial and technical assistance programs and improved ways to track both national performance and the effectiveness of the regimes as a whole; and (2) through better coordination among development cooperation programs so that they reinforce each other, as well as better linkages between development cooperation programs and internationallyagreed policies for sustainable ocean use, including international treaties. Compliance. At the outset of my presentation, I noted that there are a variety of areas in which international laws and policies on marine environmental protection and marine conservation should be improved and elaborated. Nevertheless, we cannot impose major new burdens on countries through binding regulations and standards without addressing their ability to comply with them. Surely there are a few countries that seek to avoid existing and future international legal obligations in order to gain some short-term financial advantage over competitors, or where the enforcement authorities turn a blind eye to those who ignore the law. But for the vast majority of countries, the problem is not the will, it is the way. We can argue that the long-term costs of ignoring environmental protection or sustainable use of resources will be far greater than the costs today of initiating sustainable development policies. But that argument is not likely to take precedence where immediate needs for potable freshwater, food and fuel, or disease control exhaust available public and private funds. Or in countries where the distribution of wealth and power is such that those who have it prefer to pay to escape environmental degradation. If the world as a whole is to succeed in protecting the marine environment and its resources for present and future generations, sharing the burden is going to require a far greater effort on the part of the industrialized nations and the more affluent elements of societies

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everywhere. Substantial initiatives must be launched to build national capabilities in marine science and management through education and training programs, strengthening national laws, policies, and institutions, and the development and use of environmentally-sound marine technologies. That these initiatives must stress multi-disciplinary expertise and integrated national planning and management goes without saying. Tracking progress in marine environmental protection is another issue. Too often this is perceived in a negative light; that is, that non-compliance leads to censure and sanction. Yet the carrot is equally important. The role of environmental monitoring and environmental assessment is to help identify and diagnose problems. Unless we know that they exist and how they are progressing, we cannot prescribe effective response measures. There are various ways to maintain a better record of this progress (or lack thereof). National state-of-the-environment reports that include a summary of marine conditions and trends are one option; preparing country reports like those prepared for the Rio Conference on a regular basis is another. At the same time, under many international regimes there are requirements for national reports and, increasingly, country programs to implement the regimes. It should be possible to consolidate these measures in some meaningful way that would indicate progress and additional requirements for a broad spectrum of marine environmental protection issues. Internationally, the same issues arise. Drawing on national reports, regional and global trends should be regularly synthesized and reviewed. To the extent that international policies set minimum standards, these syntheses provide the raw material for evaluating how effective the policies are and whether they should revised. Where binding legal obligations do not exist, it may be useful to develop “soft law” guidelines and targets as an initial step. Others have recommended that such guidelines might cover industrial process that generate hazardous wastes, design and disposal of consumer products that make up municipal solid waste, or—to avoid groundwater and surface water contamination—agricultural practices for fertilizer and pesticide application and manure storage. [8] For both national and international purposes, we need to refine and consolidate indices of the health of marine ecosystems that can serve as a basis for determining these trends. There is another advantage to measurable indicators of progress. They can help coalesce support within countries for programs to alleviate serious problems, as well as external support when assistance is required for doing so. Nor should the need for the “stick” be ignored. Where national and public pressure do not suffice to advance marine environmental

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protection, international review can add force. National reports should be periodically assessed in international forums, and subject to widespread international public review. The sooner potential problems are identified, the easier it may be to deal with them before they escalate into disputes or damage marine ecosystems. Moreover, new techniques are being applied for advance notification, consultation, mediation, and dispute prevention. Examples include the Valetta Principles of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Hexagonale proposals put before the Rio Conference, and the 1991 European agreement on transboundary environment impacts cited earlier. International Cooperation. The need to increase international cooperation so that all nations and peoples can benefit from ocean use has been an element in international ocean policy debates for more than a quarter century. The 1982 Law of the Sea Convention devotes major sections to strengthening such cooperation and elaborates a series of principles for doing so. [3] The United Nations system of organizations has for decades sought to further international collaboration in marine scientific research (UNESCO/IOC), fisheries management (FAO), ship safety and pollution control (IMO), and protection and management of regional seas (UNEP), with assistance from UNDP, the multilateral development banks, bilateral donors, and private, non-governmental entities such as the Rockefeller Foundation. With the conclusion of the LOS Convention, integrated ocean management initiatives such as those noted earlier have begun to emerge. As the linkages among different ocean sectors grow more apparent, and as more intensive ocean activities underscore the need to promote sustainable use, those engaged in international development cooperation in the oceans sector will have to work with governments to ensure that their disparate initiatives reinforce each other. The most effective way for doing so will be to base external assistance on a coherent national strategy for ocean use. The first step then becomes the determination of national objectives and priorities, as noted above, and a coordinated assessment of national needs for sound ocean use, including the enhancement of national human resources and national laws and institutions. Rather than working at cross purposes, the international community should support a regular process of national planning and review that encompasses oceans, then help build domestic capabilities for carrying it out and implementing it over the long term. [6] Insofar as national oceans initiatives derive from or are dependent on regional policy agreement and may be more cost-effectively implemented through collaborative regional programs, regional strategies should receive

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priority attention from international assistance programs. Just as at national levels, integrated regional objectives and strategies for ocean use can help build support for international cooperation. The more precisely defined these objectives and strategies are, and the more measurable progress toward them, the more attractive they become for donors. Moreover, it is difficult to justify assistance programs that do not, in fact, take account of agreed policy guidance for the region. During the 1990s, governments and non-governmental actors alike will have to make far better use of international institutions—global and regional—to concert their efforts to protect and enhance the marine environment around the globe. CONCLUSION In a 1991 report, a GESAMP working group identified four principles that should form the basis for protecting and managing the marine environment (derived from the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the Law of the Sea Convention, and the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission), Our Common Future: 1. Sustainable Development: Social and economic development must be pursued in a manner that does not prejudice options available to future generations for the use of the sea and its amenities; 2. Prevention of Harm: All practical steps shall be taken to prevent, and correct, the harmful effects of anthropogenic activities on human health, on living resources, marine life, marine amenities and other legitimate uses of the sea; 3. Holistic Considerations: Steps shall be taken to ensure that measures taken to mitigate harm, or to reduce the risks of harm, to the marine environment do not results in the transfer, directly or indirectly, of damage or hazards to other sectors of the environment, viz, land, air or freshwater; and 4. International Cooperation: Cooperation among States, including the harmonization of protection measures, mutual exchange of information, coordination of monitoring and the provision of technical and financial assistance, is essential for achieving regional and global objectives for the preservation and protection of the marine environment. [8] That’s not a bad summary.

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REFERENCES 1.

2. 3.

4.

5. 6.

7.

8.

The State of the Marine Environment. Reports and Studies No. 39 (UNEP 1990). Report of the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP). Report: Large Marine Ecosystems Monitoring Workshop, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 13–14 July 1991, (July 24, 1991). International Institutions and Legal Instruments, (prepared by the Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the U.N. Secretariat), U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, Research Paper No. 10, July 1991. Blueprint for Antarctica. The Tinker Foundation Workshop, Fondation Royaumont, Luzarches, France, October 22–25, 1989, World Resources Institute (WRI), 1990. Report of the XVI Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM), October 7–18, 1991, Bonn, Germany. Law of the Sea: Realization of benefits under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea: Measures undertaken in response to needs of States in regard to development and management of ocean resources, and approaches for further action: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Document A/46/ 722, 4 December 1991; and similar U.N. Document A/45/712, 16 November 1990. Kimball, Lee, Implications of the Arrangements Made for Deep Sea Mining for Other Joint Exploitations. In Columbia Journal of World Business, vol. XV, no. 4, Winter 1980, pp. 52–61. Comprehensive Framework for the Assessment and Regulation of Waste Disposal in the Marine Environment: Scientific Strategies for Marine Environment Protection, GESAMP XXI/4, 17 January 1991.

THE PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT: UNEP’S OCEANS AND COASTAL AREAS PROGRAMME STJEPAN KECKES 21 L.Brunetti, Rovinj, Croatia, Yugoslavia

ABSTRACT The Regional Seas Programme was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1974 as a globally co-ordinated programme implemented through a series of regional action plans, supported by legally binding agreements between the countries participating in the action plans. More than 120 countries participate in the action plans adopted until now for nine regions. Eight regional conventions, supplemented with a number of protocols, have been adopted as the legal framework of the action plans. The central goal of the Programme is the protection and development of the marine and coastal areas and their resources. INTRODUCTION The oceans have always had and will continue to play a decisive role in shaping the life on this planet. The global energy budget and the biogeochemical processes on which all life depends are critically influenced by the oceans. However, in spite of the vastness of the oceans, they are intimately linked with, and influenced by, the terrestrial environment. This mutual interdependence of the oceans and terrestrial environment is nowhere so evident as in the coastal and near-shore zones, particularly in enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, and on islands. Due to the numerous advantages offered by the coastal and near-shore areas, they have since antiquity been among the most intensively used and

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abused parts of our globe. About one half of today’s population lives on the sea-shores or in their immediate proximity; a variety of industries have developed on a large scale along the coast; the coastal zones are a major recreational area and the basis for expanding tourism; harbours are essential as centres for national and international transport and trade. The nearshore maritime areas contain the largest part of commercially exploitable marine living and mineral resources. They are also the zones used for mariculture, whose full potential is yet to be developed. The ecological systems of the oceans are inseparably linked with those in coastal areas and the socio-economic developments of the coastal areas are determined to a large degree by the conditions created by the proximity of the oceans. Therefore the protection of the marine environment and the use of its resources can not be considered separately from land-based activities. Aside from some living resources, the open oceans seem to be still largely unaffected, but the physical and ecological degradation of coastal areas and the increase in pollution of near-shore waters from land-based sources are accelerating at an alarming pace. The often dramatic and irreversible alteration of natural coastal ecosystems and the extensive pollution of the sea are primarily caused by the rapid growth of coastal populations, the expansion of recreational areas, and the concentration of industrial development in coastal zones, accompanied by inadequate environmental, technological and economic policies. The expected impact of predicted climate changes will exacerbate the present problems and may, in areas such as low-lying islands and coastal zones, significantly influence or even imperil their future development and use. The predicted climate changes will certainly affect marine living resources in many ways. Large scale changes in total marine fisheries production are not expected, although individual stocks may suffer. Mariculture will probably be more affected. Tropical upwelling zones, which produce large amount of fish resources may shift polewards by hundreds of kilometres. The oceans and coastal areas are still not considered as finite economic assets which can be used on a sustainable basis only by prudent and rational exploitation. Therefore relatively low priority is assigned in most national development plans to the protection of these areas and to rational use of their resources. The result is a scarcity of funds needed for measures which could prevent, reduce or eliminate pollution of the marine environment, halt the physical degradation of coastal areas and protect their resources. In reality, such an approach leads to seriously reduced

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capacities for social and economic development. The poor countries are particularly vulnerable due to this vicious circle. The situation is specially serious in economically disadvantaged countries burdened by depletion of natural resources, heavy indebtedness, unstable commodity prices and unfavourable trading systems. International assistance which would allow disadvantaged countries to cope with their environmental problems, often originating from industrialized world (e.g. global climate change), is negligible, frequently even misguided, and is not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem to be solved. The capabilities of most countries, especially the developing ones, are still generally insufficient to cope adequately with the full complexity of the assessment of the problems facing their marine and coastal environment and the rational management of their resources. Public awareness about the problems of the marine and coastal environment is still vague, although in some countries it already plays an important and highly visible role in mobilizing support from broad segments of population for the necessary societal decision-making needed for the protection of this environment. The knowledge accumulated during the past decades about the magnitude and the main causes of the problems is considerable and sufficient to realize that the situation is serious and calls for urgent action. The technological solutions to most of these problems are also quite well known and are available, at a price. However, the present databases and understanding of the processes shaping the natural conditions of oceans and coastal areas are generally inadequate for management purposes and for reliable predictions about the trends in these conditions and, consequently, forecasts for changes that may be expected contain a relatively high degree of uncertainty. The nature of the problems affecting the marine and coastal environment has not altered greatly in the past decades. However, the incidence and extent of human interference in the coastal areas, as well as our perception of the main threats and corresponding solutions have changed markedly on the basis of knowledge and experience accumulated over the same period. Today the environmental problems are recognized as problems stemming from inadequate or improper development whose ultimate solution should be sought in resolving conflicting interest for space and resources in the framework of an environmentally sound economic development. In summary, for main factors, none of them specific to the marine and coastal environment, seem to be at the root of the present environmental problems hampering sustainable development:

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(a) inappropriate national and international economic policies and forms of development which do not take into account adequately the environmental consequences of these policies; (b) weak regulatory mechanisms and administrative systems dealing with environmental issues; (c) insufficient public awareness about the real causes and magnitude of environmental problems, and about the available remedial measures; and (d) inadequate forecasting of emerging environmental problems. THE REGIONAL SEAS PROGRAMME The oceans do not respect any artificial man-made boundaries and therefore solutions to their problems can not be effectively achieved without international co-operation. Although these problems remain global in nature, there are significant regional differences in their causes and magnitude. Therefore, without neglecting the global scope of the problems, regional co-operation seems to be one of the most promising avenues leading to pragmatic solutions to problems specific for a group of countries sharing the same natural environment, such as an enclosed or semi-enclosed sea. Examples of bilateral and multilateral co-operation in solving problems connected with the use of the marine and coastal environment, and with the exploitation of their resources, are available since antiquity. While in the past most of them related to fishing and navigation rights, and to safety of navigation and commerce, during the last decades the number of bilateral and multilateral programmes increased considerably in number and scope, and today they cover a wide variety of additional subjects ranging from pollution control to transfer of technologies. Among the first contemporary regional programmes were those dealing with fisheries management and associated scientific research. The programmes of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), and the International Council for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean (ICSEM) are examples of such co-operation. Since the 1950s the number of regional fisheries management programmes have proliferated through the regional fisheries bodies sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and today they cover practically all regions important from the standpoint of fisheries. In the late 1960s the need for co-operation on control of marine pollution became apparent, and several programmes supported by legally

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binding agreements were established. The first agreement in this series was the Bonn agreement (1969) which dealt with the protection of the North Sea from pollution by oil. It was followed by other regional agreements designed to control marine pollution by concerted joint action of a group of countries (Oslo convention, 1972; Paris convention, 1974; Helsinki convention, 1974). All these agreements were the products of direct negotiations between the interested governments, without the involvement of the United Nations system. The need for a global regime to deal with the management of oceanic resources “in the interests of the mankind” was formally brought to the attention of the United Nations in 1967. The ensuing negotiations for such a regime lead in 1982 to the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLoS), which radically redefined the relationship between developed and developing countries with regard to the protection and management of marine resources. In parallel and in the spirit of UNCLoS negotiations, a further impetus for the development of regional programmes was given in 1974 by the decision of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to launch a Regional Seas Programme through a series of regional action plans. Recognizing the inseparable nature and the intimate links between the marine and coastal terrestrial environment, the Programme was expected to address the problems of deteriorating conditions of the marine environment through the control of the sources of these problems which are predominantly on land. The Regional Seas Action Plans Since the initiation of the Regional Seas Programme in 1974, nine regional action plans for the protection and development of specific marine and coastal areas have been adopted by high level intergovernmental meetings. The action plans cover the Mediterranean (1975) [1], the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (1976) [2], the Persian/Arabian Gulf (1978) [3], the Wider Caribbean (1981) [4], the East Asian Seas (1981) [5], the South-East Pacific (1981) [6], the West and Central African (1981) [7], the South Pacific (1982) [8], and the Eastern African (1985) [9] regions. The action plans consist of three basic components, following the framework adopted for environmental action by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm 1972) [10]:

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– environmental assessment (evaluation and review, research, monitoring, information exchange); – environmental management (goal setting and planning, international consultation and agreements); and – supporting measures (education and training, public information, technical co-operation, organization, financing). Recognizing that underdevelopment is one of the basic impediments for improved protection of the environment, the protection and development of the environment and resources in geographic areas covered by the action plans was declared from the outset as the long-term and ultimate overall goal of all action plans. This goal was to be achieved through regionally coordinated national activities and in a gradual way, taking into account the priorities as perceived and identified by the relevant governments and the capacity (financial, manpower, institutional) of these governments and their institutions to tackle the problems in a realistic way. The initial focus of the action plans was on marine pollution control, an obvious subject of high priority requiring a harmonized regional policy and strategy. However, the common experience of all action plans soon confirmed that underdevelopment or improper development are at the roots of most environmental problems, and that meaningful and lasting environmental protection is indeed inseparably linked with social and economic development. Therefore, the focus of the action plans was gradually shifting from a sectorial approach dealing with pollution control to integrated coastal zone planning and management as the key tool through which solutions are being sought. Information exchange, training, technical assistance, and projects on various subjects requiring regional co-operation are among the more prominent features of all action plans. The range of these projects [11] is very wide and include, inter alia: prospective studies for environmentally sound economic development; assessment of the potential impact of expected climate changes and development of policy options to mitigate the negative effects of these changes; surveys on the status of coastal and marine ecosystems, and living resources; integrated coastal zone planning and management; control of pollution from land-based sources; coastal erosion and soil degradation control; management of solid and liquid domestic wastes; use of renewable sources of energy; aquaculture development; establishment and management of specially protected areas; rehabilitation of damaged marine and coastal ecosystems; protection and rehabilitation of historic sites; development of tourism without environmental degradation; formulation of contingency plans for

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environmental emergencies; research on topics related to pollution control; and, last but not least, globally co-ordinated regional monitoring programmes to asses the sources, levels and effects of pollutants as the basis for the formulation of rational pollution control measures, including regionally applicable environmental quality criteria and standards. The Regional Seas Conventions The political commitment of the governments participating in the action plan is embodied in regional seas conventions, which serve as the legal framework of the action plans. Eight regional conventions were adopted until now: for the Mediterranean (Barcelona, 1976) [12], the Persian/ Arabian Gulf (Kuwait, 1978) [13], the West and Central African (Abidjan, 1981) [14], the South-East Pacific (Lima, 1981) [15], the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (Jeddah, 1982) [16], the Wider Caribbean (Cartagena, 1983) [17], the Eastern African (Nairobi, 1985) [18], and the South Pacific (Noumea, 1986) [19] regions. All but one of the regional seas conventions (Nairobi) are today in force and more than 120 coastal states are potential parties to them. The conventions are of “framework” type, with articles of quite general nature which in themselves would be of little practical value. Therefore the conventions are supplemented with protocols containing provisions for concrete measures expected to be implemented by the contracting parties. Each convention defines the geographic area of its application, lists the general and specific obligations of the contracting parties, and the institutional arrangements supporting the implementation of the convention. With certain exceptions the convention areas are restricted to the 200 mile exclusive economic zones and exclude internal waters. The central general obligation of the contracting parties in all conventions is to prevent, reduce, abate, combat and control pollution in the convention area. Eight specific obligations are common to all conventions: – to control pollution caused by dumping; – to control pollution caused by discharges from ships; – to control pollution from exploration and exploitation of the continental shelf, the seabed and its subsoil; – to control pollution from land-based sources; – to co-operate in cases of pollution emergencies;

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– to develop scientific and technical co-operation, including joint monitoring and research programmes, data and information exchange, and technical assistance; – to formulate and adopt procedures for the determination of liability and compensation for damage resulting from pollution deriving from violations of the provisions of the conventions and their protocols; and – to report on the measures adopted in the implementation of the convention and its protocols. Each convention is supplemented with at least one protocol dealing with specific problems, and no state can become party to the convention without becoming also party to at least one protocol. A protocol concerning co-operation in case of pollution emergencies is common to all eight regional seas conventions. In developing the regional seas conventions and their protocols care has been taken to avoid any conflict with the provisions of UNCLoS, or of any other international agreement on subjects covered by the regional seas conventions. Institutional and Financial Arrangements The action plans are under the authority of periodic intergovernmental meetings of the states participating in the action plans, or the meetings of the contracting parties in cases where a convention is in force as the legal framework for the action plan. These meetings review and evaluate the progress in the implementation of the action plans and the conventions, determine the programme and timetable of future work, as well as the budget supporting this work. UNEP provides the overall co-ordination of the Regional Seas Programme and serves directly as the secretariat of five action plans (the Mediterranean, Wider Caribbean, East Asian Seas, West and Central African and Eastern African action plans) and four conventions (the Barcelona, Cartagena, Abidjan and Nairobi conventions). In several instances the countries participating in the action plans decided to set up their own secretariats for the conventions and action plans (the Kuwait and Noumea conventions and action plans, and the East Asian Seas action plan), or designated an existing regional organization to perform the secretariat functions (the Lima convention). More than 1000 national institutions, governmental and nongovernmental, participate in the action plan and are the main actors in carrying out the programmes approved under the action plans. Their work

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is actively supported by 14 organizations of the United Nations system, as well as by about 30 international and regional organizations not belonging to this system. The Environment Fund of UNEP provided most of the financial resources needed initially to catalyse the development and the implementation of the early phases of the action plans. However the resources of this Fund are gradually being replaced by special trust funds set up by the governments participating in the action plans, as well as by funds provided by international financial institutions, aid agencies, and generous voluntary contributions from a large number of governments. Regional Specificities The Regional Seas Programme is frequently identified with the Mediterranean action plan and is considered as its mere extension. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Mediterranean action plan is only one, albeit the oldest and most mature, component of the Regional Seas Programme. However, today several other regional action plans can be also considered as mature and highly viable entities of the Regional Seas Programme. In fact, some of them in their complexity, geographic scope, political significance and real impact on the participating countries far surpass the Mediterranean action plan. Therefore the identification of the Regional Seas Programme with the Mediterranean action plan, the use of the Mediterranean action plan as a typical model and yardstick for the evaluation of the other regional action plans and the assigning of special prominence to the Mediterranean action plan, is not correct and may distort a fair picture of the status of the Regional Seas Programme. In spite of the common framework and formal similarity between the regional seas action plans and conventions, in their details they are highly specific in order to respond to the actual problems, priorities, needs and capabilities of the participating countries. The titles of the conventions are a fair indication of the different priorities assigned by the governments in various regions to environmental problems. The titles of the Barcelona and Kuwait conventions are calling for the protection of the marine environment; the Abidjan convention is for the protection and development of the marine and coastal environment; the Lima convention for the protection of the marine and coastal areas; the Jeddah convention for the conservation of the environment; the Cartagena convention for the protection and development of the marine environment; the Nairobi convention for the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment; and the Noumea convention for the

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protection of the natural resources and environment. The trend is obvious: moving from the protection of the marine environment from pollution towards the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment and their resources. The definition of pollution given in the conventions is also not identical for all conventions. While the Barcelona and Nairobi conventions use the classical definition provided by GESAMP (i.e. the introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine environment resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities including fishing, impairment of quality for use of sea-water and reduction of amenities), the Kuwait, Lima, Jeddah and Noumea conventions are broadening the definition so that it also includes substances and energy likely to result in deleterious effects. In addition, the definition used by the Abidjan convention includes also coastal zones and related inland waters, and the Lima, Nairobi and Noumea conventions include estuaries as impact areas. High seas which are enclosed from all sides by the 200 mile zones are included in the areas covered by the Barcelona, Cartagena and Noumea conventions. Internal or inland waters are included in the areas of the Abidjan and Lima conventions. In addition, the geographic scope of the Lima convention includes the high seas beyond the 200 mile maritime area up to a distance within which pollution of the high seas may affect that area. Aside from the general obligation to prevent, reduce, abate, combat and control pollution in the convention area contained in all conventions, all conventions adopted after 1981 include the sound or appropriate environmental management of natural resources, and the prohibition to increase the pollution in the marine environment outside of the convention area, as general obligations. In addition to the specific obligations common to all conventions, the following are found in some of the conventions: – to control environmental damage due to coastal erosion or pollution resulting from coastal engineering, mining, land-reclamation and associated dredging (Kuwait, Abidjan, Lima, Jeddah, Nairobi and Noumea conventions); – to apply environmental impact assessments in any planning activity which may cause significant risk of pollution (Kuwait, Abidjan, Lima, Jeddah, Cartagena, Nairobi and Nuomea conventions); – to control pollution resulting from or transported through the atmosphere (Abidjan, Lima, Cartagena, Nairobi and Noumea conventions);

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– to protect and preserve rare and fragile ecosystems and endangered species (Abidjan, Cartagena, Nairobi and Noumea conventions); – to prohibit dumping of radioactive wastes or other radioactive matter and its disposal into the seabed and subsoil (Noumea convention); and – to prevent, reduce and control pollution resulting from storage of toxic and hazardous wastes and to prohibit storage of radioactive wastes or other radioactive matter in the convention area (Noumea convention). Four conventions (Barcelona, Kuwait, Abidjan, Jeddah) envisage the development of procedures enabling the contracting parties to control the compliance with the conventions and their protocols. All conventions except the Lima convention have a clause on the settlement of a dispute as to the interpretation or application of the conventions and their protocols. In addition to a protocol concerning co-operation in case of pollution emergencies which is associated with every convention, the following protocols have been adopted: – protocol for the prevention of pollution by dumping from ships and aircrafts (Barcelona and Noumea conventions); – protocol for the protection against pollution from land-based sources (Barcelona, Kuwait and Lima conventions); – protocol concerning specially protected areas and endangered species (Barcelona, Lima, Cartagena and Nairobi conventions); and – protocol for the protection against radioactive contamination (Lima convention). For the purpose of the protocols on control of pollution from land-based sources and on protection of endangered species and sensitive areas, the convention areas have been enlarged to include internal waters, up to the freshwater limit, as well as selected terrestrial coastal areas. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT For centuries the international approach to the ocean space reflected the political and economic interests of two predominant uses of the sea, namely navigation and fishing. Only during the last 25 years has it been gradually recognized that the world oceans are more than shipping lanes and fishponds, and may need to be protected and regulated as an integral natural resource, for a wide variety of multiple and potentially conflicting uses. With this broadening of the scope it became also clear that an effective protection and management of the oceans must be closely linked

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with the developments on land, and that in this context the coastal zones should be considered as an integral part of the system to be protected through rational management. These important changes in the perspective, from use-oriented to resource-oriented and from sectorial to integrate approach, became the essence of the new ocean regime and gradually included the protection, conservation, management and development of the marine and coastal environment and their natural resources. The future development of the Regional Seas Programme can be envisaged as following this perspective. The main developments in the Regional Seas Programme will be probably along the following lines: – broadening of the scope of the existing regional action plans and conventions in order to encompass in an integrated way all factors relevant to the protection and use of the marine and coastal terrestrial environment; – expansion of the Programme to geographic areas not covered by regional action plans yet; – improved co-ordination and co-operation between individual regional action plans in order to achieve a truly global management of the oceans and coastal terrestrial environment linked with global approaches, such as provided by UNCLoS. A variety of obstacles, many of them not specific for the Regional Seas Programme, would have to be overcome in order to achieve the full development of the Programme along these lines. Sustaining human life and well-being requires development and a healthy environment. Development can become difficult to achieve if natural resources are depleted or the environment degraded. Therefore, the ultimate goal of all strategies for the development and protection of the oceans, coastal areas and their resources should be to ensure their rational use. In case of renewable resources, rational use must imply indefinite sustainable use. The use of non-renewable resources, obviously, can not be sustained indefinitely, but must provide the economic basis for build-up of activities and conditions that will ensure or contribute to a long-term and sustainable socio-economic development, once the non-renewable resources are exhausted. Consequently, all remedies for the present and anticipated environmental and developmental problems should be designed with this goal in mind, and their appropriateness should be judged from the degree in which they succeeded to achieve this goal.

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The problems of the oceans, coastal areas and their resources are of global significance and hence their solution requires global environmental strategies inseparable from global development strategies. The present problems are most evident in coastal and near-shore areas under the direct onslaught of man’s activities. Although seemingly local in nature, these problems are so widespread and are so evident even at sites far away from their origin that only globally applied strategies have a chance to achieve long-term solutions. However, the type and intensity of measures and policies, if they are to be effective, must be made in response to the actual situation, keeping in mind that a solution at one site should not create a nuisance elsewhere. Consequently, the most cost-effective remedies should be sought through action on local and national level, undertaken in the framework and as part of wider regional and global development strategies, including the transfer of the necessary resources, technology, knowledge and skills to the disadvantaged countries. The application of environmentally sound management practices in coastal and maritime activities, rather than narrowly defined “conservation”, is now accepted as one key to safeguarding and developing the marine and coastal environment and their resources. The unplanned or poorly planned land- and sea-use practices, the irrational exploitation of natural resources, and the pollution to which they incidentally give rise can be avoided only by these means. Management implies use: rational use. Emphasis on the concept of integrated management reflects a critical change from earlier views of most environmentalists that the oceans had to be preserved unchanged rather than used rationally. The seas have no physical boundaries to prevent movement of polluted waters. Therefore global or regional strategies are needed to control transboundary pollution from land-based sources, including pollution reaching the marine environment through rivers and the atmosphere. Accidents resulting in damage to the coastal and near-shore environment, such as the pollution caused by tanker accidents, can not be completely avoided. Nevertheless, with measures aiming at improved safety of navigation, with improved design of ships, and with the formulation and adequate implementation of contingency and emergency plans, the number of accidents could be reduced and their environmental impact could be considerably mitigated. Although the effects of predicted climate changes may not be felt in the near future, in the long-term their implications for the socio-economic development of coastal zones may be considerable and particularly serious for low-lying countries and small islands. The adaptation to the changing conditions will require a long lead-time. Therefore the full complexity of

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the potential problems which may be associated with predicted climate changes should be analyzed without delay and the possible policy options and measures which may be used as suitable response to the expected impacts should be examined and reflected in the national integrated coastal zone management plans. The policies, measures and arrangements for the protection and use of the marine and coastal environment, if they are to be rational and thus effective in the long term, should be based on an improved understanding of marine and coastal ecology, including ecosystem dynamics; of the relevant ocean processes; and of their interaction with terrestrial and atmospheric systems. Long-term systematic research and observation programmes should be organized according to a globally co-ordinated strategy to monitor the changes in the state of the marine and coastal environment and of ocean processes, and their interaction with atmospheric and terrestrial processes. The results of the research and observations should be critically evaluated and widely disseminated through easily accessible databases. The national institutions in charge of environmental protection in many countries are usually weak or still nonexistent. Their influence on national development plans is frequently only of marginal importance. Without creating strong national infrastructures, equipped with interdisciplinary expertise, and without giving them access to the circles where decisions relevant to the protection of the environment are made, no effective protection of coastal and marine environment could be expected. The protection and development of seas and coastal areas require a variety of expertise, and above all a good grasp of the cross-sectorial nature of environmental protection. While narrow, sectorial technical expertise exists in most countries, greater efforts should be devoted to the training of experts in interdisciplinary skills. Effective protection of the oceans can be achieved only through a high level of intergovernmental co-operation. It is essential therefore to strengthen and expand the multilateral programmes and agreements designed to protect the marine and coastal environment according to the specific needs of the countries concerned. Assistance to the economically disadvantaged countries must be part of arrangements supporting intergovernmental co-operation. The existing global and regional agreements, although not universal remedies, are among the most forceful international arrangements providing the legal basis and signifying the political commitment for joint action. Therefore broader adherence to the existing agreements and strict application of their provisions would contribute considerably to the

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protection of the marine and coastal environment. Whenever appropriate, existing agreements should be expanded or adapted to the changing needs of the countries concerned, and additional agreements should be adopted to regulate subjects not covered by existing agreements. Although transfer of technology, experience and data, provision of training, as well as financial assistance, preferential treatment and compensation for damage are among the usual provisions of existing international agreements, until now the developing countries have benefited relatively little from such provisions. Therefore fostering of global solidarity must be an essential element of all international agreements. The widest popular participation in the protection of the marine and coastal environment is essential. Such participation necessitates involvement of those who may be affected by changing environmental conditions in decision-making debates about development schemes which may cause such changes. It also requires broad educational and public awareness programmes, including introduction of environmental subjects in school curricula on all levels, as well as the provision of regular information to the general public through mass media and special publicity campaigns about the environmental and developmental issues. The publicity campaigns should emphasize the importance of the potential contribution from each individual to maintain a healthy environment as a basic precondition for sustainable socio-economic development. The lack of funds, particularly in developing countries, is the crucial and single major impediment for a more forceful environmental protection action. The remedy, without which all measures and decisions will remain only at the level of declarations, is in the provision of financial resources additional to those currently available, enabling the disadvantaged countries to become equal partners in dealing with global economic and environmental issues. The financial resources required are of unprecedented magnitude, unlikely to be met from regular government budgets. They could come from increased flow of assistance through the mechanisms of international agreements, from radical expansion of the present bilateral arrangements between developing countries and lending/ funding/donor/aid agencies and countries, or from new multilateral funds through which such resources would be channelled to disadvantaged countries. However, no combination of policies, technologies and resources can significantly ameliorate the present situation unless the non-technological roots of the problems are overcome: population pressure on limited resources and space, competitive nationalism, the global maldistribution of

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wealth and opportunity, the notion that economic growth and human wellbeing are directly proportional and, last but not least, the illusion that supposes civilizations to be self-supporting without help from natural ecosystems. Obviously, in order to achieve these, a new attitude, based on global solidarity, would be required. In conclusion one could say that due to the present day neglect and mismanagement the oceans and coastal areas are faced with the most serious global environmental threat. Time is running short for action to reverse the situation, although according to the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, looking to the next century, sustainable development, if not survival itself, depends on significant advances in the management of the oceans [20]. REFERENCES 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Report of the Intergovernmental Meeting on the Protection of the Mediterranean (Barcelona, 28 January–4 February 1975), UNEP/WG.2/5, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1975, pp. 1–9. Action Plan for the Conservation of the Marine Environment and Coastal Areas of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.81, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1986, pp. 1–15. Action Plan for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Areas of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.35, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1–15. Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Programme, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.26, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1– 26. Action Plan for the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Areas of the East Asian Region, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.24, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1–16. Action Plan for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Areas of the South-East Pacific, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.20, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1–21. Action Plan for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment and Coastal Areas of the West and Central African Region. UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.27, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1– 13.

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8.

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Action Plan for Managing the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.29, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1–16. Action Plan for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African Region, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No.61 , United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1985, pp. 1–9. Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 5– 16 June 1972), A/CONF.48/14/Rev. 1, United Nations, New York, 1972, pp. 1–77. UNEP Oceans Programme: Compendium of Projects, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 19, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1991, pp. 1– 83. Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean sea Against Pollution. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1982, pp. 1–45. Kuwait Regional Convention for Co-operation on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Pollution, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1981, pp. 1–27. Convention for Co-operation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1981, pp. 1–23. Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Area of the South-East Pacific, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1984, pp. 1–37. Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Environment, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1984, pp. 1–27. Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1983, pp. 1–25. Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal environment of the Eastern African Region, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1985, pp. 1–40. Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 1988, pp. 1–41. World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987, p. 264.

SPECIAL AREAS AND PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE AREAS JON WONHAM Senior Deputy Director Marine Environment Division International Maritime Organization 4, Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR

ABSTRACT The paper places the concepts of “special areas” and “particularly sensitive sea areas” within the regulatory framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The criteria developed by IMO when considering proposals from governments for the establishment of such areas is explained, and examples given of the more stringent regulatory measures imposed when ships are operated within these areas. In referring to steps taken within other fora to designate and manage marine and coastal protected areas, some aspects of integrated coastal zone management are touched upon. In the author’s view coastal sensitivity mapping and geographical information systems (GIS) could be given more emphasis and it is hoped that increased support for such activities will be mobilized following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). In conclusion, views are expressed on the future extent to which governments can be expected to utilize the concept of “special” and “particularly sensitive” areas as a marine environmental protection measure, and reference is made to impediments caused by lack of reception facilities and difficulties of enforcement. INTRODUCTION The responsibility for the international regulation of marine pollution from shipping activities falls within the mandate of the International Maritime

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Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1959. Although regulations now cover all sources of pollution from ships, a major preoccupation both before and since the establishment of IMO has been that of oil pollution. As a consequence, the underlying rationale for many of IMO’s pollution prevention measures have evolved from precautions initially taken to deal with oil. A chronological account of the sequence of actions taken by the shipping community to deal with this problem was included in a publication entitled “Environmental impact of the transportation of oil” [1] from which the following information has been extracted. Marine transportation of petroleum in bulk began in the period 1860 to 1885. The first vessel resembling a modern tanker was the SS GLUCKHAUF of 2,307 gross tons, launched in 1886. The first mention of oil pollution as a problem, mainly in ports and harbours, was immediately prior to the First World War when oil began to be used as a marine fuel. The number of oil-burning ships subsequently increased rapidly and national legislation was introduced in a number of countries in the early 1920s aimed at preventing or controlling the discharge of oil within territorial waters. In response to calls for more comprehensive measures the United States convened an international conference on pollution of the sea by oil in Washington in 1926, which recommended a system of zones extending 50 miles from the land within which the discharge of oil was to be prohibited. Shipowners from a number of countries voluntarily adopted these zones, or were called upon to do so by shipowners’ associations. A Committee of Experts of the League of Nations prepared a draft Convention in 1935 for consideration at an international conference, but it was not until the United Kingdom Government convened an international conference on pollution of the sea by oil in 1954 that an international convention (“OILPOL 54”) was finally adopted. This instrument was temporarily deposited with the United Kingdom Government until transfer to IMO in 1959. In order to protect the sea and coastline from oil pollution, the Convention specifies prohibited zones extending at least 50 miles from the land within which the discharge of oil and oily mixtures (i.e. containing 100 parts per million (ppm) or more of oil) is prohibited. These events have been summarized in some detail to illustrate that in the case of marine pollution by oil, governments had decided on the basis of their earliest consideration of the problem that prohibiting certain polluting activities within prescribed sea areas could contribute to attainment of the degree of protection required. This is one of the precepts upon which IMO’s regulatory regime is based and can be regarded as a

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precursor to the eventual establishment of the “special” and “particularly sensitive” sea areas upon which this paper is principally concerned. It soon, of course, became apparent that simply restricting the areas where discharges can be made was not the entire solution, and that steps would have to be taken to limit the quantities of oil discharged overboard. For example, although rejected at the Washington conference in 1926, the fitting of oily-water separators in the machinery spaces of vessels has since become a mandatory requirement. The seven-fold growth in oil transportation between 1954 and 1979 gave a whole new dimension to the oil pollution problem, principally due to the need to pump out the sea water taken into approximately 30% of the cargo tanks as ballast during the return voyage to the oil-loading terminal. Since the 300 or more tons of crude oil clinging to the walls of these ballasted tanks could become mixed with sea water in a very large crude carrier (VLCC), the techniques and equipment necessary for cleaning of tanks and retaining oil residue on board have also been made mandatory under the IMO regulations. Inevitably some oil finds its way into the overboard discharge during these operations and regulations have been developed establishing an upper limit. In some cases, however, where the length and duration of the ballast voyage so warrant it, or the tanker is operating in a sea area where more stringent discharge criteria apply (as discussed below), oil-contaminated ballast must be retained on board for eventual disposal into a shore reception facility. A full and comprehensive description of oil pollution prevention requirements of IMO instruments is beyond the scope of this paper. (The current regulations are obtainable from IMO [2].) The above examples serve to illustrate that the oil pollution prevention regime developed by IMO reflects a combination of “geographical location prohibitions” and “technical discharge criteria”. In the ecologically vulnerable sea areas the prohibition clauses hold sway, while elsewhere the allowable rates of discharge are related to currently available oil-water separation technology. Larger sizes of tankers built since 1975 are required to have segregated ballast tanks (SET) in which oil is never carried, thus alleviating, but not entirely eliminating, the operationally-oriented solutions described above. IMO’s regulatory regime for oil pollution prevention has been used to illustrate the precepts on which the measures are based. With the adoption of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships at a conference convened by IMO in 1973 (MARPOL 73), these regulations were extended to cover noxious liquid chemicals in bulk, chemicals in packaged form (including freight containers, portable tanks or road and rail tank wagons), sewage and garbage. The MARPOL 73

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Convention was subsequently modified by the MARPOL Protocol of 1978 (generally known as MARPOL 73/78). Regulations contained in Annexes I (oil) and II (noxious liquid substances) are mandatory and must be applied by all Parties to MARPOL 73/78, while those contained in Annexes III, IV and V (see below) are optional, i.e. a Government may declare that it is “opting out” of these annexes at the time of depositing its instrument of acceptance. As at July 1991 the percentages of the world’s merchant tonnage represented by the current number of acceptances of MARPOL 73/78 and its Annexes is as follows: Annexes I & II No. of States 67 % Tonnage 89.40 Date of entry 2 October into force 1983*

Annex III 45 53.00 1 July 1992

Annex IV 37 38.09 –

Annex V 50 65.29 31 December 1988

The regulations concerning oil (Annex I), noxious liquid substances (Annex II), sewage (Annex IV) and garbage (Annex V) all specify distances from land within which discharges are prohibited or restricted in some way. Additional controls are placed upon vessels when operating in special areas as called for by Annexes I, II and V, as described below. SPECIAL AREAS The concept of special areas was introduced by the 1973 MARPOL Convention, as defined in regulation 1(10) of Annex I, 1(7) of Annex II and 1(3) of Annex V. Although there are slight variations in the wording, the definition in Annex I reflects the general intent, viz. “special area means a sea area where for recognized technical reasons in relation to its oceanographical and ecological condition and to the particular character of its traffic the adoption of special mandatory methods for the prevention of sea pollution by oil* is required.”. For the purpose of these Annexes the special areas are the Mediterranean Sea(1), the Baltic Sea(2), the Black Sea(3), the Red Sea(4), the Gulfs(5), the Gulf of Aden(6), the North Sea(7), the Caribbean Sea(8) and the Antarctic area(9). These are defined in the MARPOL 73/78 Convention and illustrated on the world map shown at figure 1. * In Annexes II and V “oil” is replaced by “noxious liquid substances’ and “garbage” respectively.

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Five of the currently designated special areas were adopted at the time the 1973 MARPOL Convention was drawn up. In being faced with requests from governments that other sea areas should be accorded similarly protected status, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of IMO decided that additional guidance was desirable both in respect of the procedure to be followed by governments in submitting such requests, and the criteria that should be applied in deciding whether special area status should be granted. The MEPC decided in March 1990 to group the criteria which must be satisfied into three categories, viz. oceanographic conditions, ecological conditions and vessel traffic characteristics, as reproduced in table 1. (Note: These criteria, together with other relevant background information, may be found in IMO Assembly resolution A.720(17), Guidelines for the Designation of Special Areas and the Identification of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas [3].) It was agreed that one of the conditions in each category should be satisfied, but that other considerations may be taken into account such as the threat to amenities posed by discharges from shipping and the extent to which the condition of the sea area is influenced by non-maritime sources of pollution such as land-based sources, dumping of wastes and dredged materials, as well as atmospheric deposition. Furthermore, that the requirements of a special area can only become effective when adequate reception facilities are provided for ships in accordance with MARPOL 73/78. Anti-pollution requirements for ships operating in special areas are more stringent than elsewhere. As regards discharge of oily-water from machinery spaces of ships, for example, regulations allow a ship to discharge up to 100 ppm of oil when outside a special area but when within a special area the oil content must be less than 15 ppm, except for ships of less than 400 gross registered tons (grt) for which national regulations apply. Similarly, the maximum allowable instantaneous oil discharge of 60 litres per nautical mile prescribed for oil tankers when outside a special area (subject to a total not exceeding 1/15000 of the previous cargo for existing tankers and 1/30000 for new* tankers) does not apply when a tanker is operating inside a special area, where discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixture is prohibited. In the case of chemical tanker operations, for which purpose substances are categorized A, B, C or D in descending order of harmfulness to the marine environment, residues of category B substances which can be discharged into the sea outside a special area must be discharged ashore when inside a special area. In the case of garbage from ships, discharge of which (with the exception of

Figure 1. Special areas on the map of the world

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plastics) is allowed outside a special area subject to limitations on the distance from land, there is a prohibition on the discharge of all garbage (including plastics, paper products, rags, glass, metal, bottles, crockery, dunnage, lining and packing materials) when inside a special area, with the exception of food wastes, which may be discharged when the ship is more than 12 nautical miles from land. The special areas under MARPOL 73/78 regulated by each of its Annexes, and the implementation dates, are shown in table 2. For example, the Mediterranean Sea area is a special area under Annexes I and V of MARPOL 73/78 but not under Annex II. Except for the Red Sea and the Gulfs area (i.e. Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman), the implementation date

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TABLE 1 Criteria that should be applied in deciding whether special area status should be granted

for the originally designated Annex I special areas was 1 January 1977. For the areas subject to the above exception, together with the Gulf of Aden * “New” means a ship for which the building contract is placed after 31 December 1975.

* Upon notification by coastal States that reception facilities are available, MEPC agrees upon the implementation date. ** Coastal States may agree to the implementation date without seeking MEPC’s concurrence. This date is subsequently circulated by IMO.

Special areas regulated by the Annexes of MARPOL 73/78 and their implementation dates

TABLE 2

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(which is a later addition) the implementation dates will be agreed by the MEPC upon notification from States bordering the areas that adequate reception facilities have been provided. Until such time, the special area restrictions do not apply. The Antarctic has been treated differently, since oily wastes must be kept on board until ships have left the area; as a consequence the requirements will take effect immediately upon entry into force of the regulations. In the case of Annex II, Parties bordering any given special area must collectively agree and establish a date by which the special area requirement will take effect, notifying IMO at least six months in advance of that date so that other Parties can be informed. This has not yet happened in the Black Sea area. In the case of Annex V it is the MEPC’s responsibility to establish a date from which the special area requirements shall take effect upon receipt of sufficient notifications from Parties concerned that adequate reception facilities have been provided. Other Parties must be given at least 12 months notice of this date. This has so far only occurred in case of the Baltic and North Sea areas. The special area requirement under Annex V is scheduled to take effect as from 17 March 1992 in the Antarctic, but with the added provision that garbage must be retained on board until the ship has left the area. PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE SEA AREAS Resolution 9 of the International Conference on Tanker Safety and Pollution Prevention convened by IMO in February 1978 invited IMO to initiate, as a matter of priority and in addition to the work under way, studies, in collaboration with other relevant international organizations and expert bodies, with a view to: – making an inventory of sea areas around the world which are in special need of protection against marine pollution from ships and dumping on account of the areas’ particular sensitivity in respect of their renewable resources or in respect of their importance for scientific purposes; – assessing as far as possible, the extent of the need for protection, as well as the measures which might be considered appropriate, in order to achieve a reasonable degree of protection, taking into account also other legitimate uses of the seas. The resolution further invited IMO to consider, on the basis of the studies carried out accordingly and the results of other work undertaken, what

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action would be needed in order to enhance the protection of the marine environment from pollution from ships and dumping of wastes and to take action, when appropriate, in accordance with the established procedure with a view to incorporating any necessary provisions within the framework of the relevant conventions as may be identified as a result of the above studies. The MEPC began work on this topic in 1986. Particularly sensitive areas were defined as “areas which need special protection through action by IMO because of their significance for recognized ecological or socioeconomic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to damage by maritime activities”. In March 1990 the MEPC agreed on criteria to be applied in the identification of particularly sensitive sea areas as reproduced in table 3. (Note: These criteria, together with relevant background, may also be found in the Guidelines for the Designation of Special Areas and the Identification of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas [3].) In order to be so identified the area should meet at least one of the criteria listed. The MEPC agreed that in identifying a particularly sensitive sea area and considering what special protective measures should be taken, consideration should be given to the degree to which actions already under way may indicate the need for further special protective measures and to the beneficial effects that such measures will have, in view of the environmental stresses from other sources. It was noted that the need would most probably arise from time to time for particularly sensitive sea areas to be identified within special areas, and that the criteria developed to deal with the two situations were mutually compatible. Identification of the Great Barrier Reef region as a particularly sensitive area The importance of the Great Barrier Reef cannot be overstated. Bearing in mind the close proximity of the Reef to major shipping routes, it will be no surprise that Australia proposed to IMO that the area be identified as a particularly sensitive area. This has been the first and only request of its kind to IMO so far, which is perhaps understandable in that the criteria for identifying such areas was adopted by IMO as recently as March 1990. The threat posed to the Great Barrier Reef by shipping has been the subject of active consideration by IMO for more than 20 years, a full account of which may be found in appendix C of the Guidelines for the Designation of Special Areas and the Identification of Particularly

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TABLE 3 Criteria that should be applied in identifying particularly sensitive sea areas

Sensitive Sea Areas [3]. Action taken in the past included amending the 1954 OILPOL Convention so that the term “nearest land” is taken to mean the eastern boundary of the Great Barrier Reef instead of the northeastern coast (the normal baseline) of mainland Australia, thus placing a

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legal restriction on oil discharges from ships in the area. The same measure has also been incorporated in the relevant Annexes of MARPOL 73/78. In the Capricornia section of the Reef an “area to be avoided” has been established by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of IMO. In 1987 the IMO Assembly adopted resolution A.619(15) which recommends the use of pilotage services during navigation through Torres Strait, the northern part of the Inner Passage and the major entrances to the Reef. In 1990 Australia proposed to the MEPC that the Reef be identified as a particularly sensitive area and that a compulsory pilotage scheme be adopted for navigating parts of the Reef’s inner route. The proposals were supported by data on vessel traffic (some 2000 ships per year use the inner

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route which is approximately 500 miles in length), details on fishing activities in the area and an explanation of the difficulties to navigation in the area due to tidal conditions and seasonal reductions in visibility. The consideration given by the governments to alternative means of reducing risks, such as traffic separation schemes, and the reasons for their rejection, was also described. Although the level of compliance with resolution A.619 (15) had risen to 90% this had left some 200 vessels per year, including tankers and large container ships, navigating the inner route without pilotage. After weighing up these various factors, in November 1990 the MEPC recognized the Great Barrier Reef as a particularly sensitive area by resolution MEPC.44(30) and pilotage was recommended by resolution MEPC.45(30). Australia has since extended its territorial sea from three to 12 miles, thus bringing virtually all of the inner route into territorial waters, and has recently legislated to make pilotage compulsory.

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IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE As mentioned above, in November 1991 the IMO Assembly adopted guidelines on this topic. These contain useful advice to governments on procedures to be followed in submitting proposals to IMO in this respect. Tables are included which indicate the different discharge requirements which vessels are required to comply with when operating inside or outside special areas, as well as listing the protective measures that may be taken in connection with the management of particularly sensitive sea areas, such as “areas to be avoided”, routeing measures and vessel traffic systems (VTS). Considerable light was thrown on the many other possibilities that exist for exercising management over such areas at an international seminar convened by IMO in 1990 in Malmö, Sweden in 1990 [4]. A special session of the Seminar reviewed ways and means of giving enhanced protection to particularly sensitive sea areas and concluded by recommending a series of measures that could be taken in this regard by IMO, other international organizations and governments. These have been listed in annex 1 of the Seminar proceedings. It is clear from this document that there is a great deal of scope for protective measures to be taken in such areas, not only by shipping but by the many other entities conducting operations in coastal waters and along the adjacent shoreline. A number of regional conventions contain provisions relating to the designation of marine portected areas. Within the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Seas Programme a Protocol to the Barcelona Convention concerning Mediterranean Specially Protected Areas was concluded in 1982 and similar protocols for the East African Region and the Wider Caribbean Region were signed in 1985 and 1989 respectively. A more detailed description of these, and other relevant measures, may be found in the Guidelines for the Designation of Special Areas and the Identification of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas [3] and a publication entitled “Environmentally sensitive areas and special areas under MARPOL 73/78” [5] presented at the International Conference on Marine Technology and the Environment (London 23–25 May 1990). Reference may also be made in this context to the text entitled “Marine and Coastal Protected Areas: A Guide for Planners and Managers” published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) [6], the following extract from the foreword to the second edition reflecting the current stage of development: “Coastal and marine area protection is now recognized as a special activity with important distinctions from terrestrial areas. There are

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now numerous experts specializing in coastal/marine areas. A distinct literature on the subject is building and special training programs and seminars are being offered. In many countries, coastal and marine areas are under special jurisdiction. Special national planning programs for coastal and marine protected area systems are not uncommon. In short, the business of planning and managing coastal and marine protected areas has now matured into a substantial speciality field in its own right.”. In view of these steadily increasing developments under other fora and enhanced action at national and local levels, closer links can be envisaged between those engaged in the establishment and management of protected marine areas and representatives of maritime authorities on questions related to protective measures which can be taken by shipping. Where this may lead in the future no-one knows. One subject area already receiving attention is that of coastal sensitivity mapping. The need for information and date relating to the coastal zone to be readily assimilated has opened up new possibilities for computerized cartography— generally referred to as Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The MEPC noted that such systems were being independently developed by specialists in different parts of the world, using a proliferation of different symbols to represent similar features. In compliance with the MEPC’s wishes IMO, in co-operation with other international organizations including IUCN, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and UNEP, is scheduled to convene a meeting of government experts in London in January 1992 to commence work on the standardization of symbols. The following remarks, based upon personal observation, may also help to put the present situation into context. CONCLUDING REMARKS Special areas There seems to be a feeling among governments that the object of this concept would be defeated if a proliferation of proposals were forthcoming. The five originally designated special areas were semi-enclosed seas with limited interchange of water with the oceans, and could be readily identified as having oceanographic and ecological conditions warranting the adoption of special mandatory pollution prevention methods by shipping.

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More recent additions to the list of such areas (with the exception of the Antarctic area which, because of ice conditions and its unique fauna and flora, deserves individual notice) do not fall into this category (e.g. Gulf of Aden, North Sea, Caribbean) and increased controls are predominently a reflection on the massive quantities of ships’ garbage and tar balls washed up on beaches rather than a serious threat to the ecology of the water bodies concerned. Since coastlines bordering all of the world’s oceans suffer similar contamination to one degree or another, IMO could be faced with demands for all of the sea areas plied by major shipping routes to be designated as special areas! The response to such a situation is much more likely to be that “special area” requirements would be applied universally— in effect making the whole of the world’s oceans and seas a special area. This philosophy has already become apparent in the outcome of debate within the Third North Sea Ministerial Conference at the Hague, Netherlands, 7– 8 March 1990 as to whether a proposal should be made for the North Sea to be made a special area under Annex I of MARPOL 73/78. The Conference decided that the special area limit of 15 ppm for discharges of oil had, in fact, become universally attainable and that it would be more sensible to request IMO to lower the limit in a general context rather than create another special area. Although not yet formally adopted, the MEPC in July 1991 approved a proposal along these lines. The problems caused to shipping due to lack of wastes reception facilities in ports located in special areas has jaundiced the views of shipowning nations on this issue, while the additional cost of providing reception facilities for oil and chemical residues of a standard required for special areas has an economic impact (and, therefore, on inter-port competitiveness) which cannot be ignored. These factors have undoubtedly contributed to the moulding of attitudes on this issue. Particularly sensitive areas One could have imagined that the adoption of criteria on the identification of particularly sensitive sea areas would have opened a floodgate of pent-up proposals! This might yet occur, but it seems more likely that such requests will be limited to sea areas of limited geographical extent which are of global significance to the international community. Sea areas of such stature as the Galapagos Islands (for which statutory measures at the national level have already been taken) come to mind. Shipping operates under the jurisdiction of some 140 flag Administrations and there is the sheer practical obstacle of ensuring that navigators are aware that their vessels have entered particularly sensitive areas and that additional

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restrictions apply. This has been accomplished in the case of traffic routeing schemes and “areas to be avoided” (some adopted for environmental reasons) adopted by the MSC by marking such areas on navigational charts, the standards of which are set by the IHO. Particularly sensitive sea areas have not yet been accorded such status. This is a handicap which must be removed if this measure is to be more widely used. In the meantime, the adoption of “areas to be avoided” by the MSC does provide the means for keeping ships clear of ecologically vulnerable sites such as breeding colonies of rare sea birds. It will be clear from this short disposition that the measures taken by IMO are in their relative infancy, and that the increasing priority with which environmental issues are being dealt with at the political level will mean that all polluting or ecologically damaging activities within coastal waters will come under ever-increasing scrutiny. The envisaged emphasis in “Agenda 21” of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) on integrated coastal management can be expected to give added impetus in this respect. This could result in greater power being granted to authorities exercising planning functions over the coastal zone (including the exclusive economic zone) and the allocation of greater resources to environmental monitoring and GIS activities. Binding decisions could thus be made on the basis of a proper understanding of the situation. Current work on an international convention on biological diversity, which is due to be signed at the UNCED conference in June 1992, can also be expected to have a positive impact on efforts to conserve the biological diversity of marine ecosystems. Much of this activity will be directed at preserving marine habitats rather than focusing on individual species and it can be envisaged that IMO may be eventually requested to identify such habitats as particularly sensitive. The problem for shipping, however, is not just one of tightening the rules; the task of providing waste facilities in ports is pivotal to the attainment of a viable regime, as is the detection and prosecution of illicit actions, such as the discharging of wastes under cover of darkness. All of these facets must be advanced if the overall objective is to be achieved. REFERENCES 1.

Sasamura, Y., Environmental impact of the transportation of oil. Paper presented at the UNEP Industrial Sector Seminar on Environmental Conservation in the Petroleum Industry. Paris, 29 March-1 April 1977. (Paper later published by IMO, 1977).

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2. 3.

4. 5.

6.

Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil. IMO, 1986. IMO Sales No. 525. 86. 01.E., ISBN 92-801-1198-3. IMO Assembly resolution A.720(17), Guidelines for the Designation of Special Areas and the Identification of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas, adopted in November 1991. (Publication by IMO in preparation.) Proceedings of the International Seminar on Protection of Sensitive Sea Areas, Malmö, Sweden, 25–28 September 1990, Preliminary Edition, IMO Andrén L. and Liu D., Environmentally sensitive areas and special areas under MARPOL 73/78. International Conference on Marine Technology and the Environment, London, 23–25 May 1990. Transactions of the Institute of Marine Engineers, London. ISBN 0-907206-35-2. Salm Rodney V. and I.Jackson, IUCN, 1984, based on the Workshops on Managing Coastal and Marine Protected Areas, World Congress on National Parks, Bali, Indonesia, October 1982. ISBN 2–88032–805–5. Second Edition IUCN, 1989.

OCEAN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT THE FAO PROGRAMME S.M.GARCIA FAO Fisheries Department Rome, Italy

“L’ère des terrains vagues, des territoires libres, des lieux qui ne sont à personne, donc l’ère de la libre expansion est close…Le temps du monde fini commence.” Paul Valery (1945). ABSTRACT This paper traces the evolution of ocean fisheries and their management on a worldwide basis, showing how the FAO programme related or contributed to the evolution. After various phases of rapid development separated by relative stagnation, ocean fisheries production is now oscillating close to the level considered as maximum for traditional resources (100 million tons). In the process of development, numerous stocks have been reduced, some of them quite drastically, underlining the growing need for management including policy, planning, data collection, research, laws, enforcement and regional cooperation. The mandate of FAO, the structure of its Fisheries Department and its programme since its creation reflect these needs. The broad lines of FAO’s today programme were already established in 1945 and its focus evolved within the international context: the early days of post-war reconstruction (1946–58), the period of expansion of research and fisheries (1958–72), the establishment of a new economic order of the oceans (1973– 83), the transition towards global concerns (1984–92) and the future challenge for global sustainability (1993–2000). In conclusion, the paper presents a perspective view of the process indicating the various axes along which the

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world fishery system and the FAO programme have evolved during 45 years and the key issues to be faced before the end of this century. LIST OF ABREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT ACMRR: ASFIS: CECAF: CWP: CCAMLR: COFI FAO: CPPS: DANIDA: EEZ: FAO: FFA: GATT: GFCM: I-ATTC: ICCAT: ICES: ICNAF: IOC: IOFC: IOTC: IPFC: IWC: NAFO: NASCO: NGO: NORAD:

Advisory Committee on Marine Resources Research Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information Systems Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries Coordinating Working Party for Fishery Statistics in the Atlantic. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Committee on Fisheries Comision Permanente del Pacifico Sur Danish International Development Agency Exclusive Economic Zone Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN Forum Fisheries Agency General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas International Council for the Exploration of the Sea International Commission for Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (Unesco) Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Indo-Pacific Fisheries Commission International Whaling Commission North Atlantic Fisheries Organization North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization Non-Governmental Organization Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

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OECD: OLDEPESCA: UNCED: UNCLOS: UNESCO: UNDP: UNEP: UNCHS: SOFA: WECAFC: WCED:

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Organización Latino-Americana por el Desarrollo de la Pesca UN Conference on Environment and Development UN Convention on the Law of the Sea UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Development Programme United Nations Environment Programme UN Centre for Human Settlement: Habitat State of Food and Agriculture Western Central Atlantic Fisheries Committee World Conference on Environment and Development.

1. INTRODUCTION Sea fisheries developed slowly until the beginning of the century. Reported marine production increased rapidly between the two world wars and after, passing from 18 to 28 million t between 1948 and 1958. It increased faster in the following decade reaching 59 million t in 1970 as a result of expansion of the large-scale fishing fleets from Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, USA, Cuba, Thailand and the Republic of Korea and as newly independent developing countries established their national fisheries sectors. During the seventies fisheries growth declined, reaching only 68 million t by 1982. A number of stocks of small coastal pelagic species collapsed during this period (including the Peruvian anchoveta) while whale stocks and Antarctic resources continued to be depleted. Since 1982, fisheries growth again accelerated, reaching 86 million t in 1989, a value close to the world potential estimated by FAO at about 100 million t [1] (Fig. 1). Fish provide about 40% of the protein intake to about two-thirds of the world population. Demand for food fish continues to rise at the rate of 2% per year indicating a possible deficit of 20 million t or more by the end of the century. Conflicts are growing for a progressively scarcer resource. Since the early seventies, awareness of environmental issues has created additional dimensions to the challenge of fisheries management. The

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Figure 1. World reported marine catches and aquaculture (×106t) and selected international events

coastal areas have been “saturated” by competing industries and urban development particularly in enclosed and semi-enclosed seas and island countries. This resulted in environmental degradation by factors largely external to the fishing industry that affected the quality of sea food and the productivity of mangroves, sea-grass beds, estuaries, lagoons and shallow bays which are essential for sustainable fisheries development. Coastal aquaculture has shown potential for increased production but met with environmental problems and it has to compete for feeds, fingerlings, space and water resources with other uses of the coastal zone [2, 3]. Strong opinions have been voiced against non-sustainable development strategies. Drastic changes occurred in world resources allocation through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Decolonization and EEZ processes have increased responsibilities for national administrations, together with the demand for food, development, management and research. Socio-economic and environmental forces have become increasingly recognized. Involvement of politicians, media and the public in management has increased. These rapid changes have created opportunities for improvement of fisheries, but also a climate of scientific and administrative uncertainty. This uncertainty is further aggravated by the unknowns related to the expected climate change, the consequences of which are far from clear.

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This paper draws a perspective view of world fisheries, their management and the related FAO programme and does not attempt to give a full account of other important aspects of FAO work related to technology, community development, trade, aquaculture, etc. This difficult task required that fairly general statements be made on a situation which, because of its geographical diversity, defies generalization. It requires subjective decomposition of a complex non-linear historical process and selection of key elements in the 45 years’ programme of FAO and the selection made in this paper, which here reflects the personal interpretation of the writer. The following sections will describe: (a) the structure of the FAO Fisheries Department in relation to the mandate of FAO and the requirements for fisheries management, and (b) the evolution of the FAO programme for fisheries management in relation to the evolution of the international context of fisheries. 2. THE FAO FISHERIES DEPARTMENT The FAO Mandate On 16 October 1945, 8 days before the creation of the United Nations itself, FAO was founded as the first of a new generation of international organizations. For the first time, nations joined together to raise levels of production and distribution of food and agricultural products. The preamble to the FAO Constitution specifies that the ultimate aim is to raise nutritional levels and standards of living, and to improve the condition of rural populations. The Constitution of the Organization determines that, in order to achieve this, the Organization should “promote and…recommend national and international action with respect to conservation of natural resources and the adoption of improved methods of agricultural production”. The specific mandate on fisheries was further defined by the Technical Committee on Fisheries on 13 April 1945, which established the main lines of the programme that FAO developed in the following decades: fishery data collection, research, training, development management and regional cooperation (see section 3.1).

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Structure of the Department A functional fisheries management system, at national, regional or international level, requires a number of elements: (1) An information system to collect reliable, standardized data on the fisheries (catch, bycatch, fishing effort, costs, revenues), the processing sector, the markets, etc. (2) A research capacity to provide information on resources and fisheries, to develop internationally agreed methods and criteria, monitor impacts on and from fisheries, propose management options, monitor their performance, provide intelligence in fisheries negotiations. (3) A decision-making system to set development policies and objectives, decide on allocation and other scientifically-based management measures, ensure participation of industry and people in the decision process. (4) An enforcement system to ensure compliance of industry and defence of public interests, with adequate laws and efficient system for monitoring, control and surveillance (one of the major deficiencies in international fishery management systems). The FAO Fisheries Division was one of the Organization’s first technical divisions to be established in 1946. By 1947, the Fisheries Division was divided into 3 branches: Biology, Technology and Economics. In 1965, the Fisheries Division was upgraded to a Fisheries Department with a Fisheries Resources and Exploitation Division and a Fisheries Economics and Products Division, recognizing the expanding role of fisheries in the economic and social development of the member countries. In 1970, the Department was rearranged with a Fishery Resources Division, a Fishery Economics and Institutions Division, a Fishery Industries Division and an Operations Service, reflecting the importance taken by the regional fisheries bodies and the Field Programme. In 1972, year of the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm), the Fishery Resources Division became the Fishery Resources and Environment Division. From 1973 to 1979, the Fishery Economics and Institutions Division evolved, strengthening its capacity to service regional fisheries bodies and to provide policy advice, accompanying the worldwide revolution which was underway with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In 1979, it became a Fishery Policy and Planning Division with two Services dealing respectively with policy and planning and with international collaboration. By 1980 the Fisheries Department had reached its present structure as briefly described below. The Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Service (FIDI) develops international statistical standards and produces annual statistical yearbooks and computerized databases. It advises on data collection, storage and

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processing, and provides training in statistics. It supervises the FAO Fisheries Branch Library and is a major partner of the worldwide Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System (ASFIS) which stores and disseminates bibliographical information. The Fishery Resources and Environment Division (FIR) provides worldwide reviews of the state of stocks. It develops, adapts and transfers methodologies and software to developing countries and carries out an important training programme in stock assessment, bio-economics and fisheries science in general. It produces written and computerized material for species identification. About 50% of its activities are in direct support of the work of the FAO and non-FAO regional fishery bodies dealing with fisheries management. It is also involved in environmental aspects of fisheries and is responsible for research and development in mariculture and coastal aquaculture. The Fishery Industries Division (FII) provides advice and assistance on all aspects of fish capture technology and the handling, processing, marketing and distribution of fish products with a focus on small-scale fisheries. Its activities relate to waste reduction, transfer and adaptation of gears, upgrading of national fishery industries and technology services, development of underutilized resources, training, integrated development, energy optimization, “responsible” or sustainable fishing and nutrition. The Division runs a world network of marketing information services (GLOBEFISH) and coordinates a Project for Cooperative Use of Research Vessels. The Fishery Policy and Planning Division (FIP) addresses the major economic, social and institutional issues in fisheries management and development, providing support to the national fisheries policy development process and to regional fishery bodies. It analyses national fishery sectors and worldwide trends in production, trade and consumption. It contributes to improvement of national legal and institutional management frameworks, including monitoring, control and surveillance. It deals with investment and fisheries development, particularly for small-scale fisheries, develops socio-economic databases and country fishery profiles. It also provides training in fisheries socioeconomics, bio-economics and management. The Operations Service (FIO) is responsible for the management of the numerous FAO projects which are funded from extra-budgetary sources and constitutes the FAO Field Programme, the active and practical part of the FAO programme of work in the member countries. The FAO regional fishery bodies (CECAF, WECAF, GFCM, IOFC and IPFC) provide fora for international cooperation, exchange of data

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and information, and regionally agreed advice on resources. They provide advice to governments on fisheries matters as well as recommendations to FAO on its programme of work. All the technical divisions of the Fisheries Department contribute to their functioning on a regular basis while providing ad hoc assistance to non-FAO fishery bodies. The Advisory Committee on Marine Resources Research (ACMRR), composed of high level experts from outside FAO, advises the Director General of FAO and the IOC on the conduct of management-oriented research and on priorities for the FAO programme. Since its creation, in 1961, it has been deeply involved in the evolution of the FAO programme. The Committee on Fisheries, created in 1966, is the main intergovernmental body of FAO in fisheries. It meets every two years to examine the major issues and to advise on FAO’s programme of work in fisheries. This body has followed very closely the development of all international events (such as UNCLOS, EEZ development, high seas and driftnet fisheries). Issues related to fish trade are specifically dealt with through a Sub-Committee on Fish Trade, established in 1985. The FAO Conference is the supreme governing and deliberative body of FAO and decides on the programme of the organization and its budget. It examines, therefore, the fisheries programme every biennium and establishes its orientations. It has also been regularly involved in major reviews of fisheries issues. 3. THE FAO PROGRAMME The role of FAO in fisheries development and management has evolved during the Organization’s 46 years of existence accompanying or anticipating the changes in the world fisheries context. The process, described in the following sections, has been subjectively divided in time periods corresponding to particular phases of evolution of the international fisheries context and of the FAO programme. 3.1 RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: 1945–58 This period starts just after the second world war with the creation of FAO (in 1945) and the post-war reconstruction. It ends with the first Conference on the Law of the Sea (Geneva, 1958) and the adoption of a

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Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas, a first and not very successful step towards progressive establishment of a new regime of jurisdiction. The international context The world population was about 2 000 million. Europe’s industries had been devastated by the 1939–1945 war and the priority for FAO was on agricultural development. The northern hemisphere had been locally overfished before and between the two world wars. Apart from very coastal resources in some Asian areas, the tropical fishery resources were lightly exploited by small-scale fisheries and offered potential for expansion. During the period, marine fish production increased from 17.7 million t in 1948 to 28.4 million t in 1958 reaching, at the end of the period, just above 25% of the world potential estimated at about 100 million t, many years later, by FAO [1]. The limitation of marine living resources was fully recognized and the problem of overfishing was obvious in the northern hemisphere and even in New Zealand. Overfishing of traditional bottom fish (e.g., plaice) was stressed, in 1946, by the London International Overfishing Conference [4] and by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The problem of political constraints upon management of freely accessible resources was directly addressed and carefully formulated at the London Conference but the lack of political agreement on the allocation of resources prevented any real progress in the following years. The Hokkaido sardine stock decreased drastically during the fifties to nearly disappear in the sixties. The North Sea and Atlanto-Scandian herring resources collapsed in the late fifties. During the same period, the dwindling California pilchard accelerated its downward trend towards its collapse in the sixties. In North America, J.A.Crutchfield and H.Scott Gordon (1959) underlined the economic aspects of fisheries management and the problems of common property resources laying the basis for the development and application of fisheries economics. In industrialized countries, the response to overfishing of traditional grounds was: local management (unfortunately avoiding to address the central issues of effort limitation and allocation), technological improvements (aggravating the situation in the long term), and expansion towards new grounds (triggering a conservative response from coastal countries). The International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) was created in 1949. Management advice was biologically-based and aimed at preventing fish being caught too young

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and to protect spawners by regulation of mesh sizes, closed areas, closed seasons and fish size at landing. Benefits from these measures were progressively nullified by the uncontrolled growth of fishing effort. Early suggestions to limit global fishing effort levels met with political opposition starting decades of conquest and wasteful competition. Distant-water fishing expanded (from Europe, USA, Japan) supported by technological innovation, developing factory ships, methods of conservation, fish-finding devices and fishing gears, ploughing new grounds for new resources. The early reaction to the presence of foreign fleets occurred in Chile and Peru, which claimed a 200-mile territorial sea jurisdiction in 1947. The concept of a 200-mile extended jurisdiction was embedded in the Santiago Declaration (1952), signed by Chile, Peru and Ecuador and which established the Comisión permanente del Pacífico Sur (CPPS). The growing concern about the state of resources and the disagreement between the main fishing powers and coastal countries on the sharing of rights and responsibilities on these resources, lead to a gradual increase of pressure for the establishment of a different international order for fisheries. After a decade of heated debate, the first UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I, Geneva, 1958) adopted a Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas which has not been signed by some of the most important high seas fishing nations. The work of FAO The first report submitted to FAO by its Technical Committee on 13 April 1945, indicated that many resources in the northern hemisphere (producing 93 % of the world catch) had been overfished but that most of the southern hemisphere resources remained underutilized, producing 7% of the world catch. Near-extermination of some whale species was mentioned as well as wastage through by-catch, particularly in trawl shrimp fisheries. It emphasized the need for exploratory research and the fact that “knowledge of facts fundamental to sound management of highseas fisheries was still fragmentary”. It showed the potential for expansion while stressing the requirement for immediate management measures, drawing attention to the fact that existing fishery bodies had only advisory functions and no regulatory powers [5]. The Technical Committee recommended, inter alia: (a) The establishment of a system to collect and disseminate fishery data and scientific publications; (b) The development of scientific, sociological, technological and economic research of fisheries and fishery products for “maximum sustained production without

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endangering future supplies”; (c) The improvement of education in fishery matters and sciences; (d) The conservation of fishery resources through better cooperative research and management, in particular through the establishment of Regional Councils. These first recommendations as well as others related to fisheries development have represented the backbone of the entire FAO programme on fisheries for nearly half a century. The first report of FAO on the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), in 1948, focused on the central issue of post-war food shortage, viewing fisheries as a supplement to deficient agricultural production and addressing technological problems such as storage and distribution of fish. The problems of over-capacity of the fishing industry were acknowledged in this and many of the earliest SOFA reports together with the issue of allocation and access rights and were to appear as recurrent items for the following decades. With the decrease of the North Sea herring and the collapse of the Californian sardine, the 1956 SOFA report stresses the need for collaborative research underlining the potential role of fishery science in management, taking ICES and ICNAF as models. As early as 1956, a round table organized by FAO, dealt with economics in fisheries, their optimal utilization and control. The great need for advice and coordination on fisheries development policy and planning, training and technology transfer for increased production had led to the establishment of the two first regional fisheries bodies of FAO in the Indo-Pacific area (IPFC, 1948) and the Mediterranean and Black Seas (GFCM, 1949). Headed by Dr D.B.Finn, from Canada (1946–1964), the FAO Fisheries Division’s programme focused on fishery development issues until the end of the fifties, dealing with nutrition, industrial development, fish processing and conservation, fisheries mechanization, fishermen organization. Standards for internationally comparable statistics to be used by fishery commissions were developed through the work of the Coordinating Working Party on Atlantic Fishery Statistics (CWP), established in 1956. These are still used today on a worldwide basis. A part of the programme was devoted to national resources assessment (e.g. in Libya and Chile, 1952; Iran, 1957; Venezuela, 1958) as a basis for development. Related training programmes focused on fish biology (Turkey, 1954; Thailand, 1955). FAO contributed also, very early, to the process of evolution of national jurisdiction. It hosted an International Technical Conference on the Conservation of the Living Resources of the Sea in Rome (1955) to address issues such as: fisheries conservation objectives, data requirements, management measures and international issues. This meeting agreed on the need for scientific evidence on which to base management, putting the burden of proof on the managers.

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Resources allocation was not considered in the list of applicable management measures, but some coastal States raised the issue of the special interest they had in the resources adjacent to their coasts and, hence, the special rights and responsibilities they should be given. The possibility of excluding new entrants from a fully exploited fishery was also discussed. The meeting could not agree and the issue was left open for the years to come. 3.2 RESEARCH AND FISHERIES EXPANSION: 1959– 72 This period starts with the beginning of an important international effort to discover resources on a worldwide basis and with the UNCLOS II meeting (1960). It ends with the World Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm, in 1972. International context During this period, catches rose from about 30 to about 60 million t. The world population was approaching 3 000 million and the demographic boom had started, increasing the demand for food. The decolonization process accelerated further the demand for development assistance, technology transfer and training, for countries with important resources to be developed. The need for international cooperation was felt very strongly. For the first time, two developing countries, Peru and China appeared among the first four fish producers of the world. The North Sea remained severely affected by overfishing. The central issues of common property resources management and access rights were addressed again, by A.Scott and F.T.Christy, in 1966 but countries remained obviously incapable of taking the required and politically difficult measures. The UN Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas (adopted in 1958) came into force only in 1966. This Convention, as well as UNCLOS II (Geneva, 1960), failed to agree on the breadth of the national jurisdiction and therefore on the definition of the high seas area and on a new allocation of wealth between nations. Throughout all the sixties and in the early seventies, long-distance fishing from developed (Europe, Japan, USA) and developing nations (Cuba, Republic of Korea, Ghana, Thailand) undertook a second phase of expansion beyond their borders into neighbouring areas and farther away,

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to Northwest and Southwest Africa and in the tropical ocean in an attempt to offset decrease in landings from national grounds. Expansion was supported by subsidy schemes, a policy which, during the following decades, built up a huge overcapacity. The technological development had consequences on developing countries’ subsistence fisheries which were given access to synthetic fibres and engines, increasing fishing power while their traditional grounds became progressively invaded by modern vessels. Developing countries such as Peru, Chile, Morocco, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Angola developed an industrial fishery sector. Valuable shrimp fisheries developed in Asia and the Near-East (India, Kuwait, Pakistan) paving the way for one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings and overfishing (and by-catch waste) in the tropics. Modernization, investment and demographic explosion led, in two decades, to very severe overfishing of coastal developing areas. The end of this period was marked by a series of fishery resources collapses…including in areas where the first 200-mile zone jurisdiction had been established (Peruvian anchoveta). During the seventies, interest for marine mammals began to spread beyond the groups of industries, managers and scientists involved with them traditionally, and public concern for the obvious mismanagement of large whales started growing rapidly. In 1972, the World Conference on Human Environment dealt with environmental aspects of natural resources management. In recommending a 10-year moratorium on commercial whaling it initiated a debate, still going on today, on the scientific evidence necessary for any management decision and on the legitimacy of “emotional” and “political” (i.e., non-scientific) arguments in such decisions. It also started an era during which the voices of “nonfishery users” would try to obtain progressively more weight in fishery management. Towards the end of this period, the Stockholm Conference, in 1972, defined the rights of mankind to a healthy environment. It stressed both the right for men to modify environment for its development and the dangers behind the huge capacity developed to do so. It underlined the international inequity in wealth distribution. Its principles addressed issues which are central to fisheries management: resources limitation, environmental degradation, demography, planning and management, institutions, science and technology, education, research, international liability, international cooperation and equity.

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The work of FAO The Fisheries Department contributed to the FAO response to the population boom and consequent demand for development assistance. Focus was on producing more while optimizing the use of the available resources. The Field Programme kept a very strong emphasis on nutritional aspects, fish capture and utilization, freezing techniques, decision-making in the fishing industry, fishing boat design, fishing gear design and fish behaviour. Work began also on economic aspects of fishing regulations (1961), and research vessel design (1966–69). FAO, advised by its Advisory Committee on Marine Resources Research (ACMRR), initiated a long-term programme in support of fisheries development and management [6,7]. Attention was given to the development of national fishery statistical systems able to produce the detailed data required for estimating stock abundance and for management. Manuals of sampling methods were published [8]. The sixties were the time for active discovery and assessment of world potential of fisheries resources through international resources surveys in poorly known areas. The coasts of Africa were covered by the Guinean Trawling Survey (GTS) and the US Bureau of Fisheries tuna survey in the early sixties. The Bay of Bengal area was surveyed in 1962 and the Atlantic coast of Latin America in 1964–65. Symposia were organized to discuss the results of these surveys in East Africa (1960), West Africa (1966, 1968, 1970), Indian Ocean (1967), Caribbean (1968). Additional resources surveys were undertaken at national level to test development possibilities (e.g., Tunisia, 1962; Chile, 1963–69; Brazil, 1961–76; Peru, 1967–71). In West Africa, a series of “Sardinella Projects” were undertaken to develop small pelagic resources in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Congo from the late sixties to the mid-seventies. The large UNDP/FAO Indian Ocean Resources Development Programme started in 1971, with a strong resources assessment component and development aims. It led to a series of national and regional projects in the following two decades. It is interesting to note that most of the fishery research facilities existing today in developing countries were created or greatly enhanced through these FAO regional and national projects. Intense scientific cooperation developed in fishery bodies leading to the transfer, in the tropical developing world, of the knowledge available and of the management concern of the northern hemisphere through international working groups organized at the initiative of ACMRR [7]. International conferences were organized on important tropical resources such as tunas [9] and shrimps [10]. To support its training programme

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FAO started, at the end of the fifties, the preparation of manuals for basic fishery science [11], trawl surveys [12, 13], acoustic methods [14], population dynamics and stock assessment [15–18]. The mid-sixties represent a turning point. Under the leadership of R.I.Jackson (from the USA) at the head of the Fisheries Department and H.Kasahara, J.A.Gulland and S.J. Holt in the Fishery Resources and Exploitation Division, the programme started focusing sharply and specifically on technical aspects of fisheries management. The lead was taken in tropical resources assessments methodology, international regulatory standards, management measures and international cooperation mechanisms, promoting the analysis of interactions between fisheries biology and economics. The FAO Committee on Fisheries was created and, at its first meeting in 1966, focused on international fisheries management, and the role of regional fisheries bodies. In 1967, the Report on the State of Food and Agriculture [19] included a special chapter on fisheries management and a manual on regulation of fishing effort was published [20]. The Field Programme, however, constrained by countries’ demands and donors’ priorities, remained focused on resources assessments and fisheries development. It was not until the late sixties, however, that limitation of catches became a generalized source of concern for FAO and non-FAO fishery bodies. With the pretext that regulating directly the fishing effort was technically difficult, regulation by means of total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas was generalized, failing to reduce economic waste or conflicts arising from the inadequacy of access rights. Much of the philosophy of the seventies and eighties on fisheries management and the role of research and of the fisheries commissions can be found in a synthesis published in 1968 by J.A.Gulland and J.E.Carroz [21] which included economic considerations and attempts to deal with allocation issues and extraction of economic rents, including in the high seas. The network of FAO regional fisheries bodies was enhanced by the creation of new ones in Latin America (CARPAS, in 1961), West Africa (CECAF, in 1967), Indian Ocean (IOFC, in 1967) and the Caribbean (WECAF, in 1973). FAO contributed also to the creation of non-FAO bodies such as ICCAT, for the Atlantic tunas (in 1966) and Southeast Atlantic resources (ICSEAF, in 1969). FAO started a “World Watch” on the status of stocks. It undertook the first evaluations of tropical tuna stocks, before the creation of ICCAT [22] and of West African resources [7]. At the beginning of the seventies, marine fisheries production had reached about 60 million t. FAO predicted that many fisheries were not sustainable and that production levels could not be maintained without tapping underutilized resources. The collapse of the

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Peruvian anchoveta (in 1972), partly due to overfishing and partly to “natural climatic variability” appeared as a sinister confirmation that the time of expansion was over and that the era of variability and uncertainty had begun. As a contribution to the process of negotiation of new rights and obligations on fisheries resources and to the geographic delimitation of these rights, FAO elaborated, in 1971, the first version of the Atlas of the Living Resources of the Seas which was finalized 10 years later [23]. At the beginning of the seventies, the first steps towards the establishment of a cooperative Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System (ASFIS) were made in cooperation with Unesco. In the following years ASFIS became the most important system of bibliographic information on ocean environment and fisheries. In 1970 the Department started the FAO Species Identification and Data Programme for Fishery Purposes involving a growing number of scientific collaborators (7 in 1970 to about 80 currently) to improve the taxonomy of the new resources and the fishery statistics through better identification. This programme also provides ecological and biological information on the species. In 1972, COFI requested an independent review of the status of marine mammals stocks and a special ACMRR Working Party was established. Guided by Dr S.J.Holt, the Working Party produced a voluminous report, presented at the Scientific Consultation on the Conservation and Management of Marine Mammals (Bergen, 1976), and which represents a remarkable compilation of the available knowledge. It confirmed the poor state of many stocks, the limitations of the data and the resulting uncertainty and the urgency of management measures. In the seventies, FAO strengthened its programme on pollution in relation to fisheries and resources. The protection of the productive environment is part of the management of marine resources and concern has always been present in the FAO programme. For instance, as early as 1970, FAO organized a Technical Conference on Marine Pollution and its Effects on Living Resources and on Fishing as well as a Seminar on methods of detection, measurement and monitoring of pollutants in the marine environment. It sponsored the establishment of the Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP), in 1969, in collaboration with many other UN Agencies. One of the main first tasks of GESAMP was to advise the Stockholm Conference in 1972 on marine pollution issues.

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3.3. THE NEW ECONOMIC ORDER: 1973–82 This period starts with the FAO Technical Conference on Fishery Management and Development (Vancouver, February 1973) and the beginning of a new decade of negotiation in preparation for UNCLOS III (December 1973). It ends with the adoption of UNCLOS III in 1982. International context During this period, fisheries production increased from about 60 to about 68 million t and the status of stocks improved in a few areas and worsened in most. At the beginning of the period, the world production levelled off while oil prices rose and conditions of access stiffened. Fisheries expansion slowed down markedly but fisheries withstood the shock, thanks to steadily rising fish prices. In the second half of the seventies the use of “fishing licences” systems generalized as a large number of countries claimed a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. In the eighties, catches again rose fast due to: (a) natural fluctuations of abundance of low-value species such as Peruvian anchoveta, Chilean jack mackerel, Japanese and Latin American pilchards; (b) intensified fishing on Alaska pollock; (c) a third phase of expansion of long-range fleets into the Indian Ocean, the South Pacific and the Southwest Atlantic in search of high-value species (e.g., tunas, shrimps and cephalopods). This rise in production conceals the overfishing of most valuable demersal resources such as cod, hakes, haddock, whiting, octopus, groupers, sea breams, Pacific Ocean perch, Chinese yellow croaker, large shrimps, etc., and the ecological changes of fishery systems with replacement of large, long-lived species by smaller short-lived ones (in the Gulf of Thailand, in the North Sea, off West Africa). In December 1973, the UNCLOS III process started. The draft provisions started being progressively implemented by coastal countries in claiming their EEZs (especially between 1976 and 1979) and in their international relations in fisheries. Shelf areas which remain open to free access, e.g., off Western Sahara, Namibia, and in the Southwest Atlantic became favourite fishing grounds for foreign fleets. Straddling stocks were put under severe pressure. New high-seas resources were tapped in the seventies: small tropical tunas, oceanic sharks, high-seas horse mackerels (off Chile), Antarctic krill, oceanic squids. At the end of 1982 the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was opened for signature, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, marking the formal

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beginning of a new era, in a process of extension of national jurisdiction which had started decades before. In the meantime, UNCLOS draft provisions had progressively become current fisheries practice in relations between States. In 1982 also, the 10-year moratorium on whaling recommended by the 1972 Stockholm Conference was finally adopted by the International Whaling Commission after 10 years of bitter political debate, scientific polarization and mismanagement. It took a few more years (until 1988) for it to be effectively implemented. The work of FAO In its path towards the “New Economic Order”, the Fisheries Department was guided by F.E.Popper, from Canada (1972–1976), H.C.Watzinger from Norway (1977–1978) and K.C.Lucas (1978–1981). With the “explosive” process of creation of EEZs in the mid-seventies, the demand for assistance by coastal countries increased drastically. Stocks had to be assessed by EEZ instead of by region, despite incomplete definition of maritime boundaries. The process of development of national capacities in research and management required an acceleration of the training to increase participation of local experts to working groups. The requirements for assistance by FAO/HQ to the Field Programme increased drastically as a few large regional, medium-term projects were progressively replaced by a much greater number of national, short-term projects. This increased further the pressure on the already thinly-spread FAO capacity, particularly in the information and assessment divisions. The issue was raised by ACMRR in 1968 and stressed in 1971. The situation became worse with time as the workload increased faster than available means. During the seventies, FAO contributed to the UNCLOS III negotiations by preparing a number of technical documents for the negotiators providing objective documentation and highlighting issues. Dr J.E.Carroz, one of the very few persons having attended all sessions of UNCLOS I, II and III, played a leading role in this matter. In 1973, FAO convened in Vancouver (Canada) the Technical Conference on Fishery Management and Development [24]. This Conference followed the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment and, although not explicitly related to it, addressed many of the same key issues. The Conference recognized: (1) The resource limitation and the fact that, despite limited management success, most of the major stocks had reached the lowest levels ever recorded. (2) The great overcapitalization in fisheries, the fact that government subsidies often resulted in economic waste, and the conflict between management, development

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and technological change, (3) The need for a better scientific basis for management, for integration of biological sciences with economy [25] and for better regional cooperation, (4) The problem of free access to resources and the fact that it did not allow to limit exploitation rates to levels that would meet economic or resource conservation criteria, (5) The competition of long-distance fleets with national ones and the potential role of joint-venture agreements, (6) The environmental degradation and its greater impact on fisheries than fishing itself, (7) The need for new management approaches (precautionary, anticipatory, experimental and multispecies management) proposing to frame the concepts of fishery management into the broader one of ocean management. However, because of the proximity of the third UNCLOS meeting (the autumn of the same year) the fundamental legal and jurisdictional matters were carefully avoided, purposely missing the opportunity to discuss objectively the technical, biological, social and economic implications of a central political issue. The wisdom developed in Vancouver spread through fisheries bodies working groups and deliberations, national fisheries departments and the international and FAO literature. During the seventies, the FAO Advisory Committee on Marine Resources Research (ACMRR) addressed regularly the question of development of national information systems and research capacity. Modern issues, such as the multiple use of the oceans and impact on fisheries and the problem of incidental catches of unwanted species was already addressed by ACMRR in 1975. In 1979, the Twentieth FAO Conference adopted a Comprehensive Action Programme of technical assistance for the development and management of fisheries in EEZs. The “EEZ Programme”, funded by Norway, became, for more than a decade, the main mechanism of assistance to developing countries in their efforts to master their resources. The Fishery Policy and Planning Division (FIP) was created the same year to coordinate this effort and made responsible for fishery policy and planning as well as for managing the regional fishery bodies, underlining FAO strategy to channel advice through these bodies. The work of the regional fishery bodies in management was strengthened by: (a) developing or enhancing the terms of reference related to management and (b) establishing sub-regional committees with management competence. IOFC established in 1972 a Committee for the Gulfs (between Iran and the Arabian peninsula) and, in 1980, two Committees for the Southwest Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. During the same year, WECAF established a Committee for the Lesser Antilles and IPFC a Committee for the South China Sea. In addition, GFCM decided to structure its technical work on resources assessments in

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five sub-regional technical consultations for the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The fact that, during the same period (in 1977) an Advisory Committee on Fisheries Management (ACFM) was created by the venerable ICES to streamline the management advice process shows that FAO’s action was timely. During the seventies, regional resources surveys continued to play an important role. The Indian Ocean Resources Development Programme developed its activities until the late seventies. The FAO/UNDP/NORAD Global Programme for Survey and Identification of World Marine Fish Resources put at the direct disposal of FAO the most modern resources survey technology with the research vessel DR FRIDTJOF NANSEN. It started operating in the Arabian Sea, in 1975, and is still operating in 1992 off Africa. The demand for national surveys increased with the establishment of EEZs (e.g., in Indonesia with the JETINDOFISH Project in 1979–82; in India (with the R/V RASTRELLIGER during most of the seventies). In 1980, before the formal adoption of UNCLOS (in 1982), the Report on the State of Food and Agriculture [26] included a comprehensive review of fisheries management under the new regime for the oceans. This review recognized that freedom of fishing had virtually been abolished by the States’ claims of 200-mile EEZs and urging States to take this opportunity to improve fisheries management. The report also underlined areas which remain unresolved (which were to emerge again at UNCED, in 1992): the determination of maritime boundaries (and the underlying distribution of wealth), the degree of coastal nations authority over their EEZ (including the concepts of “optimum yield” and “surplus”) and the management of shared, straddling and highly migratory resources. The report stressed the need for adjustments regarding access of foreign fishing, development of coastal countries fishing and management capacities, and shared stocks. In order to meet the demand for information on the importance of fleets a special effort has been made, by FAO, since 1975, to collect statistics on national fleets. The response, through the seventies and eighties, was not satisfactory and much remains to be done. Manuals were produced to support the training effort [27, 28]. Recognizing the biological and economic deficiencies of the concept of Maximum Sustainable Yield (and of Total Allowable Catches determined on this basis), FAO experts recommended, in 1973, to aim at slightly lower fishing levels (F0.1), based on the concept of marginal yield. Although this level was arbitrarily defined in biological terms, it would have improved resource stability and was less objectionable than MSY from an economic point of view [29]. The concept was largely adopted and led

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to other management targets with similar properties (F2/3MSY). FAO stressed again, 25 years after its 1956 round table on fisheries economics, that both concepts, taken singly, failed to satisfy properly the criteria for the economic and social optimization of fisheries [30]. The theoretical aspects of multispecies management were addressed by FAO with difficulty because the understanding of the scientific community remained insufficient for any practical application in the tropics. The difficult issue of by-catch in shrimp fisheries was addressed at the Consultation on shrimp by-catch (IJmuiden, Netherlands, 1973). The fluctuations of species abundance were recognized as well as the opportunistic nature of multispecies fisheries [31, 32] and the practical aspects of multispecies management were addressed, in particular for Southeast Asian fisheries [33]. In an effort to clarify issues and to transmit the wisdom, a series of Fisheries Technical Papers and articles in leading scientific journals were produced relating to fisheries management, economics and development, with emphasis on direct effort controls, resources allocation and small-scale fisheries [30, 34–40] as well as legal aspects of extended jurisdiction [41]. Development and management plans were elaborated for Namibia [42]. Gulland calculated that sounder fisheries management would produce a net profit of US$ 500 million in the North Sea and US$ 1 000 million in the whole of the Northeastern Atlantic [43]. The FAO Species Identification and Data Programme generated a very large number of Species Synopses, in collaboration with CSIRO (Australia), INP (Mexico) and NMFS (USA). FAO produced Identification Sheets for the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Eastern Indian Ocean, Western Central Pacific, Western Central Atlantic and Eastern Central Atlantic and started a new series of Field Guides and Species Catalogues. Manuals for stock assessment were updated and completed to better reflect tropical characteristics. Recognizing the problem posed by the scarcity of biological data in tropical developing countries, FAO cooperated with ICLARM in the development and diffusion of methods adapted to data-limited situations and, in particular, on length frequency analysis [35, 44, 45]. Training courses were organized, either on an ad hoc basis [46] or through dedicated medium-term programmes supported by extra-budgetary resources such as the FAO/DANIDA Project for Training in Fish Stock Assessment and Fishery Research Planning which started in 1982 and is still operational in 1992. The initial efforts of FAO to provide a “World Watch” on fisheries resources [1], was followed by a series of regional reviews, during the seventies and eighties: Southeast Atlantic [47, 48], Southern Ocean [49],

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mesopelagic fish [50], Western Central Atlantic [51], Mediterranean [52, 53] , Eastern Central Atlantic [54, 55]. The results led to an updated world compilation [56]. FAO increased its involvement with environmental issues, sponsoring the organization of meetings in 1974, 1975 and 1976. In 1974, the General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM) organized an intergovernmental consultation which produced the guidelines on which the 1976 Barcelona Convention was established for the protection of the marine environment. The impact of natural medium-term climatic fluctuations was also rapidly recognized, especially in relation with the oscillations of abundance of small pelagic resources. A first meeting was organized on El Niño in Ecuador (Guayaquil, 1974) but the turning point was represented by the Expert Consultation organized by FAO in Costa Rica (San José, 1983) where the impact of environmental oscillations on recruitment and abundance was strongly stressed [57]. Paradoxically, it is when developing coastal industries become concerned about stability of the supply that research “rediscovers” the problems of variability and uncertainty. In November 1982, the Twelfth Session of IOC decided to begin the IOCFAO international cooperative programme on Ocean Science in Relation to Living Resources (OSLR) in November 1982 to investigate the relation between recruitment, stock size and environment. The FAO efforts to raise awareness, develop management-oriented science and promote management action were supported by its two scientific advisory bodies, ACMRR and SCORRAD, which dealt with such issues as marine mammals, the scientific basis for management [58–64], pollution, methods for surveying fish abundance and aquaculture. 3.4. TOWARDS GLOBAL CONCERNS: 1983–92 This period starts with the technical preparations of the FAO World Conference on Fishery Management and Development (Rome, 1984). It ends with the preparations for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). An important role is played during this period by the World Commission on Environment and Development (“Brundtland Commission”, 1984–87).

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International context During this period, the marine catches increased from 68 to about 85 million t. It was essentially a period of transition. Developed countries tried new management measures such as limited entry or individual transferable quotas (ITQs). Developing countries continued experimenting with the management of their newly acquired resources and the difficulty of related responsibilities, realizing that claiming an EEZ was certainly not sufficient to avoid overfishing and that controlling nationals was no easier than controlling foreigners. The process of signature and ratification of UNCLOS proceeded slowly. By November 1991, 159 countries had signed, but only 51 had ratified it; 9 ratifications short of the requirement for UNCLOS to come into force. It is agreed, however, that several of its provisions concerning fisheries have already become international customary law. Straddling stocks continued to be put under severe pressure leading to reactions from coastal countries attempting to extend further offshore their effective control. Inadequacies in the management of international fisheries, recognized by scientists since the mid-sixties, were quite regularly referred to. Thirdworld fisheries development policies were criticized for their negative impacts on small-scale fishermen, national debt and environment. Management deficiencies in coastal fisheries have been less well documented but are evident, both in developed and developing countries, in industrial as well as small-scale fisheries, generating social unrest, conflict, illegal fishing practices (use of explosives or poison) and extensive use of governmental subsidies to compensate for economic inefficiencies. Major international management issues created intense political and technical activity, shaking the foundations of traditional management mechanisms. In 1989 in the South Pacific a movement started to prohibit all largescale pelagic driftnet fishing. The UN General Assembly resolution 44/225l addressed the issue after regional fisheries management bodies of the North and South Pacific had failed to reach consensus on an issue with obvious economic and social implications (competition for high-seas resources) and aggravated by serious environmental concerns. Despite the initial lack of scientific data (and possibly because of such a lack) on long-term impacts of the fishing method, a non-conventional political process started, supported by the media, an alerted public opinion and by environmental lobbies, which may lead to the outright ban of the gear by the General Assembly of the UN in mid-1992.

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In the Eastern Central Pacific tuna fisheries the conflict continued due to interaction of the fishery with dolphins. Despite many years of effective management through I-ATTC and a drastic reduction of the dolphin death toll (from 700 000–850 000/year in the early seventies to 90 000– 100 000 in the late eighties) the USA, under the pressure of environmental and political lobbying, resorted to unilateral commercial embargoes on tuna imports to force faster and greater corrective action by the tuna fishing nations. GATT opposed the procedure in 1991 but it is expected that it may have to give more importance to environmental management considerations in the future. In 1991, it has been proposed, also, to list the bluefin tuna in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and—flora (CITES) despite the fact that such species still provide 30 000 t/year in the North Atlantic. The creation of EEZs, the development of national production in the developing world, the replacement of foreign fleets by joint ventures and the obligation made to foreign fleets to land their catch locally contributed to a great increase in international fish trade at a faster rate than for most agricultural products. Between 1980 and 1987 trade from developing countries increased by 75% in volume and 100% in value increasing the contribution of fisheries to countries hard currency incomes. This evolution did not contribute to the limitations of fishing efforts. The world competition for access to markets intensified and concern started being voiced about trade barriers raised, apparently for the sake of improving ecological conservation or seafood quality standards. Following the steps of the Stockholm Conference, the World Commission on Environment and Development worked from 1984 to 1987 [65], paving the way for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992. The work of FAO The Fisheries Department was headed by Mr. A.Labon from Poland (1983–1985) and by Dr J.E.Carroz from Switzerland (1985–1992).

1This resolution recommends that all nations agree to a moratorium on all large scale driftnet fishing unless “effective conservation and management measures be taken, based on statistically sound analysis…to prevent unacceptable impacts of such fishing practices…and to ensure the conservation of marine living resources.”

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In 1982–83, a special effort was devoted to the technical preparations for the FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development and a series of meetings were arranged to consider the problems of overfishing and catch and effort regulations [66, 67], development strategies [68], natural variability of stocks and its impact on development and management [57] and conditions of access to EEZ resources [69]. The FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development (Rome, 1984, a decade after the FAO Technical Conference on Fisheries (Vancouver, 1973)) brought together the major issues and ideas related to fisheries management and development. The technical issues were not new, but the formal political recognition of their causes and possible solutions was a significant achievement. The Conference endorsed a strategy and recommended five Programmes of Action that FAO has been executing since then and which all countries found still relevant in 1991. The first and most important of these programmes was related to fisheries management. Two years after UNCLOS, the Conference confirmed the end of an era. It became clear that the debate on access to resources was over. Freedom of fishing had been suppressed in a 200-mile belt of oceans around the continents. Coastal States had been given definite sovereign rights on the resources within that belt and attempts to limit or qualify those rights by stressing related obligations were unsuccessful. It also signalled the beginning of a new economic battle between the new “resources owners” (mainly developing nations and a few industrialized ones) looking for markets and the “market owners” (mainly developed nations) looking for renewed access to resources for their fleets. As a consequence, international fish trade (in which FAO had been increasingly involved since the late seventies) has become highly competitive and, on occasion, measures are introduced on the presumption of environmental2 or consumer3 protection arguments, which are actually serving as non-tariff barriers and lead to a series of international conflicts. Following a recommendation of the 1984 Conference to establish a multilateral framework for consultations on trade and a decision by COFI, in 1985, FAO established a Sub-Committee on Fish Trade under the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI). This body was recognized, in 1991, as an international commodity body by the Common Funds of Commodities (CFC) established by GATT.

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in the case of large-scale driftnet fishing, the tuna-dolphin problem in the Eastern Central Pacific, and the shrimp-turtle problem in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Following on recommendations from the Conference, FAO strengthened its work in economic and social aspects of fisheries. WECAF (in 1989) and GFCM (in 1990) established a special Working Party to discuss the needs for socio-economic data and analysis. SCORRAD’s terms of reference were narrowed to focus exclusively on managementoriented research and this body will address the needs and available approaches in fisheries bio-economics in 1993. Similarly the 1993 IPFC Symposium will focus on socio-economic aspects of small-scale fisheries management. Taking stock of the problems and phenomena observed since the early seventies, FAO produced a series of publications related to the “post-EEZ” situation, clarifying such issues as the so-called “surplus” [70], the role of fishermen’s organization in management [71] and analysing changes in national fisheries policies [72]. It reviewed the problems raised by the management of major world fisheries [33, 73–77] including the driftnet issue [78–81], the relationship between fishery research and management [82] stressing again the inadequacy of present management systems [83] nearly 20 years after a similar diagnosis at the Vancouver Conference [24]. The Fishery Industries Division drew up guidelines for the marking and identification of fishing vessels which have received worldwide acceptance and is developing guidelines for the marking of fishing gear. Both efforts contribute to the solution of the problem of control of fishing efforts and of foreign fleets in EEZs and, potentially, in the high seas. The situation of the world resources continued to be reviewed, region by region, every two years, for presentation to the FAO Committee on Fisheries [84]. A special analysis was undertaken for the FalklandsMalvinas area in the Southwest Atlantic [85]. The poor state of many high seas fisheries, including in the Antarctic, was stressed and the problems behind their mismanagement where highlighted [86]. A new programme has been started aiming at the development of a world Geographic Information System on oceans, their fisheries, resources and environments as a basis for management of coastal zones and high seas. The FAO Species Identification and Data Programme continued its intense activity, supported by strong demand and extra-budgetary funding. During this period it produced 11 Species Catalogues (starting 10 more), 10 Field Guides, and Identification Sheets for the Southern Ocean, Mediterranean and Black Sea (second edition) and the Eastern Central Pacific.

3As

in the case of shrimp imports bans from developing countries

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The regional fisheries bodies suffered from insufficient technical support due to a lack of interest of traditional donors, including UNDP, in supporting regional mechanisms in the absence of clear national commitment to take over the long-term responsibility of their funding. Within its limited capacity, FAO continued to provide scientific support to these bodies and to many non-FAO fishery bodies around the world. It also provided technical support, in the form of regional projects to some of them (FFA, OLDEPESCA). In 1990–91 it assisted in the preparation of the Convention on Fisheries Cooperation Among African States Bordering the Atlantic Ocean and is providing technical support to its Secretariat. Between 1989 and 1991, FAO contributed greatly to the International Study on Fishery Research Needs (SIFR) organized in collaboration with UNDP, the World Bank, EEC and 17 other donors. The diagnostic part of the Study concluded that institutional deficiencies related to resource and space allocation and fishing rights were among the major causes for inadequate fisheries management [87, 88], echoing, with more evidence at hand, the conclusions drawn in 1945 by the First FAO Technical Committee on Fisheries. The FAO Field Programme contributed significantly despite the reduction of donor support in West Africa and South China Sea areas. The FAO/UNDP/NORAD global project provided assistance for the assessment and monitoring of resources, using the R/V DR FRIDTJOF NANSEN around Africa and in Central America. However, financial support for resources surveys was generally very limited and the emphasis was on stock assessment based on fisheries data. The Indo-Pacific Tuna Management and Development Programme (IPTP), based in Colombo, provided strong support in data collection, stock assessment and management advice on tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean, laying the basis for the future Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. The Southwest Indian Ocean Programme (SWIOP) helped East African countries assess their resources and develop appropriate management schemes. The Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP) tackled the problems of management of coastal fisheries with emphasis on artisanal fisheries and bio-economics. The effort to provide stock assessment methods and critical analysis of their performance continued [82, 89–92]. With the fast development of inexpensive personal computers, FAO developed stock assessment software giving to developing countries some of the computing and modelling capacity which, until recently, had been the privilege of developed countries’ laboratories [93–95], taking this opportunity to introduce bioeconomic modelling as a basis for analysing interactions between fisheries sectors [96–98].

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The FAO/DANIDA Project for Training in Fish Stock Assessment and Fishery Research Planning, which started in 1982, continued to programme training at regional level, offering assistance in training courses organized nationally. With the support of this project and in collaboration with ICLARM, an integrated software for tropical stock assessment was produced (FAO-ICLARM Stock Assessment Tools, FISAT). In parallel, efforts were made to return the basic ecological issues [99] to the foreground of fishery science. The early interest of FAO in fisheries-related pollution problems was demonstrated by the activities of ACMRR, the cooperation with IOC and UNEP—particularly through the WACAF project, in West Africa—and its sponsoring of and cooperation with the Group of Experts for Scientific Advice on Marine Pollution (GESAMP). The Organization sponsored meetings on pollution in 1984 and 1986. Some activities of the Fishery Industries Division were devoted to the problem of onshore pollution by fishing ports and fish processing industries. Since 1989 FAO’s concern for environment, management and sustainable development has been integrated, prompted by the preparatory process to the UN Conference on Environment and Development [2, 3]. FAO started strengthening its environment-related programme looking at impacts of pollution particularly on enclosed and semi-enclosed seas [100, 10 1] and giving priority to an inter-departmental programme on Integrated Coastal Zone Management involving the Departments of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture. The 1992 Report on the State of Food and Agriculture [83] indicates that, during the preceding decade, redistribution of wealth resulting from UNCLOS had proceeded as expected with gains for some coastal countries with large marine resources and losses in a few other countries with important long distance fleets, which resisted the EEZ shock far better than expected. In the EEZs, progress in fisheries management has been unexpectedly slow with domestic fisheries inefficiently managed because of reluctance on the part of the States to establish property and exclusive user rights. The losses through mismanagement (see below) are aggravated by inestimable losses through coastal environment degradation, especially in the coastal zone where sectors are often in conflict for scarce resources and small-scale fisheries are the most adversely affected.

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4. THE SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE: 1993–2000 The new management context In the EEZs, important social and economic benefits are potentially available to coastal countries provided they take appropriate steps during the coming decade [83]. During the last four decades, science and management theory were ahead of management practice and lagging behind uncontrolled sectoral development (too little was done and too late). With the slowing-down of investment in fisheries development there could have been an opportunity for science and management to “catch up” when, after half a century of wild competition, the problem of excessive effort was formally and widely recognized. Many countries have started experimenting with effort limitation and resource allocation schemes. Japan has reduced its large fleets. Eastern Europe may have to do so. EEC has finally accepted the idea of effort reductions and initiated steps to reduce the huge fleet capacity by 40%. The World Bank has become reluctant to finance further development and seems to have finally accepted to support fleet reduction schemes. However, the question of overexploitation that was posed in 1946 for North Sea fisheries, in the sixties for the whole North Atlantic and in the eighties for the world ocean fisheries resources, is now posed for the entire ocean ecosystem. Sectoral interactions and non-consumptive uses have to be taken into account, as well as environmental degradation, raising the problem of resources allocation but at higher, inter-sectoral level, complicating the institutional issue and the tasks of scientists and managers. Buying now the future benefits In the long term, there is no conflict between biological and economic concepts of sustainability or between conservation and economic efficiency. In the short term, however, these concepts are in conflict. The global loss of revenues (through dissipated rent) has been roughly estimated by the FAO Fisheries Department to reach the order of magnitude of US$15 000–30 000 million per year. The cost of correcting present-day deficiencies has been calculated to be in the order of US$7 000–14 000 million per year for the next 10–20 years. These overly gross figures only pretend to indicate that the cost of fisheries rehabilitation could be covered by the rents which will result from improved management and which

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could be captured by appropriate systems of user fees. The problem is that the fishing industry, in its presently poor economic state, is not in a position to initiate the reconversion process. The intervention of development banks and States is necessary to pay, today, the cost of future benefits. The by-catch syndrome The problem of incidental catches was already mentioned in 1945 by the FAO Technical Committee on Fisheries and has recurrently been examined as a “waste” problem. It emerges now also as a threat to endangered species and has become apparent in at least three cases: the driftnet fishery, the tuna purse-seine fishery in the Eastern Central Pacific and in the shrimp trawling fishery. In addition, trawling is under criticism for the changes it provokes in the environment. As anticipated by FAO in 1989, the driftnet conflict in the high seas is having repercussions on coastal gillnet fisheries including small-scale ones. The FAO report [81] illustrated the wider implications of the selectivity problem, in gillnet fisheries, and the biological as well as socio-economic dimensions of the problem. The arguments used for justifying the largescale driftnet ban have been since then used to ban coastal gillnets in California (in 1991, even before any formal ban on the high seas) and attempts are ongoing to ban them from coastal waters of other States. As gillnets have always been considered to be very selective compared with other gears, there is room for great concern for the fisheries as a whole and for the availability of food from the sea if overly stringent parameters are imposed to fisheries without explicit consideration of equity and development issues. Efforts must therefore be made to integrate economic and social constraints with environmental requirements, developing standards for “acceptable” levels of impact satisfying both the environmental and development conditions. The information gap National statistical systems are deficient, particularly for artisanal fisheries where simple data on catch and effort by species as well as socio-economic data are almost nonexistent. Countries and donors seem to underestimate the importance of the data and do not give to data collection and monitoring the priority it deserves. Regarding the data required for stock assessment and fisheries analysis, the last decade has shown the limit of

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“quick and dirty” methods and there seems no sufficiently reliable alternative to a comprehensive data collection system. The information on high seas fisheries is scanty. Its availability could be improved easily with the technology available, and FAO has started to modify its statistical system for the purpose. Control of its quality, however, would require costly schemes. The problem of by-catch is crucial, especially for endangered species. The data required to analyse interactions between fisheries and other sectors in the coastal zone are very far from complete. The need to consider the available information on a geographical basis leads to the necessity to develop digitized mapping capacity and Geographical Information Systems worldwide. High seas management and “creeping jurisdiction” High-seas management is a new important challenge despite the fact that high seas are presently exploited essentially by developed countries and produce a small part of the world catch. Most high seas resources have their source in the coastal areas of the EEZs where the reproduction, nursery and feeding areas often are. Many high seas stocks such as whales, sharks, some tunas, Antarctic resources, are overfished [86]. The status of many others such as most small cetaceans, pomfrets, squids is unknown. Straddling stocks, extending beyond national jurisdiction, into the high seas open access system need urgent international management in the Northwest Atlantic (Grand Banks), in the Bering Sea (Doughnut Hole), in the Patagonian Shelf and off Chile. A fairly similar problem exists in the Mediterranean where national jurisdiction is generally limited to 12 miles while valuable resources extend beyond (in particular off Tunisia and Libya). This situation leads to attempts by coastal States to gain “creeping jurisdiction” beyond that recently granted under UNCLOS. This is apparent in the attempt to use national trade embargoes as international management tools, in the terms of the tuna fishing agreements between South Pacific States and USA, and in the proposal to the Argentinean Parliament to extend the coastal State jurisdiction beyond 200 miles. It is also apparent in the UNCED process where some countries have proposed (a) to give more recognition to the special interest of the coastal countries in straddling or highly migratory stocks (b) the need to take these interests into account when managing the straddling stocks and (c) the need to increase liability of violators of regional agreements whether or not they are party to it.

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FAO will organize, in 1992, an Expert Consultation and a Governmental Consultation on the issue, to lay the basis for a set of guidelines or a code of conduct for responsible fishing. The issues relate to (a) the insufficient attention given by fishery bodies to the high seas areas and resources under their jurisdiction; (b) the lack of integration of their work at ocean level; (c) the special interests and potential responsibility of the coastal State on high seas resources, especially straddling stocks; (d) the enforcement of international agreements; (e) the weakness of international research programmes on the high seas. Coastal integrated management and environmental degradation Coastal zone integrated management is the important challenge for fisheries and seafood production as well as for coastal industries and human settlements. It is estimated by UNCHS (Habitat) that, by the year 2000, 60% of the urban population (1.800 million people) will be living less than 50 km from shore and many more in settlements along rivers carrying pollution to the sea; and this does not take into account rural settlements in coastal areas. In addition, it is estimated that 80% of the present marine pollution comes from the land, sometimes far away and affects people who live on and from the coastal sea (in some enclosed seas, fish are so loaded with pollutants that they should no longer be considered edible). In many areas, coastal rehabilitation is required, calling for ecological engineering and therapeutic ecology [102]. In oligotrophic marine areas, however, organic enrichment may have positive effects on production [100, 101]. FAO has undertaken the production of sectoral guidelines for environmentally sound (“responsible”) coastal fisheries and intensive coastal aquaculture, promoting integrated planning and management of primary industries in the coastal zones and strengthening its cooperation with other UN agencies and NGOs. It has also undertaken to analyse the impact of major river flows and their anthropogenic modifications on the coastal areas. Non-fishery users and public opinion It has taken time for biologists and fisheries managers with a biological background to realize that one does not manage resources but rather their exploitation by people, and that any attempt to exclude or forget people and the distribution of resources among them in the management

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“equation” leads to failure. The concept of “resources management” was therefore replaced by that of “fisheries management” to indicate that action was required on the economic sector. The problem of management of marine living resources must now be broadened to include the point of view of the non-fisheries users4 with an appropriate “weighting factor” to meet the undefined equity criteria while satisfying both development and environmental requirements. The last years have shown a few cases where decisions have been imposed on fishermen, from outside the fishery sector, perhaps with insufficient consideration of socioeconomic consequences and explicit recognition of the wealth transfers implied. The need to consider global impacts and the increased voice of the environmental groups lead to a return to the concept of “resources management” with the risk of forgetting that action is required at sectoral level. During the Vancouver Conference (1973), it was already mentioned that, in the case of competition between commercial fishermen and other sectors economically difficult to evaluate (in that specific case, sport fishermen) “decisions were apt to be based on emotional and political grounds” [24, page 2097]. This happened in fact in the California gillnet fishery in 1991. Public opinion already had, in the past, decisive influence on management of whales and seals and in some countries a special status is being advocated for almost all cetaceans. In both cases, as in the more recent driftnet fishing case, a few developed countries were involved and economic interests were modest. Public opinion has also been used recently in the tuna-dolphin issue in the Eastern Central Pacific and in the shrimp-turtle issue in the Gulf of Mexico. In these cases, developing countries are involved and the socio-economic consequences for all concerned are very significant. Finally, public opinion is now used, at national level, to attempt to deprive commercial fishermen from their rights of access to sea resources, through mechanisms (political arenas, media) in which equity and scientific neutrality may be lost. The process by which public opinion has been mobilized (advertisement campaigns and catastrophic images—sometimes genuine, sometimes forged) is far from the concept of “best scientific evidence” existing in the texts creating ICES in 1902 and required in UNCLOS in 1982. This situation developed partially because of the lack of scientific consensus and the politicization of research fora. The questions are: How to maintain a balance? How to continue to extract from the sea the required food, employment opportunities, and revenues while demonstrating to the public that the industry is “under

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control” and that non-fisheries users’ needs can be satisfied provided “acceptable levels of impacts” are agreed? State control seems to be absolutely necessary as well as modern systems with property rights, users’ rights and fees. Participation of non-fishery users in fisheries management is necessary [86] as well as greater involvement of fishermen associations in the coastal zone management. Management in an uncertain context In front of the increasing complexity of management, the disturbing fact must be faced that both science and management theory will be soon (and are already, in some areas) lagging behind management needs, lacking global understanding, models and practical references to address issues such as high seas or coastal integrated management. When data are scarce and understanding of the ecosystem is limited, the range of uncertainty of any scientific advice is wide and so is the range of statistically equivalent management options. These options may have drastically different political implications and the uncertainty may be exploited by pressure groups or nations with different objectives, selecting within the range the most favourable option. This tends to lead to “polarization” (and has done so in the case of marine mammals) into extreme, unreconcilable positions if “tragic scenarios” are objectively possible within the range and there is no compromise on acceptable levels of impacts. In the case of the Florida gillnet fishing, for instance, newspapers indicate that the aim is: “stopping commercial exploitation”. There is no easy solution to this problem. It lies in integrated management of all interests in the framework of a modern system of allocation of rights against payment. It requires better science to (a) reduce the range of uncertainty as far as economically possible; (b) to evaluate the confidence intervals of the assessments and advice in the best possible way and (c) to develop models to test the impacts of the uncertainty on management strategies and develop precautionary approaches. Precautionary approaches and the burden of proof The precautionary principle is a consequence of uncertainty and has been developed in relation to pollution prevention. It requires States to take

4A

broad category including other industrial sectors affecting the marine living resources as well as the public and the environmental protection institutions.

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corrective action even in the absence of sufficient scientific evidence to prove causal links between a suspected factor and the adverse effects observed or even before any effect is observed at all. Its formulation, for fisheries, is not yet formalized but in general requires that the development of any new fisheries, or expansion of existing fisheries, should only be authorized after a rigorous multidisciplinary environmental impact assessment that includes the potential effect on target and non-target species. It places on those willing to introduce a new technology the onus to demonstrate that it does not have an unacceptable impact. This principle has been used in various Conventions since 1987, by UNEP in 1989, in the UN Resolution 44/225 on large-scale driftnetting [103], in many of the actions taken against this fishing technique (including the EEC decision on driftnet fishing, October 1991), in the regulation of inshore experimental trawling in California (1991) and in the UNCED negotiations. This principle changes fundamentally the relationship between science and decision-making in fisheries, reverting the “burden of proof ” on industry. It is also assumed that such principle would not allow policymakers to hide behind real or pretended uncertainties to avoid difficult decisions. It represents potentially a useful tool for anticipatory management but its effective implementation raises serious socio-economic concerns and technical difficulties, in particular in complex marine ecosystems. Considering the limited knowledge available on the biology and dynamics of such ecosystems, it would be, in most cases, difficult to forecast the long term impact on the ecosystem with sufficient accuracy and credibility unless pilot projects are implemented. In the absence of agreement on acceptable levels of uncertainty and impacts, on which the principle does not provide any guidance, it is of little practical value and unlikely to gain general acceptance. Precautionary approaches to fisheries management have long been advocated even though they have rarely been applied in practice. It has always been recommended, for instance, to take early management measures in order to avoid crisis and higher costs in the future. This included such principles as (a) step-wise development with monitoring of impacts as opposed to massive development; (b) a priori effort limitations instead of laissez-faire investment strategies; (c) design of institutional or financial “expansion brakes” to avoid “explosive” development; (d) request for prior authorization before ordering construction of new vessels; (e) precautionary quotas for species without proper assessment; (f) recommendations for multispecies management; (g) recommendations for “experimental management” to test systems response; (h) recommendations

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of development targets below the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY); (i) modelling systems response across the whole uncertainty range; (j) prior agreement on cautious management thresholds (e.g. minimum spawning biomass) at which management action is taken automatically to avoid dangerous lags in decision-making. More work will be necessary to clarify the principles for application of precautionary approaches and to define acceptable level of impacts with criteria for “acceptability”, based on such elements as resources sustainability, vital reproduction thresholds, reversibility, etc. The allocation and the institutional issue No matter what spatial or functional basis is taken for management of marine living resources (the coastal zone and its watershed, the EEZ, the sub-region occupied by a shared stock, the large marine ecosystem, the ocean or the earth), the absolute requirements for ensuring long-term sustainability include the establishment of some form of property rights and the delegation of user rights, against some form of payment, through an institution whose geographical competence matches the geographical distribution of the resources and which considers the interests of all the users concerned on an equitable basis. This is easy to write but difficult to do. The implication for coastal and EEZ resources is inter-sectoral integration, integrated sectoral planning and development and explicit mechanisms for resources allocation and conflict resolution. The implication of the allocation issue in the high seas is that there should be one integrated mechanism for sharing resources among users, managing all uses and collecting user fees [21]. Considering the difficulties, a practical approach, with increasing levels of difficulty, would be to: Integrate all concerns in the coastal areas, providing a mechanism for inter-sectoral negotiations for resources under State control and ownership using the Integrated Coastal Zone Management concept. Integrate fisheries concerns at regional level (where most fleet and fish migrations occur) using regional fisheries bodies. Strengthen relationships between regional FAO and non-FAO fishery bodies and environmental regional bodies and mechanisms (e.g. Regional Seas Programmes). Develop cooperation, exchange information and analyse interactions between regional fisheries bodies, fisheries and resources, on an ocean-wide basis. The FAO Committee on Fisheries has the mandate to play this role.

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Develop cooperation, negotiation and compatibility between all sectors and group interests, on an ocean-wide basis. The global climate change Global warming and sea-level rise will certainly affect fisheries to an unknown extent. The changes may not be drastic. Global resources potential is unlikely to change. Resources distribution may change, especially in upwelling areas. Coastal environments critical for fisheries might be affected particularly in low-lying areas. Without a better prediction of the likely direction and amplitude of the changes, on a local and seasonal basis, the predictions precision and usefulness will remain very limited. With the present knowledge, forecasts would be little more than qualitative guesses. The uncertainty will remain very high for many years and the cost of applying precautionary principles might be overwhelming. The prime responsibility of fishery science is to ensure that algorithms and models are developed to predict resources changes resulting from environmental changes and to be used as soon as environmental predictions have improved. 5. CONCLUSIONS The FAO resources are too limited to claim a central role in the evolution of world fisheries since 1945 but, as shown in this paper, the Organization takes pride in having made vital contributions in a number of fields related to development and management even though some of the contradictions, inherent to the historical process and to the macro-economic and political context in which fisheries have developed, could not be avoided. In the early days of FAO (1945–1958), developed countries were concerned by post-war reconstruction of production capacity and a few developing ones realized that oceans offered opportunities if access rights were changed. In the sixties (1959–1972) world fishery resources were discovered, assessed and technology was developed to catch and process them. More developing countries realized the potential offered by EEZs and joined in the quest. In the seventies (1973–1982), most developing coastal countries fought for a greater share of ocean resources while developing their national fishing capacity, most often beyond necessary levels. In the eighties (1983–1992), proud of having won new exclusive rights, they learned more quickly than their developed predecessors, that

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managing the new wealth was very difficult and the expected “blue gold” turned into a social and economic nightmare, debts and environmental quake. The whole ocean is now in the situation where the North Sea countries were in 1945, and in 1992 there is nowhere else to go to fish. In the meantime, developed countries have tested management approaches but failing to deal with the allocation issue explicitly, many of them made little progress. As a consequence, most countries are now in the same type of situation, richer countries having a more expensive restructuring programme to go through. The process of resources appropriation has started much later than on land but has progressed more quickly, through political conflicts and negotiation but with few or no wars. This process is accelerating inside EEZs, hopefully leading to the conditions of property rights required for management. It is difficult to know which path it will take in each region. It would be incorrect to see, within this context, only a “vicious circle” in which, decade after decade as fisheries expanded, countries and fishery management bodies collected information, assessed resources, gave advice to managers, concluded in overfishing. The correct image is that of a “dynamic spiral” which has recurrently passed through sequences of discovery, development and insufficient management as the whole system was evolving along many axes, as follows: The areas exploited, and fully or overfished, have expanded, from the North Sea (1945), the North Atlantic and Pacific (1960), the tropical Atlantic (1970), the Indian Ocean and the Southwest Atlantic (1980) until the entire world ocean has been searched and “developed” (1992). The whole spectrum of available resources has been progressively “colonized”, from traditional bottom fish and large whales (1945–60), to small pelagic fish and temperate tuna (1960–70), to tropical tuna and shrimps (1970– 80), to krill and oceanic squids (1980–90). The available space (and the resources it contains) has been progressively allocated by decolonization (1945–1960) and allocation of the oceans by EEZs (1960–80). The process has to continue through allocation of space inside EEZs, between conflicting economic sectors (1980–2000 ?). The relative resources scarcity increased continuously through increase in demand from growing populations and real decrease in abundance through fishing, prompting the adoption of more and more stringent property rights. The number of aware and concerned people has increased as the visionary conclusions [104] of Warming, in 1911 were progressively

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agreed by an ever increasing number of decision-makers in the North Sea (1946), in the North Atlantic and Pacific (1960), around the tropical Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Southwest Atlantic (1980) and by a progressively more aware industry and concerned public opinion, assisted by a growing number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The world demographic boom has continued, especially in developing countries. This is a serious problem if auto-regulation feedback mechanisms do not operate. Demographical growth (and development) create demand and consequently control prices in a system which is supply-limited. It is one of the main causes of defeat for management of natural renewable resources. The perception of the holistic nature of the problem has increased drastically as economic sectors concerned with natural resources and environment discover their own problems, realize that they all have the same source and that, in the long term, inter-sectoral cooperation is better than inter-sectoral competition. Many other axes could be identified, delimiting the multi-variable universe in which the world fishery spiral has developed and a fractal (a reduced image) of such a spiral could also describe the process at national level, in a region, on a resource. Although the situation of fisheries does not seem to have globally progressed since 1945, there has been global progress in their context, understanding and practical experience of management, and the conditions for success are better now than they were 45 years ago even though the problem has also grown. A danger is that action does not seem to be taken until the spiral has developed to a critical point. In the case of whales the effect was that certain stocks were depleted and others severely reduced before the spiral developed enough. This has also happened with other resources. A series of fundamental questions is now being raised: How is the exploitation of wild resources to survive? Is it possible to avoid excessive reduction in biodiversity and genetic resource composition in coastal ecosystems for the sake of increasing total output and short-term economic efficiency? Will coastal degradation under exploitation follow the same inexorable path as land degradation under agricultural development? Will an effort be made to understand the mechanisms of production and their limits by an analytic approach, to overcome them by ecological management? Will there be, on the contrary, the temptation to break through these constraints with technology, realizing too late the serious and possibly irreversible consequences? The history of the exploitation of natural ecosystems shows that a “wise” approach is generally preferable

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because of the high degree of uncertainty in our knowledge about nature and about the human communities that live on them. The modern fishery management strategy, for the end of this century (1993–2000), will have to tackle the issue discussed in section 4: take into account environmental concerns, reduce fleet sizes, improve gears to reduce by-catch and waste, improve fishery statistics and research, manage better the high seas fisheries, integrate the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the coastal zone preserved environment, associate non-fishery users in decision-making, learn how to deal with uncertainty in a cautious manner (i.e., giving to the resources the benefit of the doubt), putting on industry the onus of the proof of its innocuity, allocating explicitly resources and users’ rights, forecasting potential effects of climate change. In this process, it will be realized that the land-less farmer has a mirror image in the ocean (i.e. the “fish-less” fisher), both deprived of resources for similar reasons, and that “agrarian” reforms are also required in the coastal areas. People may finally, realize that, although they live on land, their vital link is water, fresh or salt, for irrigation or for fishing, from which all life comes and to which all waste, ultimately, goes. 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Ms H.R.King, who undertook to compile the main trends in fisheries development as reflected in FAO reports on the State of Food and Agriculture published between 1948 and 1989. Her review indicated the recurrence of many issues during the four decades and prompted me to attempt to define the FAO Programme in its international context. The paper also greatly benefited from comments and suggestions by R.Willmann, D.Insull, A.H.Lindquist, M.Savini and W.Krone. 7. REFERENCES 1. 2.

Gulland J.A (Ed.) (1971): The fish resources of the ocean. Fishing News (Books) Ltd., West Byfleet, UK, 255 p. UNCED (1991): Marine living resources. Prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Research paper N°5:41 p.

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SEAPORT MANAGEMENT AND NAVIGATION UGO MARCHESE Institute of Economic Geography and Shipping and Transport Economics University of Genoa Via Bertani, 1–16125 Genoa—Italy

ABSTRACT Technological and organizational changes affecting seaports and navigation, mainly after 1950, are outlined together with their impact on coastal areas. A few references are made to the quantitative aspects of the growth of sea borne trade, world merchant fleets and shipbuilding, which, with different rhythms, have accompanied the above changes. Special attention is given to the functional processes involving seaports management and navigation, to their progressive differentiation and diffusion, to their competitive aspects and to the integrated organizational models to which they have given rise. In the final part of the paper the possible evolution of port management models and of the organization both of navigation and of maritime activities in general (sea traffic systems, coastal processing industries, etc.), in the nineties, is considered. INTRODUCTION The period since the second world war and after reconstruction has been characterized, for maritime transports and related activities, by a comparatively high rate of development in the fifties, the sixties and the early seventies, by a slowing down of expansion accompanied by increasing uncertainties in the later seventies, and, then, in the eighties, by a phase of prevailing depression and by a substantial stagnation, though with some

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final signs of recovery. These tendencies go through the ups and downs of the economy in the short run. In the following pages we shall consider some of the most significant statistical data on the development of maritime transport during the above mentioned periods. More important, we shall feature the most prominent facts characterizing the maritime progress and the types of prevailing innovations, in maritime transport, in the different phases of the period from 1950 to our days. Then we shall try to make some investigations into the next decade, paying attention, first and above all, to the changes which may prevail in innovations and in the organizational frameworks in the field of sea transport, and to the most significant changes in seaport management and navigation. FACTS, DATA AND METHODOLOGY Methodologically speaking, in what follows we shall use the main general data of sea trade in the world, of the world merchant fleet, and—when this is necessary—of the world shipbuilding industry, according to the most recognized sources. But, above all, we shall look at a series of facts, relating generally to maritime progress, both in seaports and in navigation, and at the movement towards an integrated view of these two fields due to the increased importance of the interdependence among the different stages of the transportation chain. The aim is to connect them within an economic interpretation of maritime progress, in the framework of the evolving relationships (increasing integration) between maritime transport, industry and commerce. In other words we shall use some of the main statistical data only to give an idea of the prevailing tendencies in the different periods. The main effort will be concentrated in the review and connection of facts in the field of maritime transport and of the innovations—technical, organizational and economical—characterizing them. So as to link the tendencies shown by the statistical data to the elements of a possible economic theory of maritime progress. It should be pointed out that the different and consequent steps of our analysis are conducted on the basis of a theoretical background that in the paper can only be synthetically recalled. This theoretical background will necessarily refer the reader to the economic literature on subjects like the optimum ship size, scale economies and seaport economics, vertical integration in the shipping industry and between transportation and industry, the economics of shipbuilding industry, the effects of port

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efficiency on the cost of maritime transport and on the ship size, the economics of the off-shore activities, etc. A literature which is especially rich thanks to the contributions of the last 30–35 years (1). THE PERIOD FROM 1950 TO THE EARLY SEVENTIES Sea trade and world tonnage The sea borne cargo in international trade in the world, which represents the largely prevailing source of employment for maritime transport, increased from 525 million tons in 1950 to 3250 m. tons in 1974 (2), with a compound rate of 8% a year and a total growth of more than six times. In the same period the world merchant fleet has increased from 85 million g.r.t. to 311 million g.r.t (3), with a yearly compound rate of 5.6% and a total growth of about four times. The world shipbuilding industry launched about 3.5 million tons in 1950 and almost 36 mil. g.r.t. in 1975 (4), with a total increase of more than ten times. Both in sea borne trade and in the world merchant fleet, liquid cargoes— generally oil cargoes—have shown a faster development than dry (bulk) cargoes and general (dry) cargoes. For instance, liquid cargo represented 43% of the total sea borne trade in 1950 and arrived at 56%—i.e. more than the half of the total—in 1974 (5). The elasticity of merchant marine tonnage to sea borne international trade, measured by means of the ratio between the yearly compound rate of growth of the two variables (5.6% / 8%) was about 0.7. This is connected with the increase in the average yearly transport of each existing g.r.t. due to the maritime, technical and economic, progress. Maritime progress The main factors in which maritime progress, in the period under consideration, occurred can be briefly outlined as follows: a) the increase of the transport capacity of the ships (dead-weight tonnage and g.r.t.). In the fields where sea traffic increased strongly and reached great dimensions, the rate of throughput in ports became very high due to efficient organization and to modern plants— specialized for correspondently specialized ships. But, as—generally speaking an increasing rate of (daily or hourly) throughput engenders

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an increasing need of space for the transit and storage of the cargo, the port space became increasingly scarse. And this scarsity was overcome only in fields like that of oil cargoes thanks to the pipelines which moved the cargo to the stored outside of the harbour area. In this way ships have been able to become giant sized. The same has happened where the need for space has been resolved in the general framework of the rational use of the area of the industrial plant on the sea side, or on the water side, as in the case of the iron and steel industry; b) The diffusion of the specialized circuits in ship-port facilities for handling and storage (sometimes land transport too), of single groups of products, usually (but not always) in bulk, in an increasing series of fields, due to the fact that the minimum scale of traffic for the economic efficiency of specialized chains was not large, and because of the increasing need for specialized transport by manufacturing and energy industries (captive transport). These specialized chains permitted the use of small and average sized ships and port facilities (6), so that they were able to pass from crude oil to the refined oil products, to liquefied gas, to chemical products like ethylene, liquefied sulphur and phosphorus, to other liquid or liquefied products, to dry cargoes mixed with water or other liquids (the slurry techniques), and so on to the mechanized and automized techniques for handling dry bulk cargoes and other not strictly bulky products like lumber and vehicles; c) the unitized intermodal transport chains, like the container system and the roll on/roll off system and the barge-carrying system. These techniques approximately start to be used on a large scale in the second half of the sixties, maybe as a reaction of the general cargo commercial lines, which were progressively losing traffic because of the achievements of the above mentioned specialized circuits for single groups of products (7). These intermodal chains exploited the possibility of operating in ports with specialized facilities and plants, built for handling standardized units of cargo; d) the expanded size of industrial firms and groups, especially in the field of manufacturing and energy, which produced a greater and growing need for the transport of specific types of cargo, and justified the destination of investment, management, research capacity for the solution of the problem of finding a transport circuit specifically conceived for the types of cargo involved; e) the rapid development and diffusion of the “industry on the water side”, or modern port oriented industries, i.e. coastal industrialization.

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THE SEVENTIES AND THE EIGHTIES Trade, tonnage, freight markets Following the oil crisis of Autumn 1973 and the crisis of the international monetary system of Bretton Woods of August 1971, the end of a long period of cheap energy and of monetary stability together with the intervening fear of the end of an equally long period of free trade policy, caused the scene of the world economy and of maritime transport to change to a considerable extent. The rate of growth of the sea borne trade in the world slowed down and sometimes made room for a reduction of the absolute figures, so as to arrive at 3769 million tons in 1979 (against the already quoted 3250 m. tons in 1974) (8). The world order book for shipbuilding fell sharply, but the new tonnage which reached the market every year remained high because of the order book already existing in 1974 (133.4 millions of g.r.t. in March of that year) (9). The world fleet increased from 311 million g.r.t. in 1974 to 413 mil. in 1979 and to 425 mil. in 1982 (10). And the freight markets showed the effects of a surplus, with a consequent negative influence on the rates, notwithstanding the fact that shipowners reduced the speed of the ships (slow steaming) because of the increased prices of bunkers and in order to diminish the excess supply of tonnage. Industrial re-localization In the first seventies a process of re-localization of industries commenced from developed to developing countries, which concerned the transformation of raw materials and of primary sources of energy produced in less developed economies. This was a result of the industrialization policy, in developing countries, aiming at the increase of the local value added and at the diversification of the economic base. These industries, as, for example, oil, iron and steel, fertilizers, etc., untill the early seventies were located in the maritime regions of developed countries thanks to the very low cost of transport by sea of liquid and dry bulk cargoes. The maritime regions of developed countries, in the same period, lost a great deal of their primacy in the field of shipbuilding for the ships of the most diffused type, though at already sophisticated technology. At the same time some developing countries achieved a good capacity of operating commercial line services of the traditional kind, and became the main buyers of these types of vessels in the second-hand ship market.

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All these tendencies have resulted in changes not only in the present structure and dimension of sea transport, but also in the perspectives of development of the maritime markets. The area most damaged by the new trends is the transport of liquid and dry (industrial) bulk cargoes, especially as far as the giant ships built during the former expansion are concerned. Competition in the freight markets and among seaports became stronger and harder. The trend towards the increase in the transport capacity of the ships, in the field which formerly had shown the most spectacular advances, came to a stop. This trend continued (though with less spectacular results) in the fields where the traffic was still rising, as in the unitized intermodal chains of containers and of roll on/roll off. New generations of larger fullcontainer ships and ro/ro ships enter successfully the market. The same happens in some other fields such as those of vehicle carriers and of livestock carriers. At the same time, the specialized circuits ship-port facilities for single groups of products, though being introduced in new sectors, appear with much less frequency than in the preceding period. Changing types of innovations In the eighties the world sea trade showed a reduction from 3769 m. tons in 1979 to 3214 m. tons in 1983, and reached figures lower than those of 1974 (11). After that, the downward trend stopped and there were signs of recovery. But in 1988, with a figure of 3.6 billion tons, the world sea trade was still lower than that of 1979 (12). The world fleet, after the peak of 1982, showed a reduction to 403 millions g.r.t. in 1988, and only in 1989 and 1990 showed a recovery with 410 and, respectively, 425 millions g.r.t. (13). The production of shipbuilding showed a rather remarkable fluctuation between 9.8 millions and 17.7 millions g.r.t. launched yearly (14). The reduction which characterizes most figures of production and activity in the decade brings about a fierce competition in maritime markets and between seaports. This circumstance emphasizes the difference of the prevailing nature of the innovations of the period from 1950 to the early seventies compared with those in the seventies and eighties. In the fifties and sixties, at least until the first half of this decade, innovations in maritime transports were brought about by an expansion of the market, that opens the way to an increasing, more diversified, division of labour, with an enrichened and differentiated range of specializations.

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So, the prevalent type of innovation was that of the specialized circuits ship-port facilities for single groups of products, very often in bulk, and required by industry in the most cases (captive transports). This is a kind of new type of service put in the market, i.e. a sort of “product innovation”. On the contrary, with a market which did not expand and, sometime, reduced its dimension, in the seventies and eighties, under the pressure of a hardening competition, the type of innovation which prevailed was directed to produce services already known, such as those of the unitized multimodal systems, but with more advanced and improved technology. Competition among regions The maritime regions of the developed countries try to find and open new spaces (markets) for their production, especially in the fields of new products, of differentiated products, of advanced technology still belonging to the maritime industries (i.e. shipping and shipbuilding), of the new port oriented industries, of the further processing of semi-finished products coming, if it be the case, from the less developed countries. We shall see this later on. Now it has to be underlined that the fierce competition of the eighties in the freight markets and among seaports, tended to expand and to become competition among areas pursuing investments in location of productive activities in mercantile tertiary activities and in industrial processing activities. The main, frequently most successful, instruments in this enlarged competition were the organization and the efficiency, i.e. the models of management and administration, of the seaport, together with the policy governing the land use and the pattern of territorial organization in the region. Indeed, this circumstance is the consequence of the increased degree of interdependence which nowadays characterizes not only the different segments of the transportation chain but the whole cycle of transformation which runs from the raw materials to the finished and ditributed products, interpreted in its most precise meaning of an increasingly segmented sequence of operations of processing and of transportation.

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CHANGES IN SEAPORT MANAGEMENT Planning and decentralization of production The trends and innovations we have outlined in the foregoing sections of this paper have brought about important changes in the organizational framework and management of maritime activities, in the fields of shipping and seaports as well as in the other segments of the maritime traffic system. The shipping industry has strengthened its effort to get some forms of control on the other stages of the transportation chain, especially unitized, with particular interest in the port stages—which come immediately before and after the sea leg, conditioning its efficiency—and in the inland terminals. At the same time, in the oceanic routes, in order to exploit the possible scale economies, the trend has been to establish joint ventures, consortia and other forms of alliance or of integrated organization. In the area of specialized transport circuits for single groups of products serving industries, shipping has tried, beyond the achievement of some control on the port stages, to obtain integrated forms of activity with the interested processing industries, or, at least, a systematic and close cooperation with them. The reason why shipping shows such an increasing need to achieve some sort of control, if not of integration, of the harbour stage of the transport chain is twofold. On the one hand, there is the great amount of investment required by the modern and technically advanced ships and the high level of daily costs (investment and interest rates, maintenance and repairs, crew, insurance, etc.) characterizing the life of the ship. On the other hand, there is the fact that the efficiency and technology of port operations determine (“dictate”) the technology and economy of the sea leg in the transport chain, through the daily, or hourly, rate of delivery of port services (the daily, or hourly, rate of throughput of the given cargo). This has already, though briefly, been said. (Besides, the daily, or hourly, throughput, in its turn, conditions the optimum ship size, given the route and the type of cargo. And it can be shown that it is in the interests of the ship to work in port with overdimensioned facilities and plants, the higher costs of the overcapacity being more than offset by the reduced time spent in port by the ship, that is by the saving in daily, or hourly, fixed costs of the ship) (15). The tendency of shipping to achieve some control, or participation, in the organization of the port stage, finds a close correspondence, at least when the harbour has a relevant movement, in the necessity of the port

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organization to avoid the diseconomies of scale due to “burocratization” in a broad sense, and to crisis of management. These scale diseconomies would be met with if the Port Authorities took upon themselves all the activities of the harbour area, both industrial and service producing, and did not limit themselves to their most qualifying and basic role, i.e. the planning function, the policy of development of the port complex, the supervision and control on the activities. Scale diseconomies of this nature can only be avoided by carrying out an advanced productive decentralization, i.e. by giving in concession to the world of enterprises—port terminal operators and port (processing) industries—the activities in the territory of the port complex. Nowadays this is what we mean by clear separation between the planning function, which is public and it belongs to the Port Authority, and the productive function, which belongs to the world of the firm (no matter of which nature). Territorial decentralization The development described in the foregoing section hase caused a strong territorial impact. As it has already been said, in the field of general cargo, high rates of throughput at the quays and more advanced handling technologies, require space behind the quays. Specialized plants and facilities require certain minima of scale for economic efficiency and, again, this circumstance, creates demand for space in the harbour area. This space is scarse, as we have already pointed out, and it is subject to a fast increasing opportunity—cost when it is requested in growing quantity for a certain use, because of the increasing income which could be produced by the uses of that space, which have to be given up. Besides the space of a seaport is usually subject to some rationing policy by the Port Authority. General cargo facilities and specialized facilities (plants) provide some sorts of mutual external economies and this leads to an expansion of the harbour area. Port oriented industries do the same thing on a larger scale. The growth of the port complex creates the minimum of scale, in the same way as an expansion of the market, for advances in the division of labour, specialization, ever more qualified and “rare” professions and activities. Thanks to this category of scale—more precisely, from a theoretical viewpoint, “expansion”—economies, the maritime centre (city, or cityport) grows in dimension and, more important, in qualification.

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But in this way the harbour occupies growing quantities of the coastal areas, and, from the restricted and enclosed point it was in the past, it becomes a sort of region, or territory, where general and specialized handling facilities and industrial processing plants are located in the best possible way. When the spaces are alongside rivers and estuaries the area of the port complex can stretch almost ininterruptedly. In this way the harbour can reach the littoral and its most modern part may be located on the coastline. When a port complex is located in a maritime seaside region a continuous occupation of coastal space may give rise to diseconomies of scale by territorial impact: environmental problems, pollution, other activities which become immpossible (e.g. tourism) and so on. In these cases, in order to reduce the territorial impact with its diseconomies, it may become necessary to build port units at some distance from one another (so to use also different transport lines for the communication with the hinterland). And a similar convenience may be found in preparing internal sites for the location of port—mercantile or industrial—induced activities, provided with efficient connections with the coastline and the quays. Naturally, the first instrument for preventing these scale territorial diseconomies is the generalized and strict planning of the uses of coastal spaces, which should be done in accordance between Port Authorities and the authority which has in charge the general organization and discipline of the territory of the maritime region. Evolution of industrial maritime zones The intermittent extension of the port on coastal and internal areas may still give rise to scale and expansion economies of the port complex and of the maritime centre. This is achieved by means of the unitary governing and planning role played by the Port Authorities, which centralize the most qualified and specialized (really centralizable) tasks, and by means of close cooperation with the already mentioned authority which has in change the general territorial planning in the region. The above mentioned re-localization in the developing countries of the processing stages of local natural resources, has produced, in the last twenty years, a great change in the industrial functions of the ports of the developed nations. The change has been from a type of coastal area with large industrial plants working great quantities of liquid dry raw materials, to a type of zone for advanced technologies, for the further processing of

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semi-finished products, and for the production of finished products, new products, differentiated products. Thanks to the advancements in technologies and to innovations, they become competitive areas in the evolving international division of labour. Thus the industrial terminals of the developing countries tend more and more to become export processing zones for working and processing the regional natural resources as far as possible in the sequence from raw materials to finished products. THREE PERIODS OF A SEMI-SECULAR CYCLE? The different tendencies of the three periods formerly described seem to outline the phases of a long run cycle of Kondratiev (semi-secular long waves) (16): a prosperity period of about 20 years—i.e. the greater part of the fifties, the sixties and the early seventies—a recession period of 8–10 years (most of seventies), a depression of about 8–10 years (most of the eighties). The second world war and the forties may have “substituted” the phase of recovery which completes the Kondratiev cycle, while the first world war seems to put the end to a former period of prosperity—the last decades of the gold standard and of free trade. In their turn the twenties and the thirties look like a phase of slowing down of development, and a phase of depression, respectively, along another semi-secular cycle of the same kind (17). As regards the second half of the century it should be pointed out that, according to our analysis, the schumpeterian subject of innovations and of the changes in their prevalent character is more significant than the quantitative data. The oil and the iron and steel industries are the leading factors of the long wave. Up to a certain point, they may be considered external to the maritime field. Seaports and navigation generally show improvement innovations throughout the period. But, while in the prosperity these improvement innovations were chiefly represented by new types of sea transport services (new products, or product innovations) determined by the spaces created by the expansion of the market—new specialized circuits for single categories of products—in the following decades the improvement innovations were mainly represented by new techniques for producing services of the same category, like the unitized transport chains, and, as such, foundamentally determined by the need to defend the competitive position of the subject in the market. The connection with the changing type of innovations may be an element which supports the hypothesis of the presence of a Kondratiev cycle in the period under consideration.

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But, if this assumption can be made, then the decade of the nineties should be characterized by a phase of recovery of a long wave. And this may be an important fact for an exploration of the possible changes which will intervene in the nineties. SOME PROSPECTS FOR THE NINETIES The hypothesis of a new Kondratiev cycle Generally speaking the outlook for the nineties is characterized by higher figures than those of the eighties, both for sea borne trade and for the world fleet and shipbuilding. On the other hand, the signs of recovery already registered in the late eighties and for 1990 seem to confirm these expectations. Naturally, the figures of the nineties will be higher in the hypothesis of the recovery phase of the 5th Kondratiev than in the case of a normal growth. One thing, anyway, in both cases, seems sure: competition shall remain strong. Also in the case of a new long wave, it must not be remembered that the expected period is one of recovery, not yet of prosperity. The market may expand, but in a limited way. And this shall cause a high degree of competition, both in shipping and between seaports. The coming about of a new Kondratiev is a matter for general economic discussion, and we cannot enter the subject in this paper. Here we can only remember the clustering of innovations which seems to have come about gradually during the eighties with the pervasive intervention of informatics, telematics, robotics, etc., the possible evolution of the international and interregional division of labour between developed and developing countries in the world economy, the possible complementarities and prospects of close cooperation between European regions and North Africa and the Middle East in the Mediterranean area, the progressive growth of importance of the Pacific area as a central region in the world economic development, the development of cooperation and exchange between Western and Eastern Europe. All these matters, considered together with the increasing trends of population, production, trade, cultural exchanges, could be interpreted as a support of the assumption of a 5th Kondratiev. But we shall start the investigation into the nineties from this assumption for another reason: i.e. because in this way we shall be compelled to look further into the future, to explore the possible changes to be expected in economic life and the targets we think will become

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achievable, in technologies and in products innovations, in the organizational and in the institutional framework. Possible types of innovations The prospect of a new and rather long period of expansion of the market, as a result of the phase of recovery of a new long wave, though in a persisting situation of strong competition, could open the horizon again (could determine the minimum necessary scale) for the introduction of new specialized circuits in ship-port facilities, as they were in the fifties and sixties for the transport of single groups of products. But with the difference, in comparison with the fifties and sixties, that now the main opportunities should be searched for in the mass transportation of semifinished products coming from the developing countries, to be further transformed in the maritime regions of the developed countries. In the meantime, as already discussed, the economies of these regions should find new opportunities of life and work in the new products and in the differentiated products, as well as in the advanced technologies of electronics, biotechnologies, industrial machinery and instrumental goods, industrial plants, products with a strong input of research and informatics, etc. All this is to be considered in a framework characterized by a growing segmentation of the cycle of transformation from raw materials to finished products. These tendencies may bring about new versions and new technologies of unitized transport and intermodality, ships specialized for the transport of heavy lifts, of machinery and industrial plants, new and more sophisticated chemical carriers, etc. . This illustration shows that a strictly cooperative system of relationships, untill the limits of the economic (vertical) integration, should continue to prevail, and should further be strengthened, between shipping and industry. Without this condition it is difficult to speak of a new shipping fit for the industrialized countries. The development of unitized transports and intermodality should continue to encourage the concentration of activities by means of consortia and joint ventures. And the huge amount of investment necessary for the realization of these initiatives opens new possibilities of relationships between the shipping field and external sources of financing, such as banks and institutional investors. This is another important innovation in the structure of maritime industries. An innovation—the involvement of banks and institutional

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investors—which may be considered as a fact, at least in the second half of the eighties (18). Evolution of seaport management models These trends cannot but strengthen the interdependences among the different segments of the transportation chains from door to door and of transportation and industrial processing sequences. In this framework, while a challenge emerges for the shipping industry to be able to control the transport chains in the field of intermodalism, the need for shipping to take over, in particular, as much as possible, the management of port segments of the chains, for the reasons already seen, emerges further strengthened. This, in its turn, calls the completion of an organizational model in seaports in which the Port Authorities take upon themselves the planning function and the policy of development of the harbour complex, and leave to the world of the firms in industry, shipping, commerce, etc. the task of accomplishing the different activities of production both of services and in the industrial field. At the same time, in the port region, and along the seaside in particular, the incentive to carry out a territorial decentralization becomes stronger: different port areas and units should be phisically spaced out to reduce or to neutralize the scale diseconomies from territorial impact. The “port systems” proposed by the Italian General Plan for Transportation precisely represent an attempt in this direction (19). Industrial zones and terminals, in the developed countries, following a trend which has already been pointed out, will tend more and more to become areas of advanced technologies and of innovations, while in the developing countries they will tend more and more to lengthen the sequence of stages, located there, in the transformation cycles of raw materials and natural resources in general. New horizons for maritime activities The trends outlined above take place in a general framework characterized by a pervasive presence of informatics and telematics in port activities and, still more, in shipping and the whole system of maritime traffic. So the time does not seem far distant from the moment in which the real important achievement will be the ability to produce and sell informatized and telematized traffic wherever the goods are loaded or unloaded.

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Parallel tendencies, though particularly suitable for the field, are shown in the technological innovations and in the product innovations (type of service), in the passenger sea transport, in the different sections and areas of the cruise market and in the efforts in the direction of high speed transport services on short and very short hauls. Similarly, an extremely interesting horizon of opportunities distinguishes the outlook of shipbuilding. In fact, beyond the orientation towards the achievements in technological progress necessary to produce vessels of any kind competitively, a whole range of new markets is gradually appearing, such as new transport specializations, vessels for ecological needs (protection of coastal areas and marine resources), the new opportunities opened by tomorrow’s off-shore activities: e.g. new raw materials from the sea bed, gas and oil resources in severe climatic conditions, ships fitted for industrial processing on board, industrial plant locations in the open sea as in the field of electric power, etc.. To synthesize in a few words, the scenarios of the nineties, both for shipping and seaports, as well as for the other activities of the sea traffic system and for the industrial coastal activities, seem to emphasize the central role of innovations, advanced and specialized (“rare”) professions and activities, advanced (“rare”) functions, i.e. the factors which, in the maritime field in general, represent the results and signs of metropolitan development. REFERENCES 1.

Obviously, the works which should be quoted with regard to the subjects mentioned in the text are a great many, as they involve a noticeable part of the literature in the field of Maritime Economics. We shall only quote a few of them, for their general and illustrative character or because of the pioneer role they have played, merely in order to exemplify the type of works we are referring to. The few works we shall quote are: Stromme Svendsen, A., Sea Transport and Shipping Economics, Bremen, 1958; Heaver, T.D., The Economics of Vessel Size, Ottawa, 1968; Goss, R.O., Economic Criteria for Optimum Ship Design, and Goss, R.O., The Turnround of Cargo Liners and its Effect on Sea Transport Costs, both in Studies in Maritime Economics, Cambridge (University Press), ed. R.O.Goss, 1970, respectively pp. 61–99 and pp. 132–51; Harding, A.S., Kendall, P.M.H. and Taylor, R.J., The Theory of Optimum Ship Size, Freight Traffic Models Symposium, May 4–7, 1971, Amsterdam (Associated Industrial Consultants Nederland N.V., Amsterdam); Jansson, J.O. and Shneerson, D., Port Economics, M.I.T. Press and London, 1982; Talley, W.K., Agarwal, V.B. and Breakfield, J.W., Economics of Density of Ocean Tanker

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2.

3.

4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Ships, in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, vol. XX, n. 1, January 1986; Casson, M., Vertical Integration in the Shipping Industry, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, vol. XX, n. 1, January 1986; Todd, D., World Shipbuilding Industry, London, 1985; Donges, J.B., The Economics of Deep Sea Mining, Berlin, 1985. For an extensive treatment of most of the subjects mentioned above—by the writer of the present paper—here quoted only because, in those works, the steps simply mentioned in the text are systematically set forth—see: Trasporti integrati terra-mare, Genoa, 1973; “Economie di scala e portata ottimale della nave” and “Economie di scala nei porti marittimi”, both in Aspetti evolutivi dell’ economia marittima e portuale, Genoa, 1986, respectively pp. 79– 120 and pp. 193–220; Spunti per una rinnovata cultura cantieristica, Studi marittimi, XIII, December, 1990; I sistemi portuali—considerazioni e proposte sotto il profilo economico, Trasporti Mare Territorio, year XI, n. 1, January–March 1990. For the data on international sea borne trade the original source is the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics of the United Nations. The data which appear in the text are taken from OCDE-OECD, Maritime Transport (published annually). In particular, for the period referred to in this paragraph, see: OCDE-OECD , Maritime Transport 1974, Paris, 1975. The data on the world merchant fleet are those annually published in Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Statistical Tables, London. They refer to 30th June of the mentioned years and consider ships of 100 gross register tons and upwards. For the period after the second world war the data include only steamships and motorships, and do not include sailing-ships. The data on the shipbuilding industry are taken from the Annual reports on the ships launched and complete in the world, by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, London, and refer to ships of 100 g.r.t. and upward. For the period after the second world war they include only steamships and motorships. Source OCDE-OECD, Maritime Transport, already quoted. See: The Economics of Bulking Cargoes, Institute for shipping Research, Bergen, 1969. The Economics of Bulking Cargoes, Bergen, 1969. Source: OCDE-OECD, Maritime Transport 1989, Paris, 1990. Sources: Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Merchant Shipbuilding Return. London (quarterly publication), quarters of the period 1974–1980. Sources: Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Statistical Tables, London, 1974, 1979, 1982. Source: OCDE-OECD, Maritime Transport 1989, already quoted. Source: OCDE-OECD, Maritime Transport 1989. Sources: Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Statistical Tables, London, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990.

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14. 15. 16.

17.

18.

Sources: Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Annual Report, London, years 1980– 90. Pelcynski, Z., The influence of general cargo guay facilities on the cost of transport, Gdank, 1964. Kondratiev, N.D., Die Langen Wellen der Konjunktur, Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft, December 1926, LVI, pp. 573–609; and The Long Waves in Economic Life, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1935, pp. 105–115. Before Kondratiev, on the same subject, see: Van Gelderen, J. (Fedder, J.), Sprinfloed: beschowingen over industrieele ontwikkeling en Prijsbeweging, in Die Nieuwe Tijd, 1913, 18. After him economists like Joseph Schumpeter (Business Cycle, Mac Graw-Hill, 1939) and Jan Tinbergen and J.J.Polak (The Dynamic of Business Cycles, Chicago, 1950) dealt with the long waves. For a recent survey and selected contributions to the subject, see: Long Waves in the World Economy (ed. C. Freeman), London and Dover N.H., 1983. For a specific treatment of this subject regarding transportations, see interalia: Kuiler H.C., Transport and the Kondratiev Business Cycle, Rivista Internazionale di Economia dei Trasporti, vol. VIII, n. 2, August 1981, pp. 151–64. A few figures may be quoted to give an idea of the tendencies of the periods mentioned in the text. Between 1891–95 (annual average) and 1913, industrial production in the world increased at a compound rate of 4.34% a year, international trade of manufactured products increased at a compound rate of 4% a year, and international trade of primary products increased at a rate of 3.5%. Between 1892 and 1914 the world fleet increased at a compound yearly rate of 3.4%. In the twenties, more precisely between 1921 and 1931, the world fleet increased at a rate of 1.5% a year. And in the thirties the world fleet did not recover, at the end of the decade, the figure of 1931, while sea borne international trade, on the whole, showed a decline from 490 million tons in 1929, to 470 m. tons in 1938. The sources of the data are: for industrial production and international trade before the first world war, Société des Nations, Industrialization et Commerce Extérieur, Geneva, 1945, passim. For the world merchant fleet, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Statistical Tables, London (ships of g.r.t. 100 and upwards, including sailing-ships), relative both to the period before the first world war and to the period between the wars. For sea borne international Trade, United Nations, Statistical Yearbooks of the years until 1953, New York. For instance, in the second half of the eighties, the investment for buying greatly used types of ships such as oil tankers 5 year old, 130 thousand tdw, and bulk carriers five year old, 60 thousand tdw, increased by almost five times and, respectively, by three times and a half. This large increase in financial means brought about, and still is bringing about after the start of the nineties, new financial relationships between shipping, shipbuilding, great shippers, industry, banks, insurance companies and groups, external

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19.

institutional investors, with the formation of new kinds of activity such as the investment funds of the American and of the Scandinavian markets, the specialized financial consultancies for maritime activities, the concentration of banks for supplying financial services specialized in shipping, the sharing of the risks between shipowners and great shippers e.g. with very long term time-charter parties, etc.. For a brief description of these facts see, for instance, an article by Dardani, B., Per rinnovare la flotta mondiale 365 miliardi di dollari in 10 anni, in the economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, August 9, 1990, p. 8. The article summarize a forecast given by the Association of Norwegian Shipowners just before the invasion of Kuwait and the crisis in the Gulf area. Italian Ministry of Transport, Il piano generale dei trasporti. Roma, 1986, passim; and Proposte di aggiornamento del Piano Generale dei Trasporti— documento di sintesi, Rome, December 1989. See also: Il piano generale dei trasporti, D.P.C. 10 aprile 1986 (law of approvation of the plan).

COASTAL MANAGEMENT IN ECUADOR LUIS ARRIAGA M. Programa de Manejo de Recursos Costeros P.O.Box 09–01–5850 Guayaquil Ecuador

ABSTRACT This document include a brief description of the most important characteristics of Ecuador’s coastal fringe. This zone generate significant food and foreign currency for the nation, mainly through shrimp mariculture and fisheries. The main issues for management are: shrimp mariculture and estuarine fisheries, land zoning with allocation of uses, environmental sanitation, basic services for the communities, development of mechanisms that assure the enforcement of laws for coastal administration, and strengthening of technical and operative capacities for institutions in charge of management. For a sound environmental coastal management, the PMRC is developing an estrategy based on planning Special Management Zones (ZEM), which emphasize a strong participation of resources users and local communities, supported by technical assistance given by the University of Rhode Island and an integrated institutional frame established by the Government of Ecuador. INTRODUCTION This paper summarizes the development of a system for the management of coastal resources in Ecuador. The focus of the work has been to define policies and strategies to stop the degradation of the environmental quality, and to restore and maintain the productivity of coastal ecosystems. The participation of government authorities, user groups, communities,

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and private entrepreneurs has greatly contributed to the development of policies and practical activities that promote a sustainable use of coastal resources. The conceptual framework of sustainable use is related to recognition of the interrelationship and interdependency of coastal ecosystems and the hundreds of thousands of Ecuatorians who use them. The need for an integrated point of view and the local participation during planning represents and innovation for Ecuador, which still the method used by the Ecuador Coastal Resources Management Programme has been based on understanding the social and economic characteristics of coastal resources uses at the local and national level and texting ideas from the United States of America and world experience on coastal resources management with the technical assistance of the Coastal Resources Center of the University of Rhode Island, and funds provide by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The process of preparing and testing coastal resources policies in Ecuador has not yet finished. This document presents a case study of the process and experiences in this country wich reflect both the challenges and possibilities for achieving substantial progress in the contest of a undeveloped country wich depends significatively upon its coastal ecosystem to produce food and income. THE ECUADORIAN COASTAL ZONE The Ecuadorian coastal region comprises the mostly flat area between the west fringe of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. From a management point of view the coastal zone is restricted to a narrow band wich include beaches, bluffs, mangrove, estuaries and communities located on coastal line belonging to four coastal provinces: Esmeraldas, Manabi, Guayas, and El Oro (Fig. 1), as well as the Galapagos Islands. In this article we refer only to the management coastline of continental Ecuador, thus the Galapagos province is excluded. Geography Continental Ecuador has 2,859 km of coastline divided into 1,256 km of open ocean coast and 1,603 km of protected shores (e.g., estuaries). The most important geographic feature is the Gulf of Guayaquil with 519 km of open ocean coast and 1,026 km of protected shores [1], the longest estuary on the Pacific coastal of the Americas.

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TABLE 1 Population of Ecuador and the four coastal provinces

Source: INEC (1991). Fascículos Provincias Esmeraldas, Manabí, Guayas, El Oro. Censo Noviembre, 1990. Quito, Ecuador.

A total of 76 watersheds discharge in the Pacific Ocean [2]. Most of the rivers run from the low coastal range (Fig.2) are small and become dry between may and december (dry season). Approximately 20 rivers have water all year round. The most important watersheds are the Guayas (35, 238 km2), Esmeraldas (21,418 km2), Santiago-Cayapas (7,100 km2), and Jubones (4,285 km2). The ecologic areas found along the coastline range from “Desertic bush”, with average rainfall of 125–250 mm per year, to “Tropical Rainforest”, with average rainfall of 2,000–4,000 mm per year [3]. These characteristics and the climatic conditions are very much related to the seasonal changes of the oceanographic conditions offshore. The presence of the cold surface water from the Humboldt Current and the warm water from the Panama Bight have a strong influence on the coastal climate; and the convergence of these waters, forming what is known as the Ecuadorian Front, produce a rich fishing area. Furthermore when El Niño event occurs, the rainfall and sea level increase producing floods. Population Like in many other coastal countries, population growth is higher along the coastal zone than in the mountains and amazonian regions of the country. The population of the four coastal provinces increased, respectively, from 35.9% to 44.3% of the national population from 1950 to 1994 (Table 1). Coastal cities have higher growth rates than those from the highlands (with exception the capital of the country, Quito).

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Coastal Resources Ecuador had an export-oriented, agriculture-based economy until the 1960’s. The main produce were coastal crops such as cocoa, coffe, bananas, and wood (i.e., balsa wood, tagua). Until 1971, 90% of the foreign exchange came from agricultural producction. However since 1972 oil exports from fields located in the Amazon basin constitute about 60% of the value of exports [5]. The main economic activities of the coastal zone in the present decade are tourism, pelagic and demersal fisheries and shrimp culture, using both commercial and artesanal techniques, as well as the export of petroleum and agricultural products through coastal ports. The mangrove ecosystem The higgest environmental change to Ecuador’s coastal ecosystem has ocurred to the mangrove forest, which was reduced from 203,696 ha in 1969 to 175,126 ha in 1987 [6]. Mangroves have been traditionally harvested for wood, coal, “pilings” and tanins. The development of shrimp culture in the late 1970’s however stimulated large-scale deforestation to build shrimp ponds. The uncontrolled expansion of shrimp farms has reduced importants habitats for estuarine and mangrove-related species and therefore the productivity of this ecosystem. Salt flats are found along the coastal zone, with higher concentrations in the central and southern coast. These are transition areas between the mangrove forest and the dry land. 75.9% of these salt flats were transformed into shrimp ponds between 1969 and 1987 (Table 2). Some estuaries have been strongly affected by the destruction of mangroves and salt flats. For example, 90% of the mangrove forest of the Chone river estuary (4,000 ha in 1969) has been cut, creating many complex issues and therefore a difficult challenge for coastal management. Penaeus Shrimp and their exploitation Shrimp production for export (mainly to the United States) is the most important economic activity of the coastal zone. During the 1960’s and 1970’s most shrimp were sea caught by trawlers (about 250 boats). The trawlers land in between 7,000 and 8,000 t per year. Artisanal fishermen also catch shrimp. However their landings are small, in general no more than 2,000 t per year [8].

Fig.1. Ecuador’s coastal provinces and special management zones

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Table 2 Area (ha) of mangrove forest, shrimp farms, and salt flats in 1969 and 1987.

Source: CLIRSEN (1990)

During the 1980’s shrimp farming expanded very rapidly. Farm production increased from 9,180 t in 1980 (Exportations produce: US $ 56.884,000) to 70,000 t in 1988 (Exportations generate: US $ 387.000, 000) [8]. The total shrimp production (including artisanal and industrial landings) in 1988 had a value of US $ 416.000,000, equivalent to 4.2% of the Gross National Product (GNP) and to 28.3% of the country’s primary products. The Added Valued was estimated in US $ 123.000,000, from production of shrimp larvae in hatcheries, gathering of wild larvae, and processing and packing plants [9]. The expansion of shrimp farming has created many coastal management issues: • Overdimensioning of the farms. It has been estimated that up to 50% of existing ponds can be out of production at any time. • Increased pressure on the mangrove forest. Deforestation to build shrimp ponds still continues despite national prohibitions.

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Fig. 2. Ecuador’s coastal zone (schematic)

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• Construction of shrimp ponds in areas other than mangroves and salt flats. In the Chone river estuary, where mangroves and salt flats have almost disappeared, farmers have started to build ponds in the mud flats within the estuary. • Degradation of water quality. Shrimp farms have a daily water exchange rate of 10–15%, releasing water loaded with organic matter and nutrients. In areas with low circulation these effluents have contributed to the process of euthrophication (i.e., Cinco Bocas-El Ebano in the Chone river estuary) [10]. • Insufficient supply of shrimp larvae. It is estimated that on average 7, 000 million wild larvae are caught every year [11]. This annual catch is highly variable due to changes in environmental conditions. In an effort to stabilize the supply of larvae, the Government of Ecuador has authorized the operation of 100 hatcheries, however only about 25–35 % of them operate regularly. Hatcheries supply in between 10 and 40% of the demand for shrimp larvae. • Conflict of use of the coast and the resources: construction of hatcheries in tourist beaches, competition between fishermen and shrimp farmers, limited access to shellfish beds close to shrimp farms. • High mortality of shrimp larvae and larvae & juveniles of other species (e.g., crustaceans, fish) during catching, handling, and storage. • Decrease of the profit of shrimp production. Between January and June 1988 the cost of shrimp production increased 230% [8]. At the same time competition in the international market increased (China, Indonesia, Philipinnes and others, offered large quantities of cheap shrimp) driving down the price. Coastline and tourism The coastline of Ecuador is rich in areas to develop tourism. DITURIS [12] identified more than 100 high quality beaches, which constitute 39% of the sites appropiate for tourism and recreation in the country. In addition, there are estuaries, islands, folkloric and archeologic sites, national parks, and protected areas. Coastal tourism is mainly oriented to national market. However in the past few years there has been an increase in the number of foreign visitors, mainly Colombians. This activity has grown in the past 20 years, and is characterized by weekend and holiday peaks (e.g., Carnival, Easter). There is also a small component formed by families that spend their anual holidays on the sea side.

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There are many issues that have to be considered for coastal tourism management: • There is no zoning or allocation of use for the tourist areas. • Limited facilities (e.g., hotels, restaurants, fresh water) for the tourists. • There is limited information on the access and activities/services available. • Public services such as sanitary facilities, protection, and emergency assistance are not fully developed. • Many resorts are not easy to access, creating high concentrations of tourists in a few beaches. • There are conflicts of use between tourist developers, fishermen, larvae gatherers, and hatchery owners. Other resources and activities The most important fishery resources are the small pelagic fish (i.e., mackerel, sardine, pacific thread herring), used for fish meal and canning, and the tuna which is mainly exported frozen or canned. However from a coastal management point of view, the artisanal fisheries have a greater relevance. There are about 16,240 artisanal fishermen and 3,200 middle men operating from 70 sites along the coast (13). The artisanal fleet if formed by 6,850 boats, and an estimate of annual landings was 50,000 t [13]. The artisanal fishermen have many problems: • Lack of facilities for the landing, handling, and storage of the catch. • Lack of technical assistance for maintainance and repair of boats and engines. • Lack of awareness of the need to manage the stocks and critical habitats. • Limited availability of loans. • Unefficiente organizations. Oil exploitation in the coastal zone (mainly in the Santa Elena Peninsula) is limited. In 1985 the total production of 595 oil wells was 1,200 barrels per day, which is only 0.4% of the national production. It has been estimated that there are substantial quantities of oil and gas in the Gulf of Guayaquil and the continental shelf, and therefore a potential issue for the protection and management of the coastal zone (7).

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The exploitation of minerals in the coastal zone is also limited. The most important activity is gold mining on the west fringe of the Andes in the Guayas and El Oro provinces. This has created pollution problems due to the use of mercury and cianides. LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF COASTAL MANAGEMENT The coastal zone has very diverse physical, social, and economic environments. However this area is subject to a “uniform legal and administrative regime” [14], with the exception of regional development organizations, such as the Center for the Rehabilitation of Manabí (CRM) and the Commission of Studies for the Development of the Guayas Watershed (CEDEGE), which have legal and administrative autonomy. In coastal administration the most important institutions are: • the Directorate General of the Navy (“Dirección General de la Marina Mercante y del Litoral”),Ministry of Defense. • the Undersecretary of Fisheries Resources (Subsecretaría de Recursos Pesqueros), Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Integration, and Fisheries. • the Undersecretary of Forestry and Natural Resources (Subsecretaría Forestal y de Recursos Naturales), Ministry of Agriculture. • the Municipalities. Also play an important role the following governmental institutions: the Ministry of Energy and Mining; the Ecuadorian Corporation of Tourism (CETUR); the Ecuadorian Institute of Sanitary Infraestructure (IEOS); and the Ecuadorian Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INERHI). The main legal and institutional management issues are: • lack of mechanisms for inter-sectorial coordination to solve the multiple problems of coastal areas sucha as estuaries. • inflexible administrative sectorial procedures wich the current Coastal Resources Management Programme can not influence. • duplication rules and jurisdiction between organizations, inadequate enforcement of existing laws; • lack of technical and operational capability of the institutions/ organizations in charge of managing coastal resources.

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In addition to these issues, the lack of solid long-term government policies and strategies has contributed to limit the adequate use and preservation of the coastal resources. KEY ISSUES FOR COASTAL MANAGEMENT The management of coastal resources, within the framework of sustainable use and environmental protection, covers a wide and complex range of issues, from cultural and economic aspects to specialized research. On the first hand there is a need to improve the living conditions of the local populations, on the other hand the need to compile and develop information needed for decision making on the uses of coastal resources in the long term. Based on a consultation process the Coastal Resources Management Programme S.Olsen [15], the international Director of PMRC Program, identified the following key issues to be considered a top priority in the management plans in Ecuador [15] (See also Fig. 3): • “The sustainability of shrimp mariculture and the need to diversify this activity to produce benefits for broader segments of Ecuadorian society. • “The decline of estuarine and inshore fisheries from the combined effects overfishing and habitat destruction. • “The effect of tourism on local communities and its interrelationships with competing, economically important, activities. • “The effect of dams on major coastal rivers upon mariculture, fisheries, tourism, given their likely major impacts on the characteristics of estuaries. • “Water quality degradation and its inplications for human health, mariculture and the eutrophication of estuaries. • “Shorefront construction and the need to avoid costly mistakes in the siting of infrastructure and modifications to coastal processes.” In addition to these issues, selected due to their coastal nature and their relevance in the national context the Coastal Resources Management Programme confront: • The lack of a critical mass of properly trained people in Ecuador who carry out a sustainable management of coastal areas. • Institutional deficiencies wich prevent an integrated approach to administration of laws, plans and program, and a limited capacity to carry out regional research, extension and public education activities.

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• Inconsistent data collection and field research, which are not focused on supporting decision making in coastal management. DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF COASTAL RESOURCES The Coastal Resources Management Project started in March 1986 with the signing of an Agreement of Technical Cooperation between the Agency for International Development of the United States of America (USAID), the University of Rhode Island (URI), and the Government of Ecuador. USAID sponsored the project, and the Coastal Resources Center of URI was given the role of guiding the process. The main objective of the Agreement is “to create and execute an integrated national programme for the management of coastal resources”. In the absence of an existing framewor of policies, laws and strategies, the Programme has taken responsability for putting coastal management issues on the national agenda, development specific policies and strategies and testing them in a few critical area in the Ecuadorian coast. The activities of the Program are carefully designed on the basis of annual assessments with the participation of URI experts, the personnel from PMRC, local consultants, and personnel from key institutions such as the National Development Council (CONADE) and the General Secretary for Public Administration. This procedure has allowed a high degree of flexibility in the content, scope and priority of the work from year to year to take best advantage of opportunities available to promote the coastal management. The program is carry out in an open participatory planning approach to integrated management for sustainable use of resources, for which there was no previous experience in Ecuador. Thus, the PMRC is developing also taking in account common problems in the whole coast of Ecuador, such as poverty and low living standars of many coastal communities, the lack of awareness of environmental and ecological issues, and the inflexible sectorial coastal administrative system. BUILDING THE FRAMEWORK FOR COASTAL MANAGEMENT The first phase of PMRC (1986–1987) was to get the national agenda and identify coastal management issues. The approach was to obtain a comprehensive view of problems and concerns using new methods of open consultation with key institutions, communities, and user groups. At the

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Fig. 3. Main management issues in special zones

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same time there were activities to create awareness of key environmental and coastal management issues and to build a constituency for specific planning and policy iniciatives. The most important steps in this phase were: • Compiling basic information on the characteristics of the Ecuadorian coastal zone, its resources, and its relevance in the national and regional context. • Assessment of the history of the development of the coastal zone to identify relevant trends in condition and uses. • Assessment of the legal and institutional framework for managing the coastal zone, and identification of key issues that restrict the enforcement of management regulations. • Identification of key issues and conflicts of use, and the their affects in the living conditions and quality of life of the coastal residents. • To organize and train a core of specialists and institutions to guide the process, including non governmental organizations like Fundación Pedro Vicente Maldonado wich is dealing with public education in the coastal zone, and two working groups formed by specialists from different institutions: Mangrove Working Group and Water Quality Working Group. • Implementation of a public education program to create awareness of environmental issues, the need to manage the coastal resources, and the philosophy and development of PMRC. • Interviews with authorities and key persons (academics, politicians, entrepreneurs) concerned with the coastal zone and the first public workshop even held in each coastal province to review and update information, and openly discusses local and national issues. • Design of a strategy for the sustainable development of shrimp farming accomplish at the request of the Government of Ecuador. The results of this phase have been published by the PMRC (See references, this paper), which content the first comprehensive available information related to coastal issues in Ecuador. A PROPOSAL FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF COASTAL RESOURCES The second phase (1987–1988) of the development of the Ecuador coastal management was to use the information to design a proposal that could gain support from the user groups, communities, authorities, and

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politicians at the higher level of the government. The key steps on this phase were: • Assess the viable options for management, by means of open consultation with the users and government. William Matuszeski, an expert named by Rhode Island University, headed a small group that conducted interviews and prepare a draft proposal. • Analysis of the chosen strategy took placing during provincial workshops. The result of this consultation was a conceptual document “Structure and objectives for the Coastal Resources Management Programme in Ecuador” [16]. This document, which was adopted by concensus, discussed the relevance of coastal ecosystems to the nation, clearly defined the need for a new management process, and presented the principles, institutional framework and strategy of the Coastal Resource Programme of Ecuador (PMRC). • The proposal was also presented to the elected President and Vicepresident of the country, and community, in the form of a Manifesto with the strong declaration of leaders in all coastal provinces to support the implementation of the PMRC. Fundación Maldonado guided this crucial step. The result was publication of the Executive Decree No.375 (Official Bulletin No. 117, 26 January 1989) that created the Coastal Resources Management Programme. STRUCTURE AND STRATEGY OF PMRC The Executive Decree No.375 established the institutional structure of PMRC (Fig. 4 ), which includes: a National Coastal Resources Management Commission; a Technical Secretary; an environmental law enforcement coordination mechanism called the Range Corp. In addition, the Decree identified zones, five mainland and one Galapagos Islands, as sites requiring management plans. The Technical Secretariat is the executing body of the PMRC. Its location within the office of the President office gives it flexibility in actions, by reducing problems that arises from locating it within a particular ministry. The Technical Secretary has a small staff and the minimum amount of resources to administer the PMRC. It is supported by the technical assistance from the URI-CRC, non governmental organizations (NGO) like Fundación Maldonado, ad hoc inter-institutional working groups, and independent consultants (Geomorphology, Fisheries,

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Aquaculture, Tourism, Agriculture, Mangroves, Water quality, and Sanitation). Studies, project design, and other technical jobs are executed through contracts with independent consultants or NGOs. This reduces bureaucracy and ensures fast and flexible results during the initial years of the program’s life. The Executive Decree created Special Management Zones (Zonas Especiales de Manejo, ZEM) for planning and implementing coastal management, and Units for Conservation and Guarding (“Unidades de Conservation y Vigilancia”, UCV), range corps for integrating the authorities in charge of enforcing regulations. The ZEMs are temporary bodies that last two years, by the end of this period there has to be a Plan for the Management and Development of the area, and a strategy to execute it. The work is guided by an Advisory Committee formed by user groups, members of the communities, and local personalities; and an Executive Committee formed by the local authorities. The programme has set up a small coordination office UCVs are permanent bodies that operate within the geographic context of the Port Authorities (belonging to the Navy). Each one is headed by the Port Captain (a navy officer). PLANNING IN THE ZEMS In coastal management “the basic challenge is to formulate and test strategies that lead towars sustainable levels and combination of utilization that benefit local economies. Such strategies must draw together needs for both development and conservation in a single coherent set of plans and policies” [15]. Within this context, planning at the ZEM level has had the following steps: • Establishment of a small field office staffed a Coordinator selected from local proffessional with backgrounds in education, community organization or a technical area related to coastal resources. • Preparing “basic documents” for each ZEM. This was a joint effort of the technical teams of the PMRC, resource users and the communities. For each ZEM a profile was prepared describing the general characteristics and issues of the area, and technical reports for fisheries and aquaculture, tourism, sanitation, geomorphology/coastal processes, and legal/institutional framework. The reports included identification of issues and projects to solve them. • Each report was prepared with available information. Careful review of these documents was carried out by the Advisory Committee and user

Fig.4. PMRC Organization

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•

•

•

•

groups in order to define the main issues, policies and action of the ZEM Plan. Implementation of “Practical Exercises of Integrated Management”, that is small projects to train the Advisory Committee, user groups, and communities in selecting key actions to solve specific problems, and in the design, execution, and assessment of community projects. Their focus was managing natural resources (e.g., mangroves) and providing urgently needed community services (e.g., water wells). They also contributed to create an audience interested in the planning process of the ZEM, increased the credibility of PMRC, and fulfilled some expectations which is important while the long-term planning and implementation process takes place. Implementation of intensive program of public education on general aspects of the coastal environment and management of the resources, and management of specific resources like mangroves. Workshops, pamphlets, public meeting, and other actions were very useful tools to increase the local knowledge of the resources and to promote local participation. Create awareness of the “National Commission for Coastal Resources Management, which is the decision-making level of PMRC, of the activities and issues of the the local process. To accomplish this, the Commission holds its regular meetings in the ZEMs. Preparing drafts of the management and development plans for review by the ZEM committees, communties, and user groups. After consultation and approval by the communities, the plans will be submited to the National Commission who will approve them. PLANS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF THE COASTAL RESOURCES OF THE ZEMS

The ZEM plans have common components such as public education projects, institutional framework, mariculture and fisheries, and conceptual framework for the policies and management strategies. On the other hand each ZEM has a plan that reflects its individual issues and needs, and also has particular focus on local Table 3 summarize the main characteristics of the ZEMs. For example, the Atacames-Súa-Muisne ZEM plan [18] places particular emphasis on protecting natural features and environmental quality to tourism development, and the conservation, restoration and management of mangrove and estuarine areas.

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The ZEM process has created the need to modify the present structure and role of PMRC to be able to implement the plans. The main proposal changes are: • Combine the local Advisory and Executive Committees into a single body called Comité Zonal” (Zoned Committee). • Give stronger authority to the Technical Secretariat by through administrative decentralization from the General Secretary Public Administration (to which is attached), and giving it the capability to hire personnel and specific jobs. At the moment the Technical Secretary can not do this. A new Executive Decree is being prepared to accomplish these changes. • Create a close link between PMRC and the UCVs, which currently respond to the independent administrative framework of the sectorial agencies. Obtain greater participation of the municipalities in the management bodies of the ZEMs, since in the long term shore and estuary use policies must be adopted as local ordinances and decisions. • Establish mechanisms to ensure the participation of NGOs in activities and specific projects of coastal management, especilly local groups that can provide a stronger focus on the issues of particular water bodies or sites. The management plans also include conditions that have to be fulfilled before implementation: • An agreement by local communities to implement and followup the activities in the form of user group agreements, sharing costs, or any other option. • Formal agreements between Municipalities, UCVs, and other institutions/organizations that will actively participate during implementation. • Training of the people involved in implementation, including government official, local institutions and resource users. The operational corp of the plan is included in the chapter “Key management issues, policies, and specific projects” Each key issue has its own policies and specific actions for implementation (Table 4).

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TABLE 3 Characteristics of the five mainland ZEMs

Source: Robadue, D. Jr. (1991) [17]

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ZEM PLANS Moving from planning to implementation poses a series of new challenges that have to be overcome quickly to avoid the collapse of the whole initiative. The main issues are: • To prepare designs and finance the specific projects included in the management plans. • To develop the institutional capability of PMRC and the institutions responsible for the execution of the plan (e.g., NGOs, municipalities). • To promote the organization and training of the user groups and communities to fully participate in the activities of the plan. • To develop the national institutional capability to allow the development of studies and research to support sound management. • To expand the ZEM process to other areas of the coast. To resolve these issues the Government of Ecuador has requested the assistance of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In 1992 a loan request is being prepared to implemented the ZEMs plans and greatly

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Table 4 Key management issues in the Atacames-Súa-Muisne ZEM, and an example of policies and specific actions.

Source: PMRC, Atacames-Súa-Muisne Management Plan (18)

strengthen the institutional capacity to do coastal resources management. This project has three components: I. Implementation of the ZEM plans. Its emphasis is to execute a majority of the specific projects of the five ZEMs. II. Development of research and technology in support of coastal management. This component will develop applied research to solve specific management issues, and implement data collection systems.

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III. Institutional strengthening. In order to give a sound operational capability to the Technical Secretarial and other institutions that play key roles in the management of coastal resources. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Donald Robadue, Jr. from URI-Coastal Resources Center and Segundo Coello, Ph. D. from PMRC-Ecuador. for review and assistance to prepare this document. REFERENCES 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Ayón, H., Grandes Rasgos Geomorfológicos de la Costa Ecuatoriana. PMRC, Ser. Informes, No. 1:1–31 pp., Mayo, 1988, Centro de Difusión y Publ. de ESPOL, Guayaquil-Ecuador. Carrera de la Torre, L., Las Cuencas Hidrográficas del Ecuador y su Manejo Ambiental. Primer Congreso Ecuatoriano del Medio Ambiente, Quito, Ecuador, 7–14 Febrero, 1987. Doc. 3.1:135 pp., Publ. Fundación Natura, Quito-Ecuador. Cañadas L., El Mapa Bioclimático y Ecológico del Ecuador. Publ. MAGPRONAREG-Banco Central del Ecuador, 210 pp., Ed. Asociados C. Ltd., 1983, Quito-Ecuador. INEC, Fascículos de las Provincias Esmeraldas, Manabí, Guayas, El Oro. Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC). Censo Noviembre, 1990. Quito, Ecuador. Fundación P.V.Maldonado. Ecuador, Vision Global del Desarrollo de la Costa. Publ. PMRC, Septiembre 1989, 233 pp., Centro de Difusión y Publ. de ESPOL, Guayaquil-Ecuador. CLIRSEN, Estudio Multitemporal de los Manglares, Camaroneras y Areas Salinas de la Costa Ecuatoriana mediante Información de Sensores Remotos (1987), Convenio de Cooperación Técnica SRP-DIGMERCLIRSEN. PMRC, Ser. Estudios No. 3:56–93, 1988, Guayaquil-Ecuador. Arriaga, L. y J.Vásconez. Los Manglares y los Recursos Costeros del Ecuador. Primer Congreso Ecuatoriano del Medio Ambiente, Quito, Ecuador, 7–14 Febrero, 1987. Doc. 4.1:142 pp., Publ. Fundación Natura, Quito-Ecuador. Egas P., Eduardo, 1989. La Producción Camaronera del Ecuador: Participación Intersectorial. Ser. Análisis Sectorial, Doc. No. 10, Federación de Exportadores de Camarón, Guayaquil-Ecuador, Octubre 1989. Egas P., Eduardo, 1989. Situación Actual del Sector Camaronero y Política Estatal. Ser. Análisis Sectorial, Doc. No. 9, Federación de Exportadores de Camarón, Agosto 1989, 30 pp.

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10.

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12. 13.

14.

15.

16.

17. 18.

Montaño, M. (Coordinador). Estudio de la Calidad del Agua Costera en el Ecuador. Informe del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Calidad del Agua Costera del PMRC. PMRC, Ser. Estudios (en prensa): 61 pp., Guayaquil-Ecuador. Chua, T.E. y P.Kungvankij. Una Evaluación del Cultivo de Camarón y Estrategia para su Desarrollo y Diversificación de la Maricultura. PMRC, Ser. Estudios, No. 3:24–51, 1988, Guayaquil—Ecuador. DITURIS, Plan Maestro de Desarrollo Turístico del Ecuador (1983–1987). Proyecto ECU-OMT, Publ. Dirección de Turismo, 1983, Quito- Ecuador. Fallows, J.D. and S.Contreras, Investigación de Línea de Base de la Pesca Artesanal del Ecuador 1990. Bol.de Cient. Tec. Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Febrero 1991, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Pérez, E. Elementos Legales y Administrativos del Manejo de Recursos Costeros en la República del Ecuador. PMRC, Ser. Inf. No. 2:130 pp. Centro de Difusión y Publ., ESPOL, Septiembre 1988, GuayaquilEcuador. Olsen, S. Building A Constituency for Integrated Resources Management: The Ecuador Coastal Management Example. Coastal Resource Center, University of Rhode Island, 1990. (Draft, 23 pp.), R.I., U.S.A. PMRC, 1988. Estructura y Objetivos para el Programa de Manejo de Recursos Costeros en Ecuador. Publ. Programa de Manejo de Recursos Costeros (PMRC). Centro de Difusión y Publicaciones, ESPOL, Agosto 1988, 39 pp., Guayaquil-Ecuador. Robadue, D. Jr. Special Management Planning in Ecuador. Coastal Resource Center, University of Rhode Island, Report. 1991, R.I., U.S.A. PMRC, Plan de Manejo y Desarrollo de Recursos Costeros de la Zona Atacames-Súa-Muisne. Programa de Manejo de Recursos Costeros (Draft proposal), 71 pp., Diciembre, 1991, Guayaquil, Ecuador.

COASTAL MANAGEMENT IN CHINA YING WANG Centre of Marine Sciences State Pilot Laboratory of Coast and Island Exploitation Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

ABSTRACT The 32,000 Km long coastline of China stretches across three climate zones, namely, temperate, subtropical and tropical, along the Pacific Marginal Seas. With the effects of monsoon winds, tidal waves, and larger river sediment supply, the coasts of China vary in the environmental characters resource abundance and evolutionary history. Coastal zone in China was forbidden to use during historical time as a result of the “blocked country” policy by the feudal dynasty. Only during this century coastal zone has been populated, and speeds up the development since the government started a open policy. Four steps conducted to improve coastal zone exploitation and management. Comprehensive investigation of whole coastal zone and inshore islands. Planning of full scale utilization. Organisation and legislation. Present coastal land is 14 per cent of China’s total area, centralized 41 per cent of China’s population, 56 per cent of total output value and 70 per cent of larger cities. China coastal zone is characterized by developed economy and heavy population, but with great developing potentiality. It requires more attention to have a comprehensive and systematical management for improving the positive role of coastal zone in the national economy.

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INTRODUCTION China is located in the eastern part of the Euro-Asian continent adjacent to the Pacific Ocean including its margin seas: Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. The total coastline is 32,000 Km long including the coastlines of 6,500 islands. The coastline along mainland is 18,000 Km long from the Yalu River mouth on the China-Korea border in the north, to the Beilun River mouth on the China-Viet Nam border in the south. The coastlines extend across three climatic zones: temperate, subtropical and tropical. The coastline features are affected by monsoon winds, the Pacific tidal waves and currents, and also with influence from several large rivers, such as Huanghe (Yellow River), Changjiang (Yangtze River) and Zhujiang (Pearl River). Thus, there is a variety of coastal types, such as the vast area of flat coasts either with sandy beaches and barriers, or with tidal flats in the North China; indented coasts in the mountain area or hilly land distributed mainly in the South China; river-mouth coasts including deltas and estuaries; coral reef coasts and mangrove coast, etc. (1) The definition of the coastal zone limits seems uncertain for about 133 maritime countries in the world. It depends on each country’s own needs of coastal zone development and administration. China carried out a comprehensive investigation of coastal and tidal flat resources from 1980 to 1986: the limit of coastal zone has been defined that from sea shore extended 10 Km landward as its inner boundary and from sea shore down to 15–20m bathymetric contours as its outer boundary. The boundary may be extended landward or seaward in the area of steeper mountain coast, larger estuary, offshore island and submarine sandy ridge field (2). The definition of coastal range fits the physical geographical implication of coastal zone as the area of land-sea interaction. It is also suitable for the course of regional changing, economic development and administration. There are eight provinces, two cities and an autonomous region along China coastal zone, including: Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin City, Shangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai City, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi Autonomous Region. The coastal area is 14 per cent of China’s total area, and it concentrates 41 per cent of China’s population, 56 per cent of total output value, and 70 per cent of larger cities. The coastal region is characterized by developed economy and heavy population, with 386 person/sq. km as its average density; hence, the wild land, tidal flats and embayments of the coastal region are valuable land resources for China. Thus, to divide an independent region of coastal zone in China has its practical economic significance. According to the definition of coastal

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Figure 1. The location map of China coastal zone

zone, the total land area of the coast is about 350,000 sq km including 6 per cent of tidal flats. The flats are an important new land resource in the heavy populated economic zone, because of their prograding shorelines. Sea salt production and saline chemical industry are the important traditional activities along China coast, the annual production of sea salt is 1, 5 million tons, probably the largest in the world. Fishing and aquaculture products in China are 4, 5 million tons per year, and the aquaculture part is about 1/3 of the total. The production of kelp, laver prawn, mussel, sea eel and scallop has been developed as a large scale aquaculture industry, which has improved the Chinese food composition notably. The number of harbours has been increased from 61 to 253, and these can handle up to 5 million tons of cargo a year. By the end of 1990, China has 20 million tons of oceanic commercial ships, the annual transportation reaches 12 million tons, which is the eighth commercial fleet in the world. The estimated reserves of offshore petroleum are about 200 billion tons, and the annual crude oil production is 5 million tons. The natural gas production will be 30 billion cubic metres per year in 1994. The systematical exploitation of offshore oil and natural gas makes a notable impact on the coastal environment, economic development and

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other resources utilization. Even though, China still lacks of fresh water and energy resources along its economic developed coastal region, and the construction of nuclear power stations along the coastal zone has brought a series of new conditions recently. These circumstances arouse public and government attention to the importance of coastal management. THE DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL MANAGEMENT Some projects have been conducted in China in order to enhance the exploitation, utilization and management of the coastal resources and environments. 1. The nation-wide comprehensive investigation along tidal flats and the whole coastal zone of mainland was carried out during 1980 to 1986. The investigation included natural environmental elements, resources and social and economic conditions. More than 500 units and 1,500 people in all included coastal provinces have been involved to organize multidisciplinary survey teams including 30 per cent of senior scientists from universities, institutes and governmental departments. Specific working items: Hydraulics, Meteorology, Geology, Geomorphology, Marine Biology, Marine Chemistry, Environment Protection, Vegetation and Forests, Soil, Land Use and Social Economics. Resources invents included land resources, biological resources, salt and saline chemical resources, mineral resources, marine energy, harbour, tourism industry, etc. The methods of coastal zone investigation were including: monitory observation and survey on the specific spots and selected sections combined with regional reconnaissance and grid line controlled survey. Historic records and previous works have been collected and summarized for review; remote sensing images, air photos, computer data and calculation have been used mostly in modern equipped laboratories. Through the investigation, a great deal of first-hand data has been gathered, and all of the results have been published in a series of scientific works. It includes 130 volumes of “Data collections of China Coastal Zone Investigation”, “Atlas of China Coastal Zone” including 21 kinds of 1,218 pieces of map in the 1:200,00 scale, 10 volumes of “Regional Reports on the Comprehensive Investigation of Coastal Zone”, 13 volumes of “Specialistic Reports of China Coastal Zone”, and one volume book of “The Reports on Comprehensive Investigation of China Coastal Zone”. These achievements offer material and scientific information for coastal basic research, resources exploitation environment protection, and coastal

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management. They also stimulate public interest and better understanding of the coastal environment and its exploitation. Since 1988, China has carried out another nation-wide project: Sea Islands Investigation with emphasis on larger islands which have population of more than 1,000 people. The investigation contains both natural environment, natural resources and social economic states, and the whole project will be finished in 1993. Above two projects are important fundamental construction for coastal zone economic development and coastal management. 2. China has drawn up the plan for regional coast exploitation, from small scale of systematic exploiting, gradually to the stage of regional coast exploitation. The experiment was started in 1982 and was limited to agriculture at first, then including medium and small harbour renovation. There is a total of 42 experimental stations throughout the Country. The experimental items include: 1) Productive sea water cultivation; 2) Marine farming or pasture of prawns; 3) Littoral sandy wasteland and saline soil transformation; 4) Selection of sustainable plants; 5) Forest and fruit trees plantation; 6) Livestock and poultry husbandry; 7) Harbour renovation and coastal protection. A number of good results were achieved through the experiments. For example, Jiangsu Province has larger area of tidal flats, about 400,000 hectares, to develop aquaculture and plantation. About 40 species of medicinal herbs and economic crops have been successfully planted on the tidal flats, such as: Lycium Chinense, Astragalus Membranaceus, Asparagus, and other 40 species of salty enduring economic plants. There are also 147 species of trees and flowers which have been planted and are growing luxuriantly. Second example, a modal tidal flat farm has been set up in the Rudong County Jiangsu Province with the scientific and technological support from Nanjing Agricultural University. The farm carries out systematic experiments on coast utilization. It operates aquaculture on bare flat; cattle, sheep, hare husbandry on marsh and grassland; fishing pond and poultry on superi-flat; farming wasteland or mature tidal flat to grow cotton, corn, mulberry trees, fruit trees, and vegetables. Rice can be planted in the area with fresh water irrigation and the salt mashes have been changed with mature soil after ten years farmed

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as cotton or corn fields. The farm also produce frozen storage and exports of fruits and vegetables. Since 1985, the farm has got profits of more than 40 million yuan per year. Third example from an embayed coast in Zhuanghe County, Liaoning Province, where coastal zone is systematically exploited to aquaculture scallops in the intertidal zone, inside of coastal dike to divert sea water breeding prawns; and using littoral wastes and bay head area as rice fruit fields. The three-dimension operating of coastal zone benefits the local people, even during 1980 summer suffered from heavy storm of typhoon, the 670 hectares of farmed tidal flats still gained more than 2 million yuan net income. The economic development improves local living standards and changes the traditional conception of coast as “a bitter water saline soil” to a three dimension operation of new land for aquaculture, agriculture, forest, animal husbandry, and commercial trade. Even several units who joined the coastal survey before, now reorganize as the Consultant Company or Technical Service Centre. They form a new pattern of coastal development and management. 3. Administrative Organisation and regional Division. The State Oceanic Administration is an Agency of the Central Government of China, and there are three branches: the North Sea Subbureau in Quingdao, the East Sea Subbureau in Shanghai and the South and the South Sea Subbureau in Guangzhou. Since 1986, after the coastal survey project, each province has set up the provincial Oceanic Administration for managing, researching, planning and exploiting coastal and oceanic area. There is also an Oceanic Environmental Monitory Organisation for protecting the coast and the sea nation-wide. Since the coastal development in the eighties, China has set up a series of special economic zones and high technology developing zones along coastal region, and 24 harbours open to the world. In 1988, the second larger islands of China, renamed as Hainan Province, was also opened to the world as a new special zone. All of the economic special zones are managed in preferential trade and tariff rights. In 1963, China set up the first natural preserve of Snake Island for protecting Pallas pit viper, the island is located off Dalian Coast. Now, there are 45 National Natural Preserves with a total area of 13,500 sq. km and covering most of coastal environments and ecosystems. Such as Changli Golden Beach Natural Preserves (Hebei Province), Laotieshan Island Migratory Birds Natural Preserves (Liaoning Province), Qidong Spartina Pasture Preserves, Yancheng Red-Crowned Crane Reed Flat Protection, Dafeng Davis Deer Natural Preserves (Jiangsu Province), Nanji Islands Oceanic Natural Protection (Zhejiang Province), Shankou Mangrove

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Coast Ecosystem Natural Preserves (Guangxi), Dazhou Island Oceanic Ecosystem Protection, Sanya Coral Reef Protection, Lingshuei Macaque Island Protection, Dongzhai Mangrove Forests Preserves, etc. The Government supports these protected areas with special organization staffs and regulation for protecting wild life resources and natural environment. A successful experiment is being carried for hibernated birds. There are about 1,000 red-crowned cranes in the world, and during cold season, from October to March, there are more than 600 red-crowned cranes dwelling in the Yancheng Reed Flat Natural Preserves. The wild vast wetland full of fish, fresh or brackish water has offered an ideal habitat for the precious birds and other kinds of wild ducks. Among Scientific Association, there are Coastal Exploitation and Management Research Group and Marine Law Society under Chinese Society of Oceanography, Special Committee of Marine Geography under Chinese Society of Geography, and also the state Pilot Laboratory of Coast and Island Exploitation has been set up recently in Nanjing University. It has carried out a series of international symposia to improve coastal zone research and coastal management. All aspects mentioned above indicate that coastal utilization and management are now in the ascendant. 4. Legislation. The progress of coastal investigation and utilization activities, gradually creates contradictions between professions, departments and localities. Special laws of coastal management urgently need to be set up. In the summer of 1982, the formulation of the coast management law was started. After nine revisions, the “Regulations Regarding the Coastal Management of China” has been drawn up and submitted to the State Council for examination and approval. Jiangsu Province, where Nanjing University is located, was the first to finish the coastal investigation, and since November 19th, 1985, the Province has issued formally “Coastal Zone Management Provisional Regulations of Jiangsu Province”. It is the first province to put the coastal management regulations into effect. The other provinces are following the regulations. This situation indicates that coastal management in China progresses from a single administrative control to the legal management and then towards the comprehensive, systematical regulation and legislation management. By the end of 1990, the laws related to the coastal management are as follows (3): “Regulations Regarding Exploitation Regarding Environment Protection on Offshore Oil Exploration and Exploitation”, 1983; “Regulations on Sea Water Management for Preventing Ships Pollution”, 1983; “Regulations of Waste Dumping into Sea”, 1985; “The Law of Fishery”, 1986; “The Law of Marine Traffic Safety”, 1983; “The Law of

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Mineral Resources”, 1986; “The Law of Land Management”, 1986; “The Law of Water”, 1987. The establishment of a series of Ocean and Coastal Natural Preserves is a result of enactment of the law of marine environment protection. The law enforcement agency pays more and more attention to the coastal zone, by using systematic theory and methods, concerning the relationship among the various resources, technical possibility and economic value, to solve the coastal developing problems. While our country studies to promulgate the detailed rules of coastal management, we draw lots of lessons and experiences on coastal management both theoretically and practically from other countries and international organisations. We still need to continue the international academic exchanges in this field; it will enable us to conduct the regulations that is really suitable to the condition of China. Any successful experiences or unsuccessful lessons from China may be also the mirror for other countries who are paying efforts on their own coastal zone development. PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES Coastal zone development in China started only in the early part of this century. The coast was wildlands and forbidden area during Qing Dinasty. Because the feudal kingdom followed the “blocked country” policy, it was the government to control fishing and salt products. Thus, the coastal zone, except several river mouths, was a depopulated area. Development of China coastlands began in the late nineteen seventies as a result of the government carrying out the open policy. The coastal management work is in the early developing stage, thus, it involves new problems or contradictions. 1. The scope of the coastal zone and the limitation of jurisdiction. The problems involves mainly local counties, because there is no certain definition of the boundaries of the coastal zone. Most of coastal counties use 15 contours which have applied since the national coastal survey, but some others use either the base line of territorial waters, or the fishery administrative line. Thus, several foreshore islands have the ownership argument. Other example is the boundary of tidal flats, according to No. 14 article of the coastal regulation of Jiangsu Province. The flats are divided by land administrative boundary or by the centre line of natural rivers. The definition is suitable for longitude direction coastline of Jiangsu Province, but contradictions appear in the coast zone along arch-shipped outline of the Bohai Sea. The problems are also with the seaward extension of tidal flats.

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It is clear that the jurisdictional limitation for each coastal province and county need to be made certain, and the landward boundary of coast can be divided both by physical geographical standard and by administrative limits (5, 6). 2. Multisource investment and plural departments administration. The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for aquatic products including the resources exploitation and protection, fishing harbour monitoring and pollution prevention. Tidal flat and wetland reclamation, and coastal farm and pasture land operation, etc. All the rights are authorized by “The law of fishery”, “The Law of Land Management” and “The law of Animal Husbandry”. Ministry of Transportation has authority over harbour construction and management, harbour water monitoring and pollution prevention. Ministry of Hydraulic and Electric Power undertakes preventing tidal flooding, diversion, dyke, sluice, coal and nuclear power station construction and management. Ministry of Urban Rural Area Construction and Environment Protection is in charge of coastal city planning management and construction; it examines and approves urban land utilization and the prevention of environmental pollution. Ministry of Light Industry is in charge of sea salt production, reed fields products and other light industry products. Ministry of Forestry is responsible for construction of coastal forest belts and its management, based on the law of forestry. Thus, each department exploits the coastal zone from respective point of view and in the respective style. There is no an authoritative agency to coordinate all the departments by comprehensive overall consideration and with long-term plans for coastal zone development. As a result, it is often difficult to overcome various natural disaster along coastal zone. There are multiple-use problems, such as: the struggle between salt fields and agricultural farmland. The extension of silt field for light industry has deteriorated the brackish water environment of reed ponds and grass flats as the favourite habitat for red-crown crane and other birds. The damming in river mouth areas for preventing saline water intruding the irrigation system has caused the underdam siltation and affected water depth of navigation channels fish and crab spawning migration, which decreases the crab crop. Beach sand and coast bedrock mining destroy the natural balance of sediment budget, with resulting coastal erosion. Overfishing of crockers in the Lusi fishing ground destroy the fishery resources; the yellow croakers crop decreased from several hundred thousand tons to 30–50 thousand tons per year. On the other hand, disobeying the natural processes to reclaim the lower tidal flats near tidal inlet with a low dyke construction, only after one storm by the typhoon No. 8114, the meandering tidal inlet washed away the whole dyke system

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and the 1,500 hectares reclaimed land, it lost several million yuan. As a natural and economic complex, the coastal zone especially needs overall planning and comprehensive management, taking it as a systematical project and improving local government to play major role in the coastal development (4). It can be expected high profit. 3. The problems between resources utilization and environment protection become more and more serious especially in the area of estuaries, coastal bays, harbours and sea shore cities. The development of coastal industry and agriculture results in serious pollution, deteriorating the excellent coastal environment quality. During May of 1982, in a small bay, waste water discharge polluted the bay water with rich nutrients of hydrogen and phosphorus. Suddenly, sea algae generated 3,000 times more than before, which consumed large amount of dissolved oxygen, transparency clarity of sea water dropped from 3m deep to 0.5m and the plankton increased 80 times. Fishes and crabs choked to death gradually as their grills over filled with fragments of algae and plankton. Thus, sea water colour changed and the cultivated prawns died. Red tide exploded frequently nowadays, it caught public close attention. Over exploitation of underground waters in the coastal zone for irrigation caused subsidence of water table, and the intrusion of sea water and large areas of farmland had to be abandoned. Reclamation of tidal inlet embayment has decreased tidal prism and changed the natural flushing pattern, increasing siltation in navigation channels and decreasing the value of deep-water harbours. Coastal environment which is sensitively changeable and natural factors are related closely. It requires more attention to a systematic management. 4. Immigrants from inner land to the coastal zone have some new problems resulted from living customs, management style and economic profits. It needs careful plan of immigration, and the relationship between new immigrants and the local people should be treated properly and harmoniously. Experiences and lessons enhance public consciousness of the nature and importance of the coastal zone. It plays a pivotal role to improve domestic and international trade. It has great developing potentially and economic value. Coastal zone development can be taken as a turning point for large scale oceanic exploitation in the XX Century. The key point is to enhance the nation’s consciousness of ocean territory. Marine protection and exploitation should be studied as important policy of our nation and to improve the total capacity of marine exploitation. Attention should be paid to marine legislation, resource exploitation and utilization, protection of eco-environment, prevention of disaster and other major tasks. Management work coordinates the development for all kinds of

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professions. The high level management of ocean and sea coast will provide a more rational and durable use of all resources. REFERENCES 1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Wang, Ying and Aubrey, David, The Characteristics of the China Coastline. Continental Shelf Research, 1987, 7 (4), 329–349. Su, Shen Jien, The Comprehensive Review on the Seven Years of National Coasts and Tidal Flats Investigation. In Comprehensive Management of the Ocean, Science and Technology Press of Guangxi, 1990, pp. 218–224. Li, Dechau, A Comparative Study on Coastal Zone Management: the traditional way and the modern way. In Comprehensive Management of the Ocean, Science and Technology Press of Guangxi, 1990, pp. 135–144. Li, Dechau, Preliminary Study on Coastal Management. In Comprehensive Management of the Ocean, Science and Technology Press of Guangxi, 1990, pp. 237–245. Ren, Mei-e, The problems on Coastal Management of China. In Comprehensive Management of the Ocean, Science and Technology Press of Guangxi, 1990, pp. 124–134. Zhao, Enpao, Administrative Divisions of Coasts and Adjacent Seas. In: Comprehensive Management of the Ocean, Science and Technology Press of Guangxi, 1990, pp. 187– 195.

SMALL ISLAND STATES AND HUGE MARITIME ZONES: MANAGEMENT TASKS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC HANNS BUCHHOLZ Department of Geography Hannover University Germany

ABSTRACT The small islands states and territories of the South Pacific got huge maritime zones because of the new U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. The enormous area of the sea zones is due to the dispersed insular setting of the South Pacific countries. The management of the extended exclusive zones (200 nautical mile-zones) has to be increased in the future. But the nearshore areas should urgently become integrated parts of comprehensive regional planning systems, a difficult task for the small island countries. The unequal distribution of maritime zones For centuries the South Pacific seemed to be endless and empty. Scattered islands characterised the huge area but they were of little attraction for people from the big continents. The growing integration of the oceans into the life system of men and the consequently developed new Law of the Sea have changed this situation if we compare the development of this part of the earth with other continents. Properly speaking the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea aimed to provide justice and equal conditions for every state to get certain parts of the ocean. But the reality of all the different natural phenomenons on earth with plenty of individual structures and configurations resulted in very differently extending areas of maritime zones. Advantages and disadvantages of coastal states—not to

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mention the landlocked states—were accidentally distributed. This injustice derived from the fact that the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) based the calculation for the extent of the maritime zones on natural, mainly on geomorphological structures—as if these structures would be uniform and unchangeable. The width of the Territorial Sea or the Exclusive Economic Zone (resp. Fishery Zone)* and the delimitation of their flanks is strongly dependent on the contours of coastlines and the structure of the coastal area. Another problem appeared from the fact that sea coasts in particular are seldom very stable. They are highly sensitive, polymorphic, and alterable. Therefore delimitations based on coastal structures may result in very diverse configurations. On the other side we have to state that most likely it would have been impossible to figure out a legal rule for all the varied natural phenomena. Moreover there would have been no common vote in the UNCLOS because each state was interested to implement the physiogeographical phenomena of his own seacoast into the convention in such a way that he himself would get the best advantages. And very often this would result into disadvantages for another party. It seems to be a miracle anyway that more than 150 states agreed in just one text. On the other side the convention did not become operative to date despite the fact that the final document was signed ten years ago (1982). The convention will enter into force one year after the 60th ratification is deposited with the United Nations. 18 instruments of ratification are still missing (1991). Obviously several states do not fully agree with the regulations of the convention. But nevertheless certain parts of the convention, particularly those discussed in this paper, are already applied worldwide; they are accepted as customary law. This does not mean that all the states follow literally the articles of the convention because the aims of the convention and the aims of the states diverge decisively: as mentioned before the convention tries to provide justice but the egoistic states struggle for maritime zones as large as possible. Therefore they often exploit the convention excessively and sometimes even beyond the legally given possibilities. The role of islands for the area of maritime zones Regarding the natural phenomena with significant effects on the size and dimension of maritime zones the contours of the coastline are of high significance. Well known are the consequences of the accidental situation of the coastline at the crossing point with the state’s boundary. The area of maritime zones differs considerably whether the coastline is convex or concave. But this problem does not appear in the South Pacific because there are no land

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boundaries between neighbouring states, outside of the case of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. More important is the role of islands. There are more than 7.500 islands in the South Pacific region. Just three countries are composed by one island only: Nauru, Niue and the American territory of Guam. All the other states and territories consist of several islands: Tonga with 150, Fiji with 800 islands, and e.g. the Republic Marshall Islands is made up by about 1.200 islands. Map and table show the enormous areas of sea zones of the very small island states and the extreme differences between the island states regarding the absolute area by square kilometre and regarding the land-water ratio. With this significance of islands in mind it is fully self-understandable that every state tries (i) to define every structure as an “island” if it is not fully covered by water at high tide, (ii) to claim every island as belonging to the state’s own sovereignty, (iii) and to declare all possible island groups as an “archipelago” in the sense of the articles 46 ff. of the Law of the Sea Convention. Regarding the definition of the term “island” and regarding the islands ability to establish maritime zones the Law of the Sea Convention is not very clear. Article 121 (para. 1) of the LOS Convention describes an “island” as a “naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide”. Such an “island” may be used as the base for the construction of all types of maritime zones provided for by the LOS Convention. The exception (article 121, para. 3) for “rocks” is of less significance because the definition of “island” of para. 1 gives permission to define every “rock” as an “island” if the rock looks out of the water at high tide. Or from the other side: there is no condition for “islands” to sustain “human habitation or economic life of their own” (cf. para.3). Islands promote extremely the extent and the limits of maritime zones, particularly if they spread out the area of the respective state because of their scattered location.

* This applies as well to the delimitation of the Continental Shelf. But the problem has not to be discussed here since the continental shelfs are small in the South Pacific, they are altogether smaller than the 200 nautical miles-zones.

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The special quality of islands is their ability to build up maritime zones in all directions. The smaller the land area the greater becomes the relative significance of islands: e.g. the island of Clipperton (claimed by France)

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TABLE Sea area, land area, land-water ratio, and population of the states and territories in the South Pacific (about 1990)

Source: (5), (8), (15)

consists of a land area of 1.6 sq. kilometre, or 7.6 sq. kilometre if the lagoon is included. The Exclusive Economic Zone of Clipperton comes up to more than 430,000 sq. kilometre! If there are several islands lying together and if the distance between the islands comes close to 400nautical miles, then the effect on the extent of the Exclusive Economic Zone reaches its maximum. Less management needs in the extended exclusive zones How can the small island countries take care and manage their huge maritime zones? To answer this question we have to differentiate between the near-shore areas surrounding the islands, and the extended exclusive economic zones up to 200 nautical miles in width, counted from the coastline or straight baselines respectively. To start with the latter the problem of management seems to be still neglectable. Up to the present time the ocean is considered as endless. The

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only more intensive use is connected with shipping and fishing. Shipping does not need sophisticated management in the South Pacific high seas. But regarding the fishery there are first warnings against overfishing, particularly since some far distant fishing countrie started to use drift gill nets for hazardous exploitation of the ocean. The South Pacific island countries are not very much incorporated in the deep sea fishing. Most of the fish—mainly tuna—is caught by Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, or American fi shermen. The management of the maritime zones outside the territorial seas is mainly restricted therefore to determining the total allowable catch (TAC) and to selling fishing licences to foreign fishing fleets. These activities are carried out or at least supported and monitored by the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (Honiara, Solomon Islands), a regional organisation of all the members of the South Pacific Forum. Some research in the fish resource is carried out by the South Pacific Commission (Noumea, New Caledonia), the other important regional organisation for the South Pacific. There are no other established public management systems for the maritime zones of the island countries. But the increase of fishing activities and the probably upcoming deep seabed mining will require growing management and planning efforts. The question arises whether the small island countries will have the administrative energy and authority for this enormous and difficult task. Regional planning means comprehensive goal-oriented planning Much more pressing is the demand for a planning and management system for the coastal and fringing offshore areas of the islands. Of course, there are several sectoral management institutions regarding the nearshore water areas of the islands, partly very effective customary institutions, partly modern systems—e.g. for navigation and harbours. But this paper will elaborate some thoughts on the need for comprehensive regional planning in the environment of small islands. Planning in general cannot solve all the problems connected with the actions of men or with the unpredictable events of nature. But planning is needed in all those situations where the resources—such as space, labour force, minerals, wildlife, or energy—are limited, or where the preservation of the environment is endangered—mainly by the growing or competing demands of men. Planning is understood here as co-ordinating the intended measures of the different ministries, companies or individuals, and as taking precautions for future development in order to achieve the goals which are demanded or accepted by the society.

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“Regional Planning” means that the goal of the planning process is not sectorally restricted to a specific element, but that planning is understood as “comprehensive planning”, that it is pursued in order to protect or to develop a whole area, taking into consideration all its relevant structures, its internal and external interdependencies and—generally speaking—its viability. In this sense there are three main tasks of “Regional Planning”: (i) to obtain an inventory of all the relevant structures and features of the planning area; (ii) to collect and to co-ordinate all the different plans and intentions of institutions or persons in charge of space-consuming activities (as mentioned above); (iii) to work out the pattern for the future situation of an area which should be accepted by the responsible politicians and by the society. Sensitive areas need regional planning foremost It is quite significant—if we take a look to the history of proper regional planning—that regional planning appeared first in areas where the size of the population was large in relation to the given amount and size of resources. Accordingly, the earliest regional planning approaches were organized several thousand years ago in desert areas when there was a need for irrigation, and later we can observe the creation of regional planning systems in the great conurbations of Europe from the end of the last century onward. Despite the fact that the majority of mankind live relatively close to the sea-coast, the coastal areas outside the bigger cities mostly did not belong to the areas with a high priority for the introduction of regional planning. Of course, for a very long time there have been planning activities for safety measures against flooding (dikes, causeways) in many coastal areas. But these have been cases of sectoral planning, not regional planning with its comprehensive approach. The reason for the lack of regional planning in coastal areas might come from the fact that on the one hand, there was no understanding of the scarcity of resources and the sensitivity of the environment, and on the other hand, the sea in front of the coast seemed to provide more or less unlimited space. And there is another astonishing fact: the offshore areas in particular were never included into regional planning systems, even if regional planning systems had been established on the land. The sea seemed to be endless and unlimited in its carrying capacity for human activities or for man-made waste.

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Coastal areas comprise land and sea

Very often—probably everywhere—the term “coast” was understood only with respect to the so-called “mainland”, and did not include the offshore areas. Consequently, in many countries we can observe that even where regional planning systems are established in general they end at the coast-line, mostly at the mean high water mark; the water areas offshore are excluded from regional planning. A further indicator for the disregard of the offshore areas is the more or less general neglect of their surface area for the calculation of the state’s total area, whereas the area of all the socalled inland waters behind the coast-line is taken into account. But this attitude does not serve the needs of this spatial category. The “coastal area” is not restricted to the “land area”, because the coastline cuts through a region of interdependent structures and functions. Both sides of the coastline belong together and form a peculiar spatial entity. The coastal area is characterized by a land-sea-continuum (see Buchholz 1992). Coastal areas are highly vulnerable

There is an additional reason for establishing a regional planning system for coastal areas, since these coastal areas, comprising the coastal mainland and the coastal offshore areas, are highly sensitive regarding their power of resistance or their ability to respond flexibly to influences from outside. This peculiar weakness of coastal areas is due to the fact that the interface between land and sea does not provide optimum stable living conditions either for land-based or for sea-based ecosystems. Apart from anything else, the number of species on the coastal land is much smaller than further inland and, similarly, only a selected number of species can exist in the nearshore area of the sea. If these factors and arguments are accepted, and if we look at the growing “sea use” by men, then we have to demand regional planning in coastal and offshore areas. Small islands are entire coastal areas

So far, all the remarks made here have been directed towards the coastal and offshore areas in general. But the arguments are even more stringent when we deal with islands e.g. the small islands of the tropical South Pacific. These islands are obviously “coastal” in their entirety. Configuration, size, and structure of the islands (with the exception of Papua New Guinea) do not permit any differentiation into “coastal” and “mainland” planning areas. This does not apply only to the atolls and the

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small elevated coral islands, but also to the larger high islands, because even there the mutual entanglements and interactions require a common planning region. If we understand each island as an entire interfacing zone between land and sea, then we have to consider its very sensitive character regarding all the intended or unintended influences and changes. Compared with the coastal areas of the continents, the coastal areas in the small island setting are very much more endangered. The smallness of their land area often hardly provides the “critical mass” for social and economic stability or progress, and the ecosystem also lacks the flexibility to overcome environmental stress. The offshore zones: essential parts of the small islands

The land and the surrounding sea of the islands are interconnected manifold and intensively. There are positive and negative interrelations between sea and land, often showing the characteristic weakness of small islands, for instance: – the deficiency of drinking water on low islands if there is a lack of rain, because the intruding salt water from the sea turns the small water-lense into brackish water; the same may happen as a result of a relatively insignificant sea level rise; – overfishing in the lagoon because of the demand by a growing population, even if fishing is pursued in the traditional way without modern fishing gear; – the contamination of large areas, sometimes of whole islands, by just one bigger factory (e.g. the Panguna copper mine at Bougainville or the nickel mining in New Caledonia); – the dying of the corals because the sewage is drained into the sea; – the destruction of the beaches because of growing harbor activities. – Fish canneries (e.g. at Levuka/Fiji) are dumping the waste from the fish in the reef area. Large numbers of sharks have therefore been attracted, so that any other use of the lagoon has become impossible. – The installation of aquacultures results in the poisoning of the reefs by distributing surplus food, animal drugs and the excrements from the fish. There are many more examples: every development or construction work in the sea influences other structures in the sea as well as developments on land—and vice versa.

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Of course, mutual positive effects do also exist. The intensification of fisheries results, for instance, in the construction of processing industries, and this will increase the employment opportunities of the island people, and thus the population will generally be stabilized. There are many possible measures with both positive and negative effects, for instance, prospecting for and probably exploiting offshore minerals. There might be gold in the reef areas of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and of Fiji, and probably other natural resources of the near-shore areas will attract people in future. Some principles for regional planning in small islands’ offshore areas

The first consequence of this situation should be the establishment of regional planning, if this has not already been done in the past. But if there is a regional planning system already on the land, the coastal waters should be included. The transfer of the principles of regional planning on the land to the sea area means: – drawing up an inventory of all the relevant natural or manmade features of the offshore area; – defining the intended future situation of the planning area with all its relevant features. This is mainly a political decision. (In the setting of small tropical islands this will mainly mean keeping a sustainable ecosystem.) – The next step is the co-ordination of the different plans and intended measures of ministries, companies etc., while taking the politically defined regional tasks into consideration. But the extension of the principles of regional planning onto the sea is not merely a technical process, because the water area shows several significant differences to the mainland. The most obvious difference is the fact that this area is characterized by a fluid condition. It is highly mobile and interchanging, horizontal as well as vertical. It is able to dilute, to mix, or to dissolve, to transport with rapid speed etc.. And it is difficult to keep it tied to a place. It is a very dynamic material, always changed by tides, waves, and currents. Thus there is a need for other methods in the water area to demarcate areas for different spatial use (“sea use”). In addition to the physical differences from the land there are different legal aspects regarding properties in this area, and also regarding public responsibilities. In many cases it is thus completely unclear whether local authorities or state institutions are responsible for construction works or

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other activities in the sea. (The present dispute between the governmentowned cannery at Levuka (Fiji) and the local people about intended land reclamation from the sea inside the reef gives an example of this type of conflict.) Outside of the 3 or 12 nautical mile zone (the Territorial Sea) it might become even more complicated because here—in addition to traditional rights—international law applies, for instance regarding shipping rights or the right to lay cables etc. . In summarizy we can say that the introduction of regional planning in coastal zones—and that means the extension of regional planning to the offshore area in particular—has to consider three aspects in general: (I) The more technical/bureaucratic aspect: that means the formal integration of these areas into the administration and planning systems that are established on land. (II) The political aspect: that means the definition of the planning goals for that area. III The social aspect: that means—as on land—the deduction of regional planning from and its adjustment to the traditional approaches of the local societies regarding the management of the coast and the sea. There is a demand not only for environmental assessment studies, but for social assessment studies as well. Some people may argue that there is no need for regional planning in the coastal and offshore areas of the small South Pacific islands, because in most of the islands there seems to be more or less no competing activity at present. Of course, in comparison to the industrialized continental states the activities in the islands are low at present. But the small islands are in a special situation: because of their weak flexibility and vulnerability they cannot wait until significant measurements and developments take place. Here planning has to be done in advance in order to avoid irreparable damages. And the whole problem has reached a new dimension since we have begun to understand the mechanism of global change, which may result in a rise of the sea level and in other decisive consequences for the islands. References: 1. 2.

Aspects of the North Sea. National Physical Planning Agency. The Hague (Government Publishing Office) 1981. ASEAN Experts Group on the Environment (ed.): General guidelines on the development and management of coastal areas. Sixth meeting of ASEAN

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3.

4.

5. 6.

7.

8.

9. 10.

11. 12. 13.

14.

15.

Experts Group on the Environment 1983. Jakarta 1983. (=ASEAN, Document no. 21) Board on Science and Technology for International Development, Office of International Affairs and Ocean Policy (ed.): Coastal resources development and management needs of developing countries. Washington D.C., 1981. BUCHHOLZ, H.: Law of the sea boundaries in the South Pacific. Maritime Zones and Mining Area Claims. In: International Boundaries and Boundary Conflict Resolution. Proceedings of the 1989 IBRU Conference, ed. by C.Grundy-Warr. Durham 1990, pp. 75–90. BUCHHOLZ, H.: Law of the Sea Zones in the Pacific Ocean. Singapore 1987 BUCHHOLZ, H.: The land-sea-continuum. What does it mean for the delimitation of coast-oriented spatial planning areas? Qingdao (in print) (1992). BUCHHOLZ, H.: Regionalplanung zur See. Jede begrenzte Ressource bedarf der vorausschauenden Planung. (Regional planning at sea: each limited resource needs prospective planning. The North Sea example.) In: Geographie der Küsten und Meere. Berlin 1985, pp. 153–168. (=Berliner geographische Studien, 16). CHANDRA, R.: West German and European Cooperation with the South Pacific: a Pacific view of possible roles. In: New Approaches to Development Cooperation with South Pacific Countries, ed. by H.Buchholz. Saarbrücken and Fort Lauderdale 1987, pp. 39–56. (=Papers of the Institute of International Relations, 11) CHIA, Lin Sien: Singapore’s urban coastal area. Strategies for management. Singapore (in print). CHUA, T.E. and D.Pauly (ed.): Coastal area management in Southeast Asia: policies, management strategies and case studies. ASEAN/US Policy Workshop on Coastal Area Management, 1988. Proceedings. Johore Bahru 1989. CONNELL, John: Migration, employment and development in the South Pacific. (Country Reports) Noumea (SPC/ILO) 1983 ff. PRESCOTT, J.R.V.: The Maritime Political Boundaries of the World. London/New York 1985. PRESCOTT, J.R.V.: Maritime Boundaries agreements: Australia Indonesia and Australia-Solomon Islands. In: Marine Policy Reports, 1, 1989, pp. 37–45. SHAPIRO, Harvey A.: Environmental planning for land-use change in Japan: the Tokyo Bay area coastal cities study. In: Land-use change. Proceedings of the Asahikawa-Sapporo International Symposium, ed. by R.D.Hill. Hong Kong 1989, pp. 155–174. SCHARMANN, L.: The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and its implications for Third World Countries: The Case of Tuna Fishery in

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16. 17.

18.

19. 20.

21.

South Pacific Countries. In: Ocean Shoreline Management, 15, 1991, pp. 309–324. SMITH, R.W.: Global Maritime Claims. In: Ocean Development and International Law, vol. 20, 1988, pp. 83–103. SMITH, R.W.: Maritime Boundaries of the World. Washington, D.C. 1988. (=Limits in the Seas, no.108, ed. by United States Department of State. Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.) U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (ed.): Integrated renewable resource management for U.S. insular areas. Washington D.C. (U.S. Government Printing Office) 1987 (OTA-F-325). VALLEGA, A.: La regione marittimo-littoranea, nuova categoria di ricerca regionale. In: Rivista Geografica Italiana, 87, 1980, pp. 367–385. VALENCIA, M.J. (ed.): Coastal area development and management in Asia and the Pacific. Honolulu (East-West Center, Environment and Policy Institute) 1981. WALKER, H.J.: The shoreline: realities and perspectives. In: Coastal planning: realities and perspectives. Geneva 1987, pp. 60–82.

URBAN WATERFRONT MANAGEMENT: HISTORICAL PATTERNS AND PROSPECTS D A PINDER Professor of Economic Geography Department of Geographical Sciences University of Plymouth Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK B S HOYLE Reader in Geography Department of Geography UniversityABSTRACT of Southampton Urban waterfrontSouthampton zones, particularly not exclusively in older port SO9but5NH, UK

cities, are the subject of intensive planning activity and redevelopment. The decline of older port areas, and the revaluation of inner-city waterfront zones, has produced new forms of spatial organisation and revised socio-economic relationships. The paper examines the forces and processes responsible for waterfront decline, considers the origins and nature of the revitalisation movement and—to underline the importance of revitalisation in long-term city development—outlines the need for more rigorous studies of its consequences. It is argued that, while waterfront revitalisation is a major movement affecting many inner-urban areas, effective planning approaches must take account of historical processes and must extend beyond cityport boundaries to include coastal zone management. INTRODUCTION Urban waterfront management is an element in the process of inner-city regeneration that is now widespread in many parts of the world, and interest in it has produced a large literature. Most studies have, however, concentrated on specific locations rather than on the analysis of processes and issues, and it is only relatively recently that emphasis has been placed on matters such as forces and trends, problem perception, policy

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Figure 9.1. The port-city interface in Genoa (Consorgio Autonoma del Porto di Genova)

formulation and the balance between social goals and commercial interests. The need for more critical systematic analyses was argued strongly by Hoyle, Pinder and Husain in 1988 [1], and subsequent conferences—primarily those held in Washington (1990), Venice (1991), Manchester (1991) and Genoa (1991)—have attempted to encourage comparative, problem-oriented investigations. This chapter aims to continue this trend. In traditional port cities—superbly exemplified by historic Genoa— urban and port functions were closely associated in the past, when the waterfront provided a focal activity zone linking maritime and land-based transport and trade (Figure 9.1). In some instances this focus is still present, but in large, modern cityports—Le Havre, New York, Mombasa— there is often a marked separation of port and urban functions. In recent

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decades many inner-city waterfront areas have been abandoned, and the resultant redundant docklands have become a major urban planning problem (Figure 9.2). As will be shown, the redevelopment of these problem zones is usually undertaken for purposes which have more to do with housing, the office sector and recreation than with seaborne trade. The redevelopment of urban waterfronts does not, of course, occur exclusively in port cities; it is to be found in most places where settlement and water are juxtaposed, whether or not commercial port activity was present. However, as a result of the concentration and juxtaposition of urban and maritime influences, port cities generally present the major issues involved in waterfront redevelopment most clearly. Revitalisation of the waterfront in these locations is, and always has been, a response to trends and opportunities at the port/city interface [2, 3]. In its contemporary guise, it is a phenomenon that effectively started in North America—both in the United States and Canada—in the 1960s and became a major industry there in the 1970s. Now Europe is redeveloping many of her older port areas, learning in some ways from North American experience. Waterfront revitalisation has become very much the flavour of the fin de siècle years in European cityports. Elsewhere, other advanced countries—such as Australia—have followed the same pathway [4] while some of the more progressive developing countries, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, are also participating in the movement [5]. Studies of waterfront regeneration in these widely differing contexts demonstrate the existence of contrasted perceptions affecting inter-relationships between ports and cities on the one hand, and between cityports and regions on the other [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. The challenges presented by waterfront management are considerable, for they demand many responses: an adjustment to the new locational requirements of ports and a rethinking of the ways in which ports should be structured for the needs of today and tomorrow; the physical redesign of substantial urban areas, and the restructuring of the communities involved; and a reassessment of the role of cityports in the context of regional—and especially coastal—management. The impact on society goes hand in hand with the impact on the environment, and both are invariably controversial. Against this background, the remainder of this paper examines, first, the forces and processes responsible for waterfront decline. Attention then turns to the origins and nature of the revitalisation movement and—given the importance of revitalisation in long-term city development—to the need for more rigorous studies of its consequences.

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ORIGINS OF DECLINE The processes underlying the decline of historic port areas—and therefore the emergence of a waterfront management problem—are now clear. Recent decades have witnessed widespread and far-reaching technological changes in shipping and cargo-handling methods, the key to these developments being an emphasis on scale and scale economies. As a result, the older parts of ports have in many instances proved incapable of accommodating new types and generations of shipping and, therefore, new forms of trade. Also, a mismatch has developed in these areas between the types of handling facilities needed and those that can actually be provided in the limited space that is usually available [13, 14]. To a great extent this mismatch is the outcome of technological and commercial developments that have made possible the proliferation of space-demanding containerisation and bulk cargo-handling methods. Port users have in general reacted to these well-established trends by adopting three defensive management strategies, all of which have contributed to the creation of redundant space on the urban waterfront. First, believing that they lacked the resources, markets or initiative to restructure successfully in situ or elsewhere, many port users closed down their activities completely. Second, they dealt with the challenges by migrating to deeper water and more spacious handling areas within the same port. This has frequently been described as migration to ‘bluecoast’ sites. Third, they migrated to other ports in the belief that these offered facilities which were able to provide improved long-term operational security. These trends were frequently accelerated by the natural tendency of port authorities to focus their attention on the parts of ports, and the port activities, which were healthiest and had the greatest potential for ensuring future economic viability. These authorities were, of course, structured to provide land that was in demand by port users, and were not organised to deal with the problems of discarded space. In most instances their perception was that run-down port zones were exhausted assets which they, like port users, should abandon. While the processes described were fundamental to the proliferation of redundant port areas, they also impacted on the surrounding urban area and therefore widened the zone posing urban management problems. In particular, socio-economic difficulties frequently emerged in districts originally developed in conjunction with the port function—inner-urban zones which in some instances were true maritime quarters or ‘sailortowns’ [15]. Here whole communities grew and prospered for a time on

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Figure 9.2 Depths of decline: part of Liverpool’s Albert Dock complex in 1982 (John Mills Photography Ltd)

employment created by the port and its related services, but the collapse of traditional port cargoes and cargo-handling methods triggered downward

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transition and fragmentation in these communities, contributing substantially to the growth of socio-economic deprivation. Although port and shipping technologies were fundamental forces producing retreat from traditional waterfronts and causing maritimequarter decline, management of the waterfront zone has also been complicated by the emergence of deindustrialisation. This factor partly reflects the pressures of global industrial competition, but is also closely related to the maritime technological forces discussed above. Innumerable industrial concerns in older port-areas have closed or migrated as a result of stresses imposed by the modernisation of transportation and cargohandling systems. As was the case with the abandonment of port areas, however, the effects of this trend have not been confined to the port itself, but have overspilled into the inner city. Here port-related industries have contributed substantially to the redundant space problem and, through employment loss, have greatly exacerbated the process of socio-economic decline noted above. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS: THE MIXEDUSE APPROACH The outcome of this downward spiral was that outmoded port areas, and adjacent inner-urban districts, became repulsive to investment capital. This state of affairs naturally inhibited recovery through the unfettered operation of the urban land market. In this way the dominant planning problem for such areas became the difficulty of recreating demand, and therefore value, on the discarded waterfront. The urgency of this problem was frequently underlined by the fact that the derelict areas were commonly larger than the entire central business districts of the towns and cities in question. The London Docklands, the Toronto waterfront, and the Baltimore and Salford port areas all illustrate this point [16]. Viewed retrospectively, it is apparent that initial progress towards the rekindling of demand was achieved through the action and interaction of various public and private-sector authorities [17, 18]. Most commonly, however, local authorities—recognising the lack of enthusiasm amongst port administrations and commercial developers—became the early prime movers. Not least, this reflected the local political consequences of employment decline, and the fact that its physical impact usually spread well beyond the port boundary, often to the threshold of the city’s commercial core. Early local authority action frequently entailed derelict land clearance, often with the assistance of provincial or government grants. The rationale for this activity was that dereliction was the legacy of

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past prosperity, and it was therefore reasonable that society should invest in clearance as a prelude to another era of productive use. Today the problem of sluggish or non-existent demand for derelict waterfront districts has in general been greatly reduced. Indeed, one of the striking changes that has occurred in the land markets of most port cities over the last twenty years has been the revolution that has ushered in the era of high demand for abandoned port zones. Because this new demand would not have emerged if business confidence in these areas had not been restored, it is necessray to examine how this has occurred. To a degree, confidence and the perception of value in derelict docklands has been created by the early clearance activities carried out by local authorities noted above. Where these were undertaken they at least reduced substantially the investment costs facing private developers. Secondly, local authorities have boosted commercial confidence by demonstrating what is possible through, for example, historic building conservation or the familiar provision of maritime museums. Thirdly, however, new confidence in the potential of the waterfront has depended heavily on commercial interests’ observation of progress and profitability elsewhere. Thus pioneer, or particularly prominent, revitalisation schemes —such as those in San Fransisco, Baltimore, Boston and London—have been highly influential in convincing potential developers that revitalisation is feasible. Here a note of caution is appropriate. The widespread occurrence of waterfront revitalisation schemes has tended to breed the assumption that urban managers are now able to deal effectively with all cases of port decline. However, the evidence is that this is a false assumption, chiefly because much depends on the relationship between the supply of, and the demand for, redundant waterfront land. There are, for example, lowimpetus cityport economies where demand for space is overwhelmed by supply, Liverpool being an outstanding case in point. Here visitors are in most instances prepared for the high-grade conservation they encounter around the showpiece Albert Dock, a development which contains among other things the ‘Tate of the North’ art gallery (Figure 9.3). But they probably do not expect the wide tracts of cleared and unredeveloped land in the immediate vicinity, areas which simultaneously reflect the rapid and extensive rundown of the port, and the general weakness of the city economy. Despite this caveat, it is true that investors have lost many of their original perception barriers and—far from shunning old port areas—now frequently seek out localities ripe for investment. This rising interest has been closely connected with the spread of waterfront redevelopment to

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Figure 9.3 Liverpool’s restored Albert Dock in 1988 (John Mills Photography Ltd)

lower and lower levels in the urban-port hierarchy, and for many urban authorities it has meant that the problems and costs of establishing sustained revitalisation have lessened significantly. Indeed, in both North America and Western Europe, revitalisation initiatives now frequently come from developers rather than from city authorities. Moreover, it is not unusual for these developers to include port authorities or their subsidiary companies. Rather than dispose of their derelict land as rapidly as possible, ports increasingly see redundant space as a continuing asset to be exploited to maximum benefit. Real estate dealings and land development can be highly remunerative for port administrations. A key point in understanding the speed with which this revolution has occurred is that it has depended heavily on the realisation that certain specific land uses are particularly suited to revitalisation projects. As a result, a relatively standard approach to revitalisation has become possible and has been applied—admittedly with wide variations—at countless sites on the urban waterfronts of the developed world. The land uses that have

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proved successful, sometimes singly but frequently in a complex mix, reflect the emergence in the late twentieth century of prosperous, increasingly post-industrial, societies in economically advanced countries. Housing in these projects is typically expensive and in many instances exclusive; the heritage function, and the presence of water attractive to a variety of users, frequently provide the foundation for a considerably wider mix of leisure and recreation activities; retailing, sometimes exclusive but often offbeat, is a common element; office development—clean but productive—may also have a high profile; conference facilities and trade centres (as in Genoa) are not uncommon; and, in this motorised age, the mobility of users of the revitalised areas dictates that car parking is often an extensive feature. Schemes based on this mix of new land uses have undoubtedly changed beyond recognition the urban environments found in and around many abandoned port areas. For this reason, it is natural to regard the movement as successful, and there is no shortage of developers, port authorities or city administrations who claim this to be the case. However, it is striking that studies of change on the waterfront concentrate overwhelmingly on the details of redevelopment policy and, in general, offer little critical analysis of project achievements. Moreover, it is generally assumed without debate that the type of land-use mix outlined above is the most appropriate that can be devised. This is disturbing, since studies that attempt to assess revitalisation in a detached, critical manner are inclined to conclude that the outcomes of these projects are less valuable to society than the dramatic changes in the landscape would suggest [19, 20]. This is not to say that this approach to the problems of waterfront abandonment is totally inappropriate, but it does imply that improved outcomes might be achieved in many instances. It is therefore appropriate that this chapter should review at least a selection of major issues relating to the outcomes of the waterfront revitalisation movement. Those chosen—to illustrate the breadth of the debate that is desirable—are the role of housing in revitalisation programmes; the economic impact of regeneration; the reintegration of docklands with the city; the changing nature of redundant port space and its possible ‘recycling’ for new port uses; and the significance of revitalisation for long-term cityport and coastal zone development. HOUSING ON THE WATERFRONT One of the most striking features of regeneration schemes is the extent to which residential development is dominated by high-cost housing

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(Figure 9.4). Such housing has become the norm, the typical explanation offered by developers being that development costs associated with these projects are too high to allow the construction of less-expensive property on any significant scale. However, considerable disquiet has been voiced about this situation, the counter-argument being based on two premises. First, opponents of schemes dominated by high-value housing justify their stance in terms of social justice. At its most extreme, this perspective may be expressed in terms of class struggle and is essentially Marxist in outlook; but the basic argument is by no means held simply by adherents of the far Left. Dockland decline, it is proposed, has typically worked to the disadvantage of low-income groups in the community, many of whose members live in unsatisfactory conditions in inner-urban areas. Thus critics view redundant port zones as areas of opportunity which may be exploited to the benefit of poor or otherwise vulnerable members of society through the provision of social housing or other forms of low-cost dwelling. In many instances this argument is applied to revitalisation projects involving new construction, but it is also extended to other types of housing provision. For example, opposition is frequently voiced to newcomers in residential districts surrounding port areas, the fear in this case being that ‘gentrification’ will work to the disadvantage of the lessprosperous residents by displacing them as property and rental values rise [21, 22]. Second, although the large majority of housing schemes in revitalisation areas involve high-value accommodation, examples can be found of the extensive construction of social housing on the waterfront. Regeneration which gives high priority to social housing, through new construction and far-reaching renovation, has been studied most extensively in the Netherlands [23]. Here its prominence clearly challenges the widespread developers’ argument that the economics of waterfront redevelopment dictate the construction of property for high-income groups (Figure 9.5). Against this background, it is perhaps significant that more social housing projects have been incorporated in waterfront revitalisation schemes since the mid-1980s. For example, in the UK numerous modest projects involving local councils and housing associations—often in joint ventures with each other and with developers—have been launched. Thus, for 1991–92 alone, plans have been approved for almost 5,000 housing association dwellings either in redundant port zones or in inner-urban areas within striking distance of the waterfront. Typically such projects result in social housing forming a significant minority of the total housing stock. In Bristol, for example, it accounts for approximately a fifth of all new residential development in the waterfront zone.

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Figure 9.4 Georgian rebirth: private housing at Alexandra Quay, Southampton (Cougar Communications)

Despite this trend, one further point relating to the housing policy debate requires exploration. This is that the case for social housing on the waterfront rests on the assumption that revitalised port areas are appropriate and attractive locations for those likely to be in need of this type of accommodation. It may well be that this assumption is well founded, but it is also possible that the waterfront is a far-from-ideal location for relatively vulnerable groups including the elderly, the handicapped , the relatively poor and single parents. For example, potential residents from such groups may not feel a strong affinity with the waterfront if the new residential developments are set in broader,

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Figure 9.5 Social housing around the in-filled Dokhaven, Rotterdam (Gemeente Rotterdam, Dienst Stedebouw en Volkshuisvesting; Freek van Arkel)

somewhat artificial environments comprising land uses such as specialised shopping, office developments, conference centres and water-orientated leisure activities. Perhaps even more importantly, it can be envisaged that waterfront locations may be seriously inconvenient for residents whose mobility is hampered by income or health factors. Few port regeneration schemes are well-served by public transport—an issue to which we shall return below—and it is therefore possible that relatively immobile residents would experience very real inconvenience and disadvantage due to remoteness from health or other social services; from appropriate employment centres; or from affordable shopping facilities. Moreover, with the passage of time the difficulties experienced by some residents could well increase: those moving into a scheme in their sixties might find locational disadvantages increasingly significant as they pass through their seventies and approach their eighties. These caveats point to the conclusion that the case for a considerable expansion of social housing in these districts requires support from research conducted in existing waterfront social housing schemes. Can it be demonstrated that residents find their general environments congenial? is there little substance to the fear that these locations may be highly

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inconvenient? Do the answers to both these questions vary according to the type resident? Exploration of these issues would do much to enable residential policy for the waterfront to develop in an objective manner and in constructive directions. ECONOMIC IMPACT Intensive research is also needed to test the widespread assumption— naturally espoused by developers—that waterfront revitalisation schemes contribute substantially to local economic development through consumer expenditure and employment creation. In some highly publicised schemes —Boston and Baltimore are good examples—there is little doubt that major economic benefits have accrued to the city. But very often it is simply expected or claimed that projects will exert a substantial economic impact, and there is a noticeable shortage of independent investigations into the actual gains made. There is perhaps a parallel here with new transport links which may facilitate, but not necessarily promote, socioeconomic development. In broad policy terms, it can be proposed that an economically effective revitalisation scheme should seek to emulate the contribution previously made to the cityport economy by the redundant port area. This zone usually generated large-scale employment, mainly in cargo-handling and ancillary services, employment that was supported by the port’s earnings outside the local economy. This reliance on external earnings was of fundamental importance for the cityport since it provided a long-term source of growth. Ideally, it can be argued, port regeneration should replace this lost impetus with other sources of external income which—not least through the expenditure of a new labour force—should once more fuel local demand. Examples of revitalisation following this pathway can be identified, and normally take the form of new activities able to attract a substantial and continually changing clientele. Conference and trade centres with regional, national or international catchment areas perform just this function—as in Genoa, Brisbane, Singapore and New York—which is invariably reinforced by hotel development and retailing designed specifically to support and feed on the through-flow of clients. Similarly, many heritage attractions draw in a constant flow of tourists whose economic impact varies in relation to their length of stay. But the strategy of replacing lost external earnings need not rely entirely on these means. Thus a waterfront project that is able to attract an external employer operating at the national or international scale may achieve an equivalent outcome. When Lloyds Bank

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Figure 9.6 New jobs for old? The economic impact of office development is highly dependent on the attraction of firms from outside the region (Cougar Communications)

has completed its headquarters transfer from London to the Bristol docklands, for example, the city will have gained 1,400 jobs. Despite such examples, however, there is little empirical evidence that regeneration schemes in general succeed in recreating on a large scale the external earnings lost by port decline. Indeed, there are indications that the success of schemes in this respect may be easily overestimated. One recent study [24] has considered the case of Portsmouth’s naval heritage area, the largest development of its type in the UK and one which enjoys an international reputation. This attraction is presented by the City of Portsmouth as an important element of its policy to compensate for the long-term decline of the naval dockyard, and stress is placed on its propensity to generate direct employment and visitor expenditure in the

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city as a whole. Consultants’ reports have supported this perception and have argued that appropriate development would enhance even further the heritage area’s impact. Yet re-examination of the consultants’ data reveals that, relative to the scale of earlier job loss and to the output of the city economy as a whole, the naval heritage function will remain modest. At best, further development would compensate for no more than a quarter of civilian job loss in the dockyard since 1982 and would add no more than 1.3 per cent to the total value of city output. Similarly, the same study has examined the impact of a much more typical regeneration scheme in the neighbouring port of Southampton. Here one long-term development—the planned creation of a centre for ocean research—may eventually contribute significantly to the regeneration of external earnings for the local economy. But, by the early 1990s, the activities introduced to the abandoned port zone had done little in this respect. Less than a fifth of total employment had been created by firms— chiefly offices—that had relocated to Southampton from outside the region (Figure 9.6). Despite the presence of a marina, for most people the only significant leisure opportunity comprised an ordinary multiscreen cinema. The average employment in nearly 60 shops was less than two, while the turnover of shops was so high that a third were usually empty at any one time. In sum, while redevelopment had greatly improved the derelict environment, its regional and national functions were restricted. Portsmouth and Southampton provide, it is true, just two examples. Yet if the degree of success actually achieved by waterfront regeneration in these neighbouring cityports can be so readily questioned, it is clearly necessary that more probing studies are undertaken for similar regeneration schemes around the world. Such investigations, it must be emphasised, are not needed primarily to decry the achievements of revitalisation programmes. The key point is that waterfront revitalisation is typically ‘sold’ to cityport populations and administrations primarily on the basis of its economic benefits. If these benefits accrue mainly to developers and not to city economies, it is then at least arguable that significant policy modifications should be envisaged. On the one hand, more overt attempts to generate substantial external earnings might be considered. On the other, the way could well be open for non-economic goals to be given greater prominence in regeneration programmes. RE-INTEGRATION WITH THE CITY From ancient times to the nineteenth century, ports were in most instances closely integrated physically with the town or city which they

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served [25, 26]. By the late nineteenth century, however, the scale of port development and the nature of the activities conducted in port areas ensured that most docklands were distinct urban zones, often firmly separated from residential and other districts by a security wall. Only in rare instances—of which Halifax, Nova Scotia, is an outstanding example —did port and city remain closely integrated (Figures 9.7 and 9.8). An important consequence was that, as port activity in these areas later declined, in many instances the redundant space created remained isolated from the remainder of the city. Moreover, isolation was often enhanced by the fact that these areas were commonly separated from the thriving central business district (CBD) by inner-urban districts in which business activity was languishing. These districts formed barriers to progressive change and, as a result, the re-integration of the former docklands with the city as a whole has become a major urban planning challenge. One function of the introduction of new land uses such as leisure activities, heritage attractions, office development and housing is to initiate the process of re-integration. Users of leisure facilities are normally drawn from throughout the city and beyond its limits, while office development typically has a similar catchment for its labour force. In many instances, too, office services have close links with businesses in the CBD so that—in urban morphological terms—the reviving docklands become a zone of assimilation that is effectively an extension or outlier of the CBD. However, such developments do not necessarily ensure that the process of re-integration proceeds as far, or as rapidly, as it could. Ineffective re-integration may be a particular difficulty for specific sections of the city population and business community. In the population’s case integration difficulties are especially likely for those lacking mobility, perhaps because of low incomes, age or disability. Individuals with these problems, which may of course be closely related to each other, may often experience considerable difficulty in exploiting the opportunities of revitalised areas because the latter are often poorly served by public transport. Although some large cityports have incorporated rapid transit systems in their redeveloped waterfronts (as in Vancouver and Sydney), and others such as Southampton are planning to do so, redevelopment typically proceeds on the assumption that usage will be car-based. If public transport facilities such as bus services are provided at all, they are unlikely to amount to a network allowing easy movement to the waterfront from throughout the city. As was indicated earlier, however, inaccessibility caused by limited public transport may not be a problem confined to groups in society who live outside the revitalisation areas. The introduction of social housing in redundant docklands might have much to commend it

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Figure 9.7 Halifax, Nova Scotia: port-city integration, 1929 (Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax)

in terms of social justice, but needs to be accompanied by transport developments to ensure that new isolated communities are not created. Within the business community the retailing sector is most sensitive to slow or ineffective integration, largely because shopping facilities in regeneration schemes must have the potential to draw in customers in large numbers. When the waterfront is close to a city’s core this may pose little problem, as Halifax, Nova Scotia, demonstrates. But if waterfront retailing is divorced from the core by more than two or three hundred metres, there is a risk that it will have difficulty reaching the ‘critical mass’ necessary to attract customers in sufficient volume. In these circumstances a high turnover of businesses and high vacancy rates are likely to be characteristic of waterfront retailing—the example from Southampton, quoted earlier, is a good case in point. What is also likely is that the development may suffer in terms of the range and quality of merchandise available. Such tendencies are, of course, likely to reinforce the difficulties of attracting clientele from the retailing core.

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Figure 9.8 Halifax, Nova Scotia: port-city integration, 1990 (Port of Halifax)

Solutions to the problem of sustaining retailing in relatively remote waterfront locations may be sought through improved transport links with the city core. Shuttle bus services provide a low-cost option, although there is also interest in strategies requiring heavier fixed investment such as the use of trams or the construction of rapid transit systems, including monorails [27]. What may be noted is that such links, although they are normally proposed to facilitate public access from the city centre to the waterfront, also offer considerable improvements with respect to movement in the reverse direction. Attempts to solve a commercial problem (the remoteness of retailing) may therefore contribute to the reduction of any social and economic difficulties caused by the isolation of social housing on the waterfront. Improved transport between the city core and the waterfront is an obvious response to the latter’s isolation, but the problem may also be approached in other ways. As in Toronto and San Fransisco, for example, city planners may introduce into the waterfront zone land uses generating sufficient employment to provide significant demand for local retailing. Major office developments are able to fulfil this function, and city administrations—often one of the largest local employers—may reinforce

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the effect by relocating administrative activities to the waterfront zone. Economic activities likely to feel the benefit naturally include cafés, bars and restaurants aiming chiefly at the lunchtime market but, since many of the office employees are likely to be working women, an additional beneficiary may be day-to-day shopping facilities. If so, this is in turn likely to henefit the residential population on the waterfront by providing ready access to at least one type of essential service. NEW FORMS OF REDUNDANT SPACE: TOWARDS RE-USE FOR PORT FUNCTIONS? Although in many parts of the world the spotlight is on the revitalisation of derelict harbour areas, this does not mean that the process of dockland decline has ceased. Even though few ports currently have major plans for the construction of new harbours, the chief exceptions being in Japan and the Middle East, economic realities dictate that existing modern port areas are used as effectively as possible. This in turn means that older upstream facilities continue to become decreasingly relevant to present-day port activity. The basic processes generating redundant space on the waterfront are therefore ensuring that the phenomenon will exert a significant influence on urban planning for the foreseeable future. As these processes progress, however, changes are occurring in both the nature of the outmoded docklands and the ways in which they are viewed by port authorities. These changes underline an increasing need, discussed in the next section, to devise waterfront revitalisation in the broad contexts of city development and management of the coastal zone. First, port functions are now declining in twentieth-century harbour areas, not simply those built centuries ago or even in the nineteenth century. Indeed, as Pinder and Husain [28] have demonstrated with respect to oil refining, industrial restructuring since the 1970s has caused extensive land redundancy in port areas constructed as recently as 20 or 30 years ago. One important consequence of this is that the type of revitalisation so popular in the past may become less easy to deploy as a strategy in the future. For example, harbours originally developed in the interwar period are typically more remote from the CBD than their predecessors, and are even less suitable for activities requiring effective integration with the core. Similarly, the redevelopment strategy appropriate for a nineteenth-century dock area of perhaps 20 ha is most unlikely to be suitable for an abandoned refinery or steelworks site covering perhaps several square kilometres. The changing character and location of redundant waterfront land is therefore creating new challenges

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to which the planning sytem and potential investors must respond if the resultant opportunities are to be exploited effectively. Second, the widespread assumption that redundant docklands can only be redeveloped for non-port functions is now being questioned. Experiments in ports such as Rotterdam, Antwerp and Gent have demonstrated that conversion to alternative port functions is possible, and it seems highly likely that these successes will cause further experimentation elsewhere [29]. This changed attitude to redundant space partly reflects the nature of twentieth-century docklands. Compared with earlier developments, the space they offer can be highly attractive. But the new perspective is also a consequence of other important influences. Continued creation of new port areas is not only expensive, in this ‘green’ era it is highly likely to entail considerable environmental conflict. In comparison, ‘recycling’ redundant harbours for continued port use has conservationist overtones, is far less exposed to conflict and, very importantly, is a relatively low-cost strategy. Quite apart from the causes, however, the recycling of docklands for port use has important implications for the future of waterfront revitalisation. If the trend becomes widespread it will clearly ease the problem of finding appropriate new uses for these sites. In doing so it will help sustain the asset value of port areas and this, in turn, may reduce opportunities to introduce non-port uses that are not highly profitable. But while this scenario envisages a future that, in economic terms, is relatively healthy, the trend may not be to the benefit of the individual citizen. In particular, provision for unremunerative activities such as informal recreation—which may be highly desirable in congested cityports—could prove increasingly difficult. CITYPORTS AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT The discussion has demonstrated that the decline of port areas and the revitalisation of urban waterfront zones has led to the re-examination of the port/city interface in a wide variety of locations throughout the world. Although this has naturally led to intensive study of inner-urban locations, it is increasingly apparent that we must guard against any tendency to examine, analyse and renovate the core areas of port cities in isolation. Waterfront zones, originally ‘doorstep’ locations in urban economic terms, can have little genuine character or significance if they are divorced from the cities of which they are a part. Moreover, there should be no false dichotomy in cultural terms between, on the one hand, the port city and, on the other, the coastal region within which it is set. In Thomas Hardy’s vision of nineteenth-century ‘Casterbridge’ (Dorchester), ‘town and

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country met at a mathematical line’; today they do not do so, if in fact they ever did, and the renovation of port cities must consequently be conceived in terms of the management of the regions within which they are set. Coastal zone management is a phrase that has been to some extent hijacked by environmental scientists, ecologists and others concerned with the physical environment. In human terms, however, and in relation to the problems of port cities, it involves the conceptualisation of relationships that transcend the artificial boundaries of the cityport to encompass the real-world symbiotic interchanges between cityport and region. Port cities are the nodal centres of activity and development within coastal zones, and it is unrealistic to focus attention exclusively upon urban patterns and problems, still less upon the waterfront alone, without attempting to place these central core areas in context. Putting the argument the other way round, coastal zone management should treat littoral regions as dynamic interactive wholes, within which port cities perform a critical but not overwhelmingly dominant role. The evolving balance between cityport and region must be carefully assessed, for each is dependent on the other. CONCLUSION The need for urban waterfront management and redevelopment became a pressing problem in the 1960s and 1970s as port dereliction and associated inner-city decay spread rapidly in the economically advanced countries. Initially the process of redevelopment was hampered by lack of clarity as to appropriate strategies, and redundant port areas, in particular, were widely regarded as exhausted assets. Value was, however, re-established in many of these areas with surprising speed, largely by recognising in prosperous western societies aspects of demand which could be met through new developments in these discarded zones. The recreation of value, and the relative ease with which it often became possible to replace dereliction by far more attractive environments, quickly led to waterfront revitalisation being widely regarded as a highly successful chapter in the story of modern urban development. There remains, however, room for considerably more critical analyses of the consequences of this impressive redevelopment movement. Studies of policy impact, as opposed to policy formulation, are few and far between, and more incisive evaluations are necessary both to achieve a measured judgement of past achievements and—most importantly—to inform future strategy development. But strategy development also requires an appreciation of the changing nature of redundant port zones and of the

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pressures which now cause ports to discard harbour areas less readily than in the past. Proposals for non-port uses may increasingly have to compete with others involving new port-based activities and, in this competition, it cannot be assumed that ‘successful’ land-use mixes employed in the past will be appropriate for the future. Also, it is increasingly argued that the revitalisation process should not be implemented in isolation, but should instead be set overtly in the contexts of the cityport as a whole and of the coastal region. Without this perspective, major developments on the waterfront run a clear risk of initiating disequilibrium elsewhere. Urban waterfront management has therefore made far-reaching progress, but must continue to adapt and respond to change if the potential benefits of revitalisation are to be maximised. REFERENCES 1.

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Hoyle, B.S., Pinder, D.A. and Husain, M.S., Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, Belhaven, London, 1988. Konvitz, J.W., Cities and the Sea: port city planning in early modern Europe, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore and London, 1978. Konvitz, J.W., Spatial perspectives on port city development 1780–1980, Urbanism Past and Present, 1982, 7(2), 23–33. Sant, M., Waterfront revitalisation and the active port: the case of Sydney, Australia. In Port Cities in Context: the impact of waterfront regeneration, ed. B.S.Hoyle, Transport Geography Study Group, Institute of British Geographers, 1990, pp. 69–93. Bristow, R., Market forces ascendant: dynamics of change on the Hong Kong waterfront. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, eds. B.S.Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1988, pp. 167–82. Canada, Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, The Urban Waterfront: growth and change in Canadian port cities, Ottawa, 1978. Forward, C.N., A comparison of waterfront land use in four Canadian ports: St. John’s, Saint John, Halifax and Victoria. Economic Geography, 1969, 45, 155–69. Forward, C.N., Waterfront land use in the six Australian state capitals. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1970, 60, 517–31. Hebbert, M., The five problems of dockland redevelopment. Town and Country Planning, 1982, 51 (5), 129–31. Hoyle, B.S. (ed.), Port Cities in Context: the impact of waterfront regeneration, Transport Geography Study Group, Institute of British Geographers, 1990.

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Hoyle, B.S., Waterfront Redevelopment in Canadian Port Cities: some viewpoints on issues involved, University of Southampton, Department of Geography, Discussion Paper 36, 1991. Merrens, R., Urban Waterfront Redevelopment in North America: an annotated bibliography , Toronto, University of Toronto/York University Joint Program in Transportation, Research Report No.55, 1980. Gilman, S. and Burn, S., Dockland activities: technology and change. In The Resources of Merseyside, ed. W.S.Gould and A.G.Hodgkiss, Liverpool University Press, 1983. Slack, B., Technology and Seaports in the 1980s. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 1990, 71, 108–13. Hilling, D., Socio-economic change in the maritime quarter: the demise of sailortown. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, eds. B.S. Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1988, pp. 20–37. Law, C.M., Urban revitalisation, public policy and the redevelopment of redundant port zones: lessons from Baltimore and Manchester. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, eds. B.S.Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1988, pp. 146–66. Desfor, G., Goldrick, M. and Merrens, R., Redevelopment on the North American water-frontier: the case of Toronto. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, eds. B.S.Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1988, pp. 92–113. Law, C.M., 1988, op. cit. Anderson, J., Duncan, S. and Hudson, R., Redundant Spaces in Cities and Regions, Academic Press, London, 1983. Budd, A.J., Land-use conflict in Bristol’s central dockland. In Developments in Political Geography, ed. M.A.Busteed, Academic Press, London, 1983. Church, A., Urban regeneration in London docklands: a five-year policy review. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 1988, 6, 187–208. Church, A., Demand-led planning, the inner-city crisis and the labour market: London docklands evaluated. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, eds. B.S. Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1989, pp. 199–221. Pinder, D.A. and Rosing, K.E., Public policy and planning of the Rotterdam waterfront: a tale of two cities. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, eds. B.S.Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1988, pp. 114–28. Pinder, D.A., Waterfront revitalisation and the cityport economy: lessons from Southampton and Portsmouth. In Waterfront: a new urban frontier, ed. R.Bruttomesso, International Centre Cities on Water, Venice, in press. Konvitz, J.W., 1978, op. cit.

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Konvitz, J.W., 1982, op. cit. Hoyle, B.S. and Knowles, R.D., (eds.) Modern Transport Geography, Belhaven, London, 1992. Pinder, D.A. and Husain, M.S., Deindustrialisation and forgotten fallow: lessons from Western European oil refining. In Revitalising the Waterfront: international dimensions of dockland redevelopment, ed. B.S.Hoyle, D.A.Pinder and M.S.Husain, Belhaven Press, London, 1988, pp. 232–46. Charlier, J.J., A port-oriented strategy of dockland redevelopment. In Port Cities in Context: the impact of waterfront regeneration, ed. B.S.Hoyle, Institute of British Geographers, Transport Geography Study Group, Southampton, 1990, pp. 59–68.

ESTUARIES: CHALLENGES FOR COASTAL MANAGEMENT NORBERT P.PSUTY Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA 08903

ABSTRACT Estuarine systems respond to inputs from continental as well as oceanic sources. Spatial gradients and temporal variations in their characteristics are part of the natural system and also are products of the anthropogenic environments. Current-day management consists of maintaining environmental quality as well as fostering the production of food and commerce. Future challenges to the allocation of estuarine space will be driven by sea-level rise and the management approaches and strategies applied to accommodate continuing land-use demands within the spatiallydynamic estuarine systems. INTRODUCTION Estuaries are ubiquitous systems found on every inhabited continent and in every portion of each of these continents. Their very abundance is responsible for the great interest and attention directed to them and this same abundance will be responsible for the major changes that will continue to characterize their systems and to demand a flexible and enlightened approach for management. Estuaries are, by definition, the semi-enclosed embayments found in the transition area between the continental and the oceanic environments. The estuaries share some of the characteristics of each of the neighboring environments and respond to changes in each of them, in addition to the

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changes that are occurring within. The transition zone between the continents and the oceans is extremely varied, showing differences in such basic conditions as geology, geomorphology, climate, vegetation, biologic and mineral resources, human use and occupation, amongst other characteristics. The estuary may be funnel-shaped, or it may take on a linear form which is either parallel to the shoreline or transverse to the shoreline, as represented in the Fairbridge classification of estuary morphological types [1]. Each estuary derives some of its character from the flows inputted from the land and from the sea, producing circulation patterns, salinity gradients, and stratification phenomena that offer further opportunities to categorize and differentiate estuarine systems [2, 3]. Whereas there has long been recognition of the estuarine region as a special location for natural and cultural systems, it is only recently that the estuary has been the focus of inquiry and special management concern. The lateness of this attention is somewhat a product of semantics because there has always been a general interest in the broad coastal zone that lies at the confluence of the land and water. The new-found focus was in looking at the more-restrictive estuarine or transition zone as a location at the continental margin that has specific processes operating and one that has models of interaction. Thus, the growth in interest is in large part the recognition of unique character of the region and the realization that neither the terrestrial nor the oceanic models could adequately describe the conditions present in these semi-enclosed aqueous systems and that the management approaches must also be unique. Several landmark publications have helped to define and to detail the character of the land/sea transition zone and to identify the management problems. They include the early volume by Lauff [4] that summarized the first conference proceedings specifically directed toward the status of research in estuaries. This was followed by additional conferences organized by the Estuarine Research Federation, and the production of conference proceedings edited by Cronin [5, 6], by Wiley [7, 8], by Kennedy [9, 10, 11], and by Wolfe [12], which described the nature of the knowledge regarding estuaries at the time and the areas of future research and concern. Another major effort was the Coastal and Estuarine Lecture Note series published through Springer-Verlag, including three on estuaries [13, 14, 15]. The most recent contribution in this arena is an excellent review and summary in a two-volume set by Kennish [16, 17] on physical, chemical, and biological aspects of estuaries; and another by Kennish [18] focusing on the human impacts on estuaries and a wide variety of management issues. Journals which have long held an emphasis on estuarine topics include: Estuarine, Coast and Shelf Science, Estuaries,

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and Journal of Coastal Research. Two other journals concentrate on the management issues and application of science in estuarine systems within the broader context of marine and coastal topics. They are Coastal Management and Ocean and Shoreline Management. Another important reference is the Proceedings volumes associated with the biennial Coastal Zone meetings. These extensive volumes have an emphasis on the nearshore and estuarine environments and are largely directed toward management issues. That the above sources are recently-established publication outlets points to the young nature of the focus in this most important arena for research and application to management objectives. ESTUARIES IN DYNAMIC CHANGE Because the estuary is positioned in the transition zone, it responds to conditions coming from both directions. Whether it be the changing discharge of the surface streams that flow into the estuaries or the changing composition of the flow, the estuary will be reflecting the abundance or paucity of such variables as nutrients, salinities, changes in water levels, and sedimentation. A similar driving force is causing stresses from the oceanic side as storm surges, salinities, sediments, organisms, and the like are impelled into the lower reaches of the estuaries, and then farther and farther upstream. Estuaries are in constant flux. There is always a forceful battle between domination by the continental processes and by the oceanic processes. In some instances, the condition produces an oscillation of boundaries that shift upstream and down in response to the flow dominance from one direction or the other. In other cases, there are quasipermanent shifts, either gradually, or step-wise, as the boundary migrates in a net direction. This latter case gives rise to a changing situation in the estuary that may be the quintessential feature of this zone: that of change in response to external processes. There is no reason to assume that estuaries are fixed in space, nor that their distribution of natural features such as wetland communities and aqueous habitats are invariable. To the contrary, the estuaries give evidence that the ecological boundaries within are in constant flux and that migration, expansion, and loss, are part of the characterization of the system. Likewise, it is necessary to realize that the estuarine system is unlike either the adjacent oceanic or terrestrial systems. The processes of wave action and currents flows are not exactly the same in the estuaries as in the ocean. The variations of salinity, of temperature, of oxygen, are unique to the estuaries. And, many of the human adaptations in the form of resource extraction, in occupation, in land/sea tenure systems, etc., are

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likewise very specific to estuaries. Nordstrom [19], in providing a comprehensive view of estuarine beaches, draws our attention to the particular characteristics of these restricted beaches compared to their oceanic counterparts. Others will soon be describing other aspects of the estuary which are as unique. Physical System Most of the estuarine systems are the product of the worldwide rise of sea level during the last 10,000 years when oceanic waters were encroaching upon the continental margin and producing semi-enclosed bays in the irregular topography of the pre-Holocene subaerial surface. Contemporary sedimentation processes associated with fluvial discharge, coastal transfers alongshore and cross-shore, and barrier-island development further molded the estuarine topography. It is likely that the present, general estuarine shoreline configuration, although inherited from earlier times, was initiated on the order of 3000–6000 years ago, when the rate of sea-level rise decreased substantially [20]. Following the cessation of the relativelyrapid transgression, the estuarine systems became somewhat stationary in location, but began to develop their internal characteristics, such as the distribution of sediment types, the hydrography, and the development barriers at their mouths, the formation of wetlands, and the creation of ecologic habitats and communities. Further, the accumulations of sediments, nutrients, and other components were derived from oceanic sources as well as from the continent [21, 22]. It is likely that the developmental processes are still occurring, although some investigators suggest that the same processes are now producing an attenuation of some of the forms and features of the estuaries [23, 24]. Human System Given the large concentration of the world’s population at the coastal zone, it is not surprising that the world’s estuaries are being subjected to many modifications produced by the human population. Manipulation of the estuarine environment has produced alterations of the natural systems and has introduced completely different circulation patterns, different sedimentation sequences, much different water chemistries and particulate loadings, and different habitats. There are very few estuarine areas that have not been modified to some degree. Even the so-called ‘pristine’ locations bear the imprint of humans in the aquatic zone, in the surrounding wetlands, and in the sediments. The effects of humans and

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their modifications are not necessarily derived from the immediate surroundings. The effects may be caused by dams and flood control structures upstream. They may be the product of waste disposal or agricultural fertilizers somewhere in the drainage basin. They may be the product of forest clearing or burning in the upper reaches of the watershed which eventually discharges into the estuary. Not all estuarine changes are driven by forces from the continent. It has been shown that sediments, toxics, and some associated water chemistry is derived from sources seaward of the estuary as well [25]. Sediments and/or chemical compounds discharged at one site can be transported in the offshore zone and eventually travel through an inlet to accumulate in an estuarine system far removed from the original oceanic outfall. Some changes are created by additional nutrients being pumped into the system. The result may be the development of extensive vegetative growth but with a corresponding decrease in available oxygen in the system to support other parts of the ecologic community. Change is part of the dynamics of the estuarine system because the estuary exists at the transition zone. Therefore, as the natural environment is slowly altered by broad global changes, or as the human population changes its technology or utilization of the estuarine resources, the components of the estuaries will be affected by the modification of the forcing dynamics and will somehow reflect these conditions in their internal dynamics. MAJOR CHALLENGES Environmental Quality The most pressing problem associated with management of estuaries is environmental quality. This issue extends to the fully-developed estuaries with their myriad of industries, harbor features, population centers, and other aspects of human utilization (Fig. 1), and to the ‘undisturbed’ estuaries which continue to retain much of their natural system composed of wetlands, shellfish beds, fishery nursery grounds, and unpolluted waters. Whereas it is impossible to return each and every estuary to the pristine state that existed prior to human occupation, it is within the realm of management to control excessive pollution, to protect designated habitats, to allocate areas for special land-uses, and to strike balances among the various competing interests for the physical, biologic, and economic resources of estuarine systems. Progress has been made in some estuarine

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Figure 1. New York—New Jersey port district. Commerce and economic development dominate this estuary which had been altered many years ago. Environmental improvements may be gained, but the system will never completely recover to its earlier state.

areas simply by concentrating types of land uses, thereby preserving environmental quality in a portion of the estuary while attempting to areally restrict or delimit degradation (Fig. 2). Because estuaries are systems, it is necessary to approach each and every management objective from the view of the entire system. Estuarine quality is in large part the product of the quality of the drainage basin leading to the estuary and thus it is necessary to initiate any strategy in a basin-wide application. Nutrient loadings are accumulative and must be addressed by remedying inputs from point and non-point sources throughout the gamut of inputs to the estuary. Altered systems may have to subscribe to different standard’s than unaltered systems because it is unrealistic to achieve pristine components in a partial system scenario. Further, some environmental changes can be acceptable to the human populations in the estuarine system at levels other than the original values. Thus, degraded systems may have to be improved but may have target values which are above the loadings of the original ambient levels. Unaltered systems, however, may be managed to retain their characteristics within the range of natural fluctuations. As Wilson [26] has indicated, estuarine pollutants consist of a number of groupings: organic matter, petroleum and related products, heavy metals,

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Figure 2. Port development, Mitrena, Sado estuary, Portugal. Natural wetlands coexist with heavy industry, at least temporarily. The areal concentration of waterdependent industrial development preserves some of the natural wetlands and allows for multiplicity of uses in the estuary. The Sado estuary contains a major fishing port, a paper processing plant, heavy industry associated with marine trade and off-shore petroleum exploration, traditional fishing grounds, a national natural park, and a wide variety of food production uses, including salt pans, aquaculture ponds, rice fields, cattle pasture, and a new tourism development on its coastal margin.

organochlorines, and radioactivity. Further, the effects of each of the groups relate to their concentrations, their persistence in the environment, and their toxicity. Therefore, effective management and improvement in estuarine quality must direct controls and programs to each of these pollutant groupings individually and in combinations of their concentrations, persistence, and toxicity. Food Production Whether in the form of animal protein or grains, the estuaries have historically been an important source of food. Estimates from the United States suggest that the estuarine-dependent species comprised 71%, by value, and 77%, by weight, of the total commercial fisheries landings during 1985 [27]. Obviously, this means that this source of animal protein

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Figure 3. Chang Jiang estuarine lowlands, Donghai Farm, Shanghai area, People’s Republic of China. Nearly all of the estuary’s wetlands have been converted to food production, either in the form of grain fields or fish ponds. Excessive ground water withdrawal in addition to oxidation of the organic component of the soils seriously affects the newly-created fields established in the estuarine environment.

is dependent on the quality of the environmental system to maintain that level of production. Further, estuarine systems have been and are being modified to support crops and animals. In many places in the world, wetlands have been drained, diked, and planted to grain crops, such as rice (Fig. 3). Large areas have been converted to ponds to produce shrimp and fish (Fig. 4). Other portions produce salt in evaporation pans or provide pasture for livestock. In one sense this a conversion of food production from a gathering economy to one of sedentary agriculture as the harvesting of products is restricted to confined spaces. In many estuaries, management decisions will have to be exercised to supervise the modification of the natural system to fields and ponds involved in food production. It is likely that the estuaries will see an increasing demand for space related to aquaculture development as traditional fishing methods are compromised by environmental changes, competition for space, and poor return on investment. Land and sea tenure systems in the estuaries will also be subject to review and modification as fields and ponds replace tidal flats and open water habitats (Fig. 5.).

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Figure 4. Modification of natural wetlands, near Dos Bocas, Tabasco, Mexico. The former wetlands ecologic habitats have been completely altered to create aquaculture ponds in which shrimp will be raised.

The opportunities for forms of aquaculture in estuaries seems endless because so many of the commercial finfish and shellfish are estuarydependent. As natural stocks of fish are depleted, there will be a increased emphasis to generate these same products in controlled settings within the estuaries (Fig. 4). Thus, the future fishery species may be those which are cultured in ponds and pens within the estuary, taking advantage of the aqueous system but kept within reach for easy harvesting, using enhanced foodstuffs to speed biomass production, concentrating on species which mature to market size quickly, and using genetic engineering to raise organisms which are healthy and resistant to local diseases. Aquaculture will include finfish and shellfish, each with particular niches, and probably will include both saltwater and freshwater species within adjacent artificial habitats. The production of these species will have to be totally integrated within the estuarine system so that waste water will probably be used to culture algae, and waste products will be the bases of other feeds. The economic and management challenges will be to incorporate the full range of commercial finfish and shellfish products and all of the ancillary steps in the production of these protein sources as well as their feeds, their wastes, the nutrient rich waters, and their genetic improvements, in a

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Figure 5. Traditional fishing grounds, Lagos estuary, Lagos, Nigeria. Numerous fish traps in the area are outlined by poles stuck into the bottom sediments. Similar estuarine tenure systems, especially in developing countries, will face serious disruption as diked fields and aquaculture ponds disturb the natural circulation patterns and affect nutrient chemistry in the aquatic systems. Rising sea level will cause displacements of water quality boundaries and will similarly affect estuarine tenure systems.

environmental system that will not be degraded; and to make each step of the process contribute to the economic success of the venture. Estuaries are ripe for management efforts on many different scales and in many different aspects. Management can extend from the basic natural system of circulation, sediment input, water chemistry, and aquatic organisms to the many variables associated with human use and exploitation. Management can be directed toward creating preferred habitat, such as new wetlands or areas of submerged aquatic vegetation. Management may take the form of marshalling the transfers of sediments from dredged areas to sites where sediment is needed, a type of recycling. The driving force in estuarine management is the knowledge that the natural system is a dynamic unit and the physical and biological resources are in constant flux. It will probably not be possible to deter or prevent all of the changes. Therefore, the management goal should be to identify those attributes which are desirable and to create pathways to retain those characteristics within the multiple uses imposed on the system.

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Sea-Level Rise It is likely that the most significant new development affecting the estuarine system and its management is the issue of accelerated sea-level rise. Because the estuaries are largely the products of the variation of sea-level rise which was initiated several thousand years ago, it is expected that the predicted future rapid rise of sea level will produce changes in the present pattern of estuaries and in their components. A rise in sea level will re-establish the transgressive nature of the water/land boundary and will cause shifts in the many kinds of gradients within the estuarine systems. The extent to which the estuaries will adapt to the rise will somewhat depend on the rate of rise as well as the balance of other variables that describe and define each of the estuaries. For example, if the transgressing estuary were migrating into a developed urban area, it is likely that dikes and levees would be used to limit the inland shifts of the aquatic systems, thereby reducing the extent of the estuarine environment. Also, if the balance of sediment, nutrients, water quality, and other natural factors were disrupted, the composition of the estuary would change. It might become more saline, the vegetation cover would change its community structure, the depths of the bays might become too great to support submerged aquatic vegetation. Whereas these aforementioned situations might be the product of a changing sea-level, they are also challenges for the effective management of both the natural and human-modifications of estuarine system dynamics. One of the predictions regarding sea level rise comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change. This international body has had its constituent committees review the data available and determined that the best estimate regarding future sea level rise is an elevation of the world’s ocean level of 0.66 m by the year 2100 [28]. All of the world’s estuaries will be affected by this magnitude of rise. Using the extensive wetland area adjacent to the Great Bay estuary in New Jersey, USA, as a case study, several scenarios can be developed that point to management problems associated with sea-level rise. Interpretation of the data from cores taken through the marshes in Great Bay suggest some interesting associations of estuarine development and rate of rise [24]. The basic sea-level rise data set from the area (Fig. 6) is interpreted to represent two major rates of rise and encroachment on the continental margin. The older period extends from about 7000 years ago as a minimum to about 2500 years ago. During that time sea level was rising at the rate of about 2 mm/year (0.2 m/cent.). This calculation is a long-term average and was certainly quite variable during these thousands of years. However, about 2500 years ago the rate of sea-level rise decreased

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Figure 6. Portrayal of the rate of sea-level rise and the expansion or attenuation of the estuarine habitats in a temporal context. Changing areal dimensions and spatial associations are related to the balance between the volumetric rates of inorganic and organic accumulation in the estuaries and the vertical rate of sea-level rise. The rates of rise in the past century, and probably the preceding one as well, exceed the rates of the earlier period when the estuaries were largely aquatic environments.

substantially, now approaching an average of 0.75 mm/year (0.075 m/ cent.). Of especial interest are the accompanying events within this estuary which is thought to have existed behind a fronting barrier island during this time. Interpretation of the sequence of stratification units suggests that most of the area of the estuary remained open water during the several thousand years that sea level was rising at the rapid rate [24]. It was only after 2500 and the reduction of the rate of inundation by the rising sea that the salt marsh became more than a fringing feature and began to broaden horizontally and extend into aquatic habitat. That indicates that the earlier rate of rise was greater than the rate of alluviation and that tidal flats were not developing during the pre-2500 B.P. phase of estuarine history. It was only in the recent millennia that sedimentation was sufficient to prograde the margins of the fringing marsh and begin to extend across the estuarine surface. This sequence is reflected in the stratigraphy of the deposits that show a thin peat zone (former salt marsh) fronted by open bay sediments until 2500 years ago, when the vertical sequence changed to a horizontal sequence. A similar sequence and temporal span is derived from strata and isotopic dates analyzed in the Sado estuary in Portugal [29] The

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interpretation, in both cases, is that slower sea-level rise conditions were accompanied by transfers of sediments into the estuarine environments during the post-2500 B.P. period and that the extensive wetlands developed during the most recent millennia. The interpretation is based on a sediment budget scenario that relates rates of volumetric accumulations in the estuarine environments to rates of vertical displacement of the sealevel surface. There is concern at the present that sea-level rise is once again upsetting the balance between the rate of volumetric accumulation and the vertical and horizontal continuity of estuarine wetlands [30]. If so, it is likely that the estuarine wetlands may be reducing in areal dimension. Several investigators have commented on the attenuation of wetland surface area in estuaries in this century [23, 24, 31]. They suggest that the sedimentary supply to the estuaries is inadequate to maintain the marsh areas and thus the new, higher sea-level rates are causing the marsh to break into smaller units, and that the marsh boundary is shifting to produce more open water area in the estuaries. The net sea-level rates of 2–4 mm/year (0.2–0.4 m/ cent.) along the east coast of the United States [32, 33] would seem to substantiate the claim of an imbalance because it is greater than the rate of the earlier rapid sea-level increase and thus the wetland processes may be leading to fragmentation and overall areal decrease (this net value includes an absolute eustatic sea-level rise plus subsidence of the land). MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS In itself, the reduction of estuarine wetlands is a suitable topic for management policies and strategies because the wetlands are a very important component of the productivity of the estuary. But coupled with the driving force of sea-level rise, an inadequate sediment supply, and the anthropogenic effects, the dimensions of the change can be dramatic. However, not all areas are undergoing similar rates of relative sea-level rise, nor similar rates of sediment input. Very basic questions are posed concerning the rates at specific places and of the responses to these rates [34] and how this change is manifested in the geomorphological [35] and biological components of the estuarine system [36, 37]. The questions require an analysis of the events of the past, either the past centuries, or least the changes within this century. However, it is not always easy to separate the changes produced by the natural variations in the system from those caused by human perturbations. This is a challenging component of the riddle and one that will be difficult to unravel. But the issue may not be so narrow as to depend on identifying the reason for the changes as

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identifying the changes, the trends of the changes, and the manifold consequences of the changes. Sea level fluctuation is not a new area of inquiry. What is new is the stress on future sea-level projections produced by global warming [28]. These values garner attention because they project elevation rates 2–4 times those of the past century. It is not surprising that the specter of coastal drowning holds great fascination for the coastal scientist and for the managers of this fragile environment. Drowning may lead to greater volumes of water and aquatic habitats in the estuaries. It may lead to many topographic changes, to different salinity gradients, to changes of plant community composition, to different benthic communities, to different circulation patterns, to different nutrient availabilities, and to many other natural variations. Of course, the changes will also be present in the human dimension. Waterfront development, residential communities, infrastructure, agriculture, aquaculture, and other aspects of human utilization of the estuarine environments will undergo changes or will have to develop protective strategies to cope with the changing conditions. According to Klarin and Hershman [38], some coastal management programs are making strides in acknowledging the issue of sea-level rise and are incorporating aspects of changes due to sea-level rise in the decision-making process. Yet, as is witnessed in statements from other documents, many of the world’s nations are not reacting to the scenarios of changes produced by predictions of near-future sea-level elevations [39]. Of especial importance is that most of the world’s estuaries have a history of sea-level rise in the past several centuries and there is considerable information that can be derived from a study of these environments that will assist in developing models as to what the future sea-level rises will bring. The data are in the charts, maps, aerial photos, in the sediments, in the wetland peats, and in the organisms that have occupied these environments. The record is there, it will have to be sampled, to be deciphered, and to extrapolated to future rates of changes. Equally important, the scientific knowledge that is gained by the realm of investigations into estuarine dynamics associated with sea-level changes will have to be translated clearly and unequivocally to the managers in order that decisions can be made based on this information. The managers and the scientists must have a similar data base so that policies, programs, and strategies can be derived from the factual information. In this way, the management decisions can be exercised to enhance the desired objectives and can relate the components of the estuarine system to the planned multiplicity of uses in a pro-active style.

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CONCLUSIONS In the short term, the major issue of environmental quality will drive most management decisions. Maintenance of those areas that continue to be productive natural systems will be a prime concern, as will the improvements to those locations whose areas are degraded. Economic development will continue to stress the estuaries because of the concentration of industry, commerce, food production, and urbanization. The short-term challenge will be to develop compromises to benefit both the humans in the estuarine settings and the resource itself. The long-term challenge (a century) is more daunting. Rising sea levels will continue to cause natural stresses in the estuaries. Boundaries and gradients will shift spatially and natural ecosystems will adjust to new distributions of water levels, salinities, temperatures, water depths, sediment budgets, and nutrient budgets. Barriers such as dikes and walls will partially limit the extent of the changes in the estuaries, but they will probably re-direct the changes and cause increases in the magnitudes elsewhere. Of special importance is that the rise will interact with the cultural patterns of infrastructure and land use. It will be impossible to retain the status quo, management decisions will be required to accommodate the relocation of resources and of land use. Management will mean providing for the multiplicity of uses within a dynamic system. The management practices will have to be equally dynamic and will have to retain a flexible allocation of resources as the zones of the estuary shift inland. REFERENCES 1.

2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Fairbridge, R.W., The estuary: its definition and geodynamic cycle. In Chemistry and Biochemistry of Estuaries, ed. E.Olausson and I.Cato, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1980, pp. 1–16. Pritchard, D.W., Estuarine circulation patterns. Proc. Amer. Soc. Civ. Eng., 1955, 81, 1–11. Pritchard, D.W., Observations of circulation in coastal plain estuaries. In Estuaries, ed. G.H.Lauff, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Publication 83, Washington, D.C., 1967, pp. 37–44. Lauff, G.H., ed., Estuaries, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Publication 83 , Washington, D.C., 1967. Cronin, L.E., ed., Estuarine Research: Volume I, Chemistry, Biology, and the Estuarine System, Academic Press, New York, 1975. Cronin, L.E., ed., Estuarine Research: Volume II, Geology and Engineering, Academic Press, New York, 1975.

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7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

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21. 22.

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Wiley, M., ed., Estuarine Processes: Volume I, Uses, Stresses, and Adaptation to the Estuary, Academic Press, New York, 1976. Wiley, M., ed., Estuarine Processes: Volume II, Circulation, Sediments, and Transfer of Material in the Estuary, Academic Press, New York, 1977. Kennedy, V.S., ed., Estuarine Perspectives, Academic Press, New York, 1980. Kennedy, V.S., ed., Estuarine Comparisons, Academic Press, New York, 1982. Kennedy, V.S., ed., The Estuary as a Filter, Academic Press, New York, 1984. Wolfe, D.A., ed., Estuarine Variability, Academic Press, New York, 1986. Sündermann, J. and Holz, K.P., Mathematical Modelling of Estuarine Physics. Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume I, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1980. Tomczak, M., Jr. and Cuff, W., eds., Synthesis and Modelling of Intermittent Estuaries. Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume III, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1983. Pequeux, A., Gilles, R. and Bolis, L., eds., Osmoregulation in Estuarine and Marine Animals. Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume IX, Springer-Verlag, 1984. Kennish, M.J., Ecology of Estuaries: Volume I, Physical and Chemical Aspects, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 1986. Kennish. M.J., Ecology of Estuaries: Volume II, Biological Aspects. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 1990. Kennish, M.J., Ecology of Estuaries: Anthropogenic Effects. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 1992. Nordstrom, K.F., Estuarine Beaches, Elsevier Science Publishers, London, 1992. Walker, H.J. and Coleman, J.M., Atlantic and Gulf coastal province. In Geomorphic Systems of North America, ed. W.L.Graf, Geological Society of America, Inc., Boulder, Colorado, 1987, pp. 51–110. Meade, R.H., Landward transport of bottom sediments in estuaries of the Atlantic coastal plain. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 1969, 39, 222–34. Clark, J.S. and Patterson, W.A., III, The development of a tidal marsh: upland and oceanic influences. Ecological Monographs, 1985, 55, 189–217. Kearney, M.S. and Stevenson, J.C., Island land loss and marsh vertical accretion rate evidence for historical sea-level changes in Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Coastal Research, 7, 403–15. Psuty, N.P., Holocene sea-level in New Jersey. Physical Geography, 1986, 7, 154–65. Hall, M.J., Nadeau, J.E. and Nicolich, M.J., Sediment transport from Delaware Bay to the New Jersey Inner Shelf. Journal of Coastal Research, 1987, 3, 469–74.

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26. 27.

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Wilson, J.G., The Biology of Estuarine Management, Croom Helm, London, 1988. Chambers, J.R., Habitat degradation and fishery declines in the U.S. In Coastal Wetlands, ed. H.Suzanne Bolton, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, pp. 46–60. Warrick, R.A. and Oerlemans, H., Sea level rise. In Climatic Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment, eds. J.T.Houghton, G.J.Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990, pp. 257–81. Psuty, N.P. and Moreira, M.E., Holocene sedimentation and a new sea level rise curve, Sado estuary, Portugal. Prepared manuscript. Orson, R., Panageotou, W. and Leatherman, S.P., Response of tidal salt marshes of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts to rising sea levels. Journal of Coastal Research, 1985, 1, 29–37. Stevenson, J.C., Ward, L.G. and Kearney, M.S., Vertical accretion in marshes with varying rates of sea level rise. In Estuarine Variability, ed. D. A.Wolfe, Academic Press, New York, 1986, pp. 241–59. Hicks, H.R., DeBaug, J.R. and Hickman, L.E., Sea level variations for the United States, 1855–1980, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Washington, D. C., 1983. Lyles, S.D., Hickman, L.E. and Debaugh, H.A., Jr., Sea level variations for the United States, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Oceanography and Marine Assessment, Washington, D C., 1988. Hoffman, J.S., Keye, D. and Titus, J.G., Projecting future sea level rise: methodology, estimates to the year 2100, and research needs, US Environmental Protection Agency, Strategic Studies Staff, Washington, D.C., 1983. Psuty, N.P., Impacts of impending sea level rise scenarios: the New Jersey barrier island responses. Bulletin, New Jersey Academy of Science, 1986, 31, 29–36. Frank, K.T., Perry, R.I. and Drinkwater, K.F., Predicted response of northwest Atlantic invertebrates and fish stocks to CO2-induced climate change. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 1990, 119, 353–65. Kennedy, V.S., Anticipated effects of climate change on estuarine and coastal fisheries. Fisheries., 1990, 15, 16–24. Klarin, P. and Hershman, M., Response of coastal zone management programs to sea level rise in the United States. Coastal Management, 1990, 18, 143–65. Titus, J.G., Wedge, R., Psuty, N. and Fancher, J., Changing Climate and the Coast: Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from the Miami Conference on Adaptive Responses to Sea Level Rise and Other

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Impacts of Global Climate Change, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D. C, 1990.

COMPLEXITY OF COASTAL LAGOONS MANAGEMENT: AN OVERVIEW S.Guillaume F.ZABI Laboratoire d’Ecologie Benthique Centre de Recherches Océanologiques B.P.V.18 Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

ABSTRACT The complexity of coastal lagoons derives from their belonging to coastal zone. This latter usually has an economic understanding and is considered as an area frontiered by the terrigenous environment and the continental shelf break. The heterogeneity of the ecosystems within the coastal zone requires many methods to address the coastal lagoons management issues. But some particular attemptations were considered leading to 1) describe the main biological trophic levels of the lagoon ecosystem 2) to identify reactions of this ecosystem while submitted to pollution or any degradation stress 3) to search for remedial solution for a global management approach. Biological processes were described to highlight the sustainable productivity of the lagoon having as result the development of biological resources the management of which leads to the preservation and the conservation of the lagoon biodiversity based on ecological and socioeconomic factors consideration. INTRODUCTION The key role devoted to the oceans and their coastal zones to achieve sustainable development objectives attracts more and more heeds of various people such as scientists, developers and decision—makers.

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In regard to the actual challenges generated by the global climate changes, there is a great need to elaborate new strategies to exhume the accuracy needed to answer the management questions of the coastal areas. But the heterogeneity and the complexity of the coastal areas which include the coastal lagoons, preclude single solution for their management. The difficulty of the task aiming at alleviating the constraints of the coastal lagoons management closly limited with the nature of this issue. This management issue gains into complexity when dealing with the coastal lagoons in Africa which is this purpose. Therefore this paper will attempt to examine key problems in lagoon management while highlighting their particular features and their impact in the patterns of resource utilization and their requirements for environmental protection. In addition the central role of coastal lagoon in coastal area management should be considered. 2— MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1— Definition of the concept of coastal zone It sounds very convenient to give some basic definitions used to describe the coastal area and its constituent elements in that area. In this purpose Charlier (1989)(1) regards the following labels coastal zone, littoral fringe and shoreline as areas made up of terrestrial and marine façades. And as he mentioned it, the concept of coastal zone has taken on an economic meaning which extends the coast further in land, beyond its geological reality because of its integrated use. For a more comprehensive understanding, demographic projections applied on the coastal zone point out that 80 % of the world’s population lives within 50km or 80km from the coastaline (Charlier, 1989)(1) In other words oceanographic, geomorphological and socio—economic features can be combined to designate or describe the coastal zone. A more pratical definition considers the coastal zone as an area bounded by the terrigenous environment and the continental shelf heak (GESAMP, 1991)(2). The heterogeneity of the ecosystems within the coastal zones such as estuaires, mangroves and lagoons and the diversity of problems that need to be addressed require not only one but several models.

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Most of these models are from mathematics originated and usually neglect the ecological concepts in previleging the mathematical ones. There are many methods to address coastal lagoon management issues, but an attemptation could be 1) to describe the main biological levels of the lagoon ecosystem 2) to identify reactions of this ecosystem when submitted to pollution or any degradation strees 3) to search for remedial solution leading to global management strategy. 3— RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Biological aquatic processes sound very complex and do not allow a satis factory representation broadly acceptable. For these reasons many attemptations generated several diagrams to illustrate man understanding of biological processes. 3.1 Analysis of the biological processes an a coastal lagoon There is a great concern to briefly describe the main steps of these biological processes. 3.1.1— The nutrients component For a sustainable productivity in the lagoon the availability of the nutrients is an essential condition. The nutrients are therefore of various types. Data collected for instance in the Ebrié lagoon in Côte d’Ivoire are summarized in table 1. It appears that nutrients are more abundant during raining season because terrestual inputs are not negligeable due to the streaming waters. 3.1.2 The dissolved organic matter component It is a fundamental component having a major role at the main trophic levels of the food web.

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TABLE 1 Examples of data collected in the Ebrié lagoon (Côte d’Ivoire)

3.1.3 The primary production The primary production is the fundamental basis of biological processes in lagoon ecosystem the shallow wters of which are easily penetrated by light to enhance photosynthesis activities. Three major components are to be considered. 3.1.3.1 The phytoplankton component The phytoplankton is worldwide described and there may be no need to give more details. But it can be interesting as the first step of the food web to elaborate on the role of the factors controling at a given time the equilibrium of phytoplankton biomass, because the phytoplankton is edible and non edible. Sverdrup (1953)(3) has discussed this question in details. And as mentioned by Bougis (1974)(4) when nutrients are available, phytoplankton production will closed depend on light energy. But the situation can be more complex as illustrated as follows (Fig.1): The useful inputs according to figure 1 are in reality due to the production by photosynthesis and non edible cells.

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3.1.3.2— The phytobenthos component The phytobenthos is normally devided into micro—and macro algae—But most of the tropical lagoon systems are not commonly provided with macroalgae which can there for be excluded from our consideration. So let us focus on the microphytobenthos which has non negligeable input in lagoon primary production evaluation. The tropical lagoons seem to be not well described in this way just to fix ideas let us refer to the first study initrated by Plante-Cuny (1977)(5) in the Ebrié lagoon in Cote d’Ivoire. When beginning by photosynthetic pigments it is well demonstrated in figure 2 the benthic Chlorophill a are at lower level than the planctonic Chlorophill a because of the light penetration. In the other hand phaeopigments are naturally at higher level compared to the Chlorophill a no matter the latters are benthic or planctonic In some sheltered stations of the same study the benthic Chl a is more important than the planctonic one as shown in the table 2 below The benthic primary production is higher. This situation which is seldom is due to some specific features of the lagoon. 3.1.4— The secondary production The secondary production lumps the consumers but can be analysed according to the following major components. 3.1.4.1— The zooplankton component It is, like the phytoplankton, worldwide described in the various lagoon ecosystems. And it is important to distinguish in a sample larval stages and eggs of various aquatic animals the development of which aims at leading to adult animals different from the zooplankton sensu strcto which is differently exploited. In the food web zooplankton is submitted to the stress of predation as fish prey. Zooplankton species serve as food in various aquaculture farms to complete artificial usually distributed.

Figure 1. Diagram of equilibrium factors of phytoplankton biomass (Bongis, 1974) (4) p III

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In eco—or biotoxicology zooplankton species are resorted to assess the effect of pollutants sewaged in the lagoon . In Europe the Daphania spp more important are used in this purpose. In some tropical lagoon like the Ebrié lagoon the species more indicated Arcatia clausi for its availability throughout the year.

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Figure 2. Distribution of Chl a and pheopigment in Elne Lagoon (Cote d’Ivoire) (Plante—Cussy, 1977)(5) TABLE 2 Comparison of chl a and Production of Phytoplankton and Phytobenthos (Plante Cuny, 1977)(5)

3.1.4.2— The zoobenthos component The investigations on the zoobenthos are well developped for the marine benthic macrofauna, neglecting the species of brackish waters like the coastal lagoons. In some tropical lagoons where attemptations occurred the zoobenthos species were individually studied instead of communities description. Recently Zabi and Le boeuff (1991, to be published)(6) reviewed

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litterature devoted to the studies on the benthic macrofauna of the brackish coastal ecosystems in West and Central Africa. It appeared that the zoobenthos intervenes as food and as bio— indicator for the lagoon ecosystem degradation. Therefore main conclusions of some investigations can be resorted. For instance the ecology study of the african bloody cockle Anadara (Senilia) senilis (L.) was tackled by Okera (1976)(7), Yoloye (1976)(8) to establish the importance of this species in relation with cultivation purpose because it contains more than 70 % of proteins. There is an other interest to note that in the polluted bays of the Ebrié lagoon pollution indications were identified such as Oligochacta mollusis like Pachymelania aurita and Tympanotonus fuscatus (Zabi, 1982)(9). 3.1.3— The heterotrophic production component This heterotrophic production needs to be known but has not a major role in the food web and in the pollution consideration. 3.1.4— The Carnivores component Predation can stress zooplanktonic and zoobenthic species by carnivores as it is predictable in food web. As an intermediate conclusion following the overview of the biological in a coastal lagoon, it is obvious that this diagram be applied to any aquatic system. But the particularity of the lagoon is based on salinity, oxygen, temperature and hydrodynamics which sustain the functioning all the biological processes. In connection with this asumption one can say that lagoon ecosystems are very fragile, so there is a need to control the socio—economic activities in order to preserve and protect the biodiversity. 4— MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF THE LAGOONS The purpose of the managerial approach of the lagoon is mainly to preserve the biodiversity of the living resources because diversity is a basic property of life. It provides the variability needed to cope with the changes implicit in nature (Grassle et al., 1991)(10).

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It is therefore necessary to outline the objectives of the management strategies of this kind based on the biodiversity of the lagoon. 4.1— Inventory the biological resources of the lagoons In the coastal lagoons measurement of changes in diversity are urgently needed to evaluate human activities and to address this issue the inventory of biological resources. The main target biological groups are the followings: – – – – – – –

the mangroves and associated plants the floating plants the phytoplankton the zooplankton the zoobenthos the bacteria the ichthyofauna.

This inventory not to be only a check list needs to be strengthened by some additional studies such as – genetic diversity study – physiologic diversity – population dynamics But as biological resources are renewable special resources analysis method such as economic input—output analysis attributed to Leontief (1951) (11) can be used. As states by Hannon (1973)(12) who further discussed this analysis method, the system to begin is considered to be in steady state so that the sum of all inputs to a given compartment is balanced by the sum of all outputs. All the inputs are lumped into compartment i as the element ei of an n-dimentional vector. The outputs are differenciated according wether they flow as useful input to some other compartment, j, in the system (Pij) or wether they are respired as ri. The stationary balance then becomes (1)

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A second assumption is that the production energies of a compartment can be expressed as a linear function of the total direct input to the receiving compartment. That is to say (2) One can assume that gij is the fraction of the total dict of species j that originates from source i. So equation (i) becomes (3) The last equation can be in a matrix from as follows (4) −1 always exist and calls the Hannon (1973)(12) shows that elements of this matrix the structural elements of the ecosystem. All the previous provisions are due to Ulanowicz (1972)(13) who clearly presented this economic input—output analysis method. Provide that the data collected during the inventory of the biologicalresources are convertible into biomass and finally into energy flow in the ecosystem, the previous economic input—output analysis method can be applied. Most of the time it is not very easy to build up a mathematical model which can be accurately applicable to an ecosystem, be it a coastal lagoon. But in an other hand the complexity of the ecosystem always requires modellization. The inventory of biological resources as such does not need a mathematical model. But when dealing with strategies to preserve the biodiversity in a very complex system like a lagoon mathematical modellization can not be avoided. 4.2— Study of the ecological factors of the marine biodiversity To take steps in the action of marine biodiversity preservation and conservation there is a strong need to assess the main ecological and structural factors of the milieu. These factors are worldwide known because dealing with the hydrodinamics and physico-chemical processes associated with the other biological features. Therefore various types of ecological efficiencies can be identified at the different trophic levels of the aquatic systems.

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These efficiencies are likely the ratios between the biological factors which also need to be controlled. Odum (1971)(14) addressing this particular point states that the metabolism per gram of biomass even the small plants and animals such as algae, bacteria and protozoa is immensely greater than the metabolic rate of large organisms such as trees and vertebrates. In other words the assessment of the biological factors in the biodiversity ecological approach starts at low level in the food web. But the analytic food-web models by Isaacs (1972, 1973)(15–16) and presented by Fasham (1981)(17) are really complex and not accessible to all the coastal zone managers. For this reason the socio-economic approach is preferable. 4.3— Study of the socio-economic factors related to the marine biodiversity The maintenance of the marine biodiversity is also regulated by the socioeconomic factors through the intrface man—lagoon. This socio-economic component is almost neglected when addressing bilogical studies of an ecosystem like a coastal lagoon. But in the new approach of the environment-development issues the socio-economic aspect is likely a challenge because directly linked with the human concern. So it is indicated to review some of these factors for an other understanding of the preservation and conservation of the coastal lagoon biodiversity. 4.3.1— Demogrphic component In a study conducted by Charlier (1989)(1) on the occupance, management and economic competitiveness of the coastal zone, demographic projections point a probable shift of 80 % of the world’s population to within 50 km of the sea by 1990. The predction has brought many countries into a special effort top allocate high level funds to the management of this coastal zone including of course the coastal lagoons. That is the case of thez United States of America which allocated $ 42.5 million to coastal management for the 1987 fiscal year. An effort of this kind may not be afforded by all the coastal states at this level, but demographic projections can be used in any cases to determine

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the needs the urban management to create cities do drastically affect the vegetation like mangrove along the coastal lagoons. This mangrove is also used to meet the energy needs of the reverside population. One of the more important uses of the biological resources such as ichthyofauna is naturally the fishing activities which also have a great impact on the level of this resource. So fish management can be considered as having two main objectives 1) to strengthen fish production) and also to prevent the collapse of the fish stock. This last objective can be achieved in the course of coastal lagoon biodiversity preservation and conservation. An other socio-economic factor is the industrialization the well known consequences of which are the industrial pollutions also affecting the species when the industries are located along coastal lagoon. Lagoon sand extraction is a common activity in many African coastal cities for house building because this sand is reputated to be of good quality in this purpose. But this reputation displays bad copnsequences on the juveniles of some amphidromic species like the shrimp Penacus notialis which lives in the sand at this stage. So these few examples show how the lagoon biodiversity can be affected by different ways. To address the management issues of the coastal lagoon the managers need to integrate all these factors in a comprehensive approach. An illustration of kind can be given by the following diagram adapted from Abouzaid (1981)(18) This diagram is designed to help the manager to take the appropriate decision when a given socio-economic activity generates pollution which may affect a lagoon. 4.3.2— Analysis of the steps of the diagram The analysis aims at highlighting the main steps of a pollutant submitted to recycling process and which ends its course in a coastal lagoon 4.3.2.1— Socio-economic activity At this step the socio-economic activity in the purpose of the demonstration generates pollution.

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4.3.2.2— Residues The residues are immediately recycled as illustrates by the steps 1, 2 and 3 —Normally the industry is provided with appropriate pollution these residues may be washed of of pollutants. But the technics of production of this industry is not most of the time so efficient to eliminate the pollution. So the remainings may be residues which are reinjected in the recycling system as shown by steps 4 and 5. 4.3.2.3— Wastes and deposits The step 6 clearly alows that the residues may generate wastes. Here these wastes may be processed to be cleaned up of pollution through steps 8 and 9. Or when the industry is not provided with the appropriate equipment the resulting wastes may be pollutant deposits. 4.3.2.4— Pollution The pollution deposits may be assimilated (step 11) but stell contain remaining pollutants (step 12). But when the deposits are not submitted to assimilation, the resulting pollution is of high level. 4.3.2.5— Lagoon All the previous steps in this diagram lead to the coastal lagoon which receives all the pollutants (step 13). 4.3.2.6— Public interest The coastal lagoon usually exploited to meet the various human needs of the reverrine pollution is of public interest. So this lagoon must be prevented from pollution.

Figure 3. Decision-making process of logoon management (Adapt ed from Abouzaid 1981) (18)

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COMPLEXITY OF COASTAL LAGOONS MANAGEMENT 549

4.3.2.7— Legislation The manager usually has recourse to legislation to protect the public interest by requesting the industrial to respect all the regulations leading to the protection of the environnement (step 15). 4.3.2.8— Constraints In the coastal cities frontiered by the lagoon especial in Africa, the private sector used to consider as constraints the cost required to keep the lagoon clean of pollution generated by the industries. As the coastal lagoons are usually considered as ecologically fragile, it is strongly recommended to the industrial to submitt again to the recycling process in order to treat the remaining pollution the manager might have detected in the wastes during the control. The steps 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 show the way back of the wastes in the process. 4.3.2.9— Cost of pollution control This cost of pollution control may concern new equipment purchase to fight pollution and taxes to be paid when the running legislation on pollution control is not respected by the industrial. But when this cost of pollution is somewhat higher pressure can be execercised on 24. The manager to decrease this cost as shown by the steps 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27. At this level the manager must not respond to the pressure of this kind because he has to undertake impact study through the pollution monitoring and the socio-economic activity regulation to always check of the legislation is respected (steps 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32). 4.3.2.10— Impact study The pollution assessment of the lagoon submitted to industrial wastes helps in the impact study through the Input-Output Analysis method

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applied on the milieu (steps 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37). The results of this method of analysis is both of public interest and legislation approach. The manager using the previous diagram has in his hands a precious tool to make his decisions to prevent the ecological destruction of the lagoon. 5— PLANNING PROCESS APPLIED TO COASTAL LAGOON MANAGEMENT The planning process is generally used to address the economic issues can also be applied to environment or to a specific ecosystem like a coastal lagoon. This planning process defined by Maldague (1989)19 can be applied to a lagoon as a rational operation aiming at determining the more appropriate management of the lagoon and its resources in order to to prevent the degradation of the milieu. Given this definition the manager works out to come up with two main principles to be used in the planning purpose. 5.1— Participation of population Education of the population concerned by the management of the lagoon seems to be a major objective to achieve. This action can make more efficient the participation of the riverine population. 5.2— Multidisciplinary approach The lagoon management is not only the concern of the marine scientist but of the socio-economists because it is of many uses as previously shown through the review of the ecological and socio-economic factors related to the biodiversity preservation and conservation. 6— CONCLUSION The copastal lagoon is a key part of the coastal zone. Its management requires the description of the milieu to point out the main factors susceptible or which effectivelly affects its functionning.

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The complexity of the milieu allows to consider the lagoon like a single ecosystem as such, but with several systems through which energy flows can be measured at all trophic levels depending on the availability of the biological resources in the lagoon. It is therefore important to focus on the biodiversity preservation and conservation as final objective of the lagoon management. Because the diversity is a fundamental property of the life the health of a coastal lagoon is detectable through its biological resources. Therefore one of the issues to be address through coastal lagoon management is to provide more biological resources such as fish, wood to meet with the major needs of the man. The complexity of the coastal lagoon management comes from the difficulty to preserve the coastal environment as whole. In the Developing World the African coastal countries strongly need to strengthen regional cooperative action aiming at developing strategies of lagoon management. Many regional projects devoted to the marine ecosystems including the coastal lagoons such as the COMAR Project initiated by UNESCO Worldwide has an African component being the COMARAF Project to also address the coastal lagoon management for a sustainable development of the various African coastal countries. REFERENCES 1.

2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7.

8.

Charlier, R.H., Coastal zone: Occupance, management and economic competitiveness. Ocean and Shorline Management. 12 (1989), pp. 383–402. Gesamp, Coastal modelling. Reports and Studies N°43, March 1991. International Atomic Energy Agency, p. 8. Sverdryp, H.U., On conditions for the vernal blooming of phytoplankton. J.Cons. 18 (1953), pp. 287–295. Bougis, P., Ecologie du plancton marin. 1—Le phytoplancton. Masson et Cie 1974, 195p. Plante Cuny, M.R., Pigments photosynthétiques et production primaire du microphytobenthos d’une lagune tropicale, la lagune Ebrié (Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire). Cah. ORSTOM, Sér. Océanogr. 15 (1977) (1), 3–25. Zabi, S.G. and Le Loeuff P., La macrofaune benthique 19 p. Okera, W., Obzervations on some populations parameters of exploited stocks of Senilia senilis (=Arca senilis) of Sierra Leone. Mar. Biol. 38 (1976) 217–229. Yoloye, V., The ecology of the West African cockle Anadara (=Senilia) senilis L. Bull. IFAN 38 (1976) (1), 25–56.

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9.

10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Zabi, S.G., Les peuplements benthiques lagunaires liés à la pollution en zone urbaine d’Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire). Oceanologica Acta, 1982 N°SP, 441–455 Grassle, J.F., Lasserre, P., McIntyre, A.D. and Ray, G.C., Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem function. Biology International N°23 1991, 19 p. Leontiel, W. The structure of the American economy, 1919–1939 2nd ed New York N.Y., Oxford University Press 1951, 264 p. Hannon, B., The structure of the ecosystems. J. Theor. Biol. 41 (1973) 535–546 Ulanowicz, R.E., Mass and energy flow in closed ecosystems. J.Theor.Biol. 34(1972), 239–253 Odum, E.P. Fundamentals of ecology 3rd edition 1971. W.B.Saunders Cie 574 p. Isaacs, J.D., Unstructured marine food-webs and “pollutant analogues”. Fish. Bull. 70 (1972), 1053–1059. Isaacs, J.D., Potential trophic biomasses and trace substance concentration in unstructured marine food-webs. Mar. Biol. 22 (1973), 97–104. Fasham, M.J., Analytic food-webs models in Mathematical models in biological oceanography. The Unesco Press 1981, p. 54. Abouzaid, H. Déchets industriels inorganiques. FAO FIR/TPLR/81/23

THE MANAGEMENT OF ENCLOSED AND SEMI-ENCLOSED SEAS LEWIS M.ALEXANDER University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI USA

ABSTRACT Enclosed and semi-enclosed seas would seem to be logical sites for the introduction and use of integrated management programs, although currently no such programs are actually in use. Marine regional planning and management efforts to date have tended to be single-purpose, focusing on data gathering and assessment, living marine resources, and environmental protection. These efforts have been carried out both by UN and non-UN organizations. By building on existing programs and utilizing new planning techniques, progress should be possible in the direction of multi-purpose management activities. INTRODUCTION Enclosed and semi-enclosed seas are marked off from the open ocean, or in some cases from other seas and gulfs, by the configuration of their coasts and at times the presence of offshore islands. As distinct maritime units, they have a strong potential for ocean management activities with respect to environmental protection, the exploitation of living marine resources, scientific research, coastal development, and other issues. Policy makers tend to think in terms of comprehensive geographic units and often plan regional arrangements on a unit-wide basis. But because of the wide variety of conditions associated with enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, it is difficult

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to offer valid generalizations which would apply to all, or even the great majority of situations. The terms “enclosed” and “semi-enclosed” seas are not easy to define. Geographically, an “enclosed” sea has no outlet through which to drain, witness the Caspian and Aral Seas. The water body may be over 90 per cent enclosed, as in the case of the Black and Mediterranean Seas, in which situation the flushing action will be extremely slow. Conversely, a semienclosed sea may have a broad connection with a larger water body. In the case of the Bay of Bengal, for example, there is a 700-mile opening onto the Indian Ocean, between Sri Lanka and Thailand. The 1982 Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention, Article 122, defines enclosed or semi-enclosed seas as “a gulf, basin or sea, surrounded by two or more States and connected with another sea or the ocean by a narrow outlet or consisting entirely or primarily of the territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of two or more coastal States.” The definition does not distinguish between “enclosed” and “semi-enclosed” water bodies, but it is so worded as to arguably include relatively open water areas, such as the Coral or Barents Seas, which are covered primarily by their coastal States’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) The only real requirement is that the sea must be bordered by two or more States. For our purposes here, an “enclosed” sea will be taken as one in which 95 per cent or more of the periphery is occupied by land. There are five such seas: the Baltic, the Black, the Mediterranean, the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, and the Red Sea. All suffer from slow exchange rates of water, and experience gyre-like movements of currents within their confines. All tend to have unique living marine ecosystems with relatively little interchange of species with those beyond their borders. In the case of semi-enclosed seas, it is difficult to define a limit between such water bodies and mere curvatures of the coast. A suggestion was once made that in order to qualify as a semi-enclosed sea approximately 50 per cent of the periphery should be occupied by land.(1) But there are exceptions, such as the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, where the water/land ratio along the circumference is less that 1:1, but for which management schemes might be highly appropriate. For both enclosed and semi-enclosed seas a distinction could be made between “primary” and “secondary” water bodies. The Mediterranean is a “primary” sea with its own flushing rates and large-scale circulation patterns. The Adriatic, on the other hand, is a “secondary” sea, opening onto the Mediterranean, and while certain management functions could be derived for the Adriatic alone, their viability would depend in part on

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conditions in the Mediterranean itself. Among other “secondary” water bodies are the Sea of Azov, the Gulf of Finland, and the Gulf of Thailand. There seem to be no size limitations on enclosed and semi-enclosed seas. The Mediterranean Sea covers 865,000 square nautical miles,(2) the South China Sea, 676,000, and the Persian Gulf only 70,000 square miles. If one considers gulfs and bays where international management activities might occur, the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank area, through which runs the US-Canadian maritime boundary, covers less than 50,000 square miles. What about the Gulf of Trieste as a form of semi-enclosed sea? In terms of real or potential management efforts, size may be less important than the number and condition of relations of the surrounding coastal States. For example, there are eight-States bordering the Mediterranean, with the result that officials of the UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme had a complex task in arranging in 1975 for the first Intergovernmental Meeting in Barcelona, at which as Action Plan for the Mediterranean was approved. Surprisingly, 16 of the 18 littoral States attended the Barcelona meeting.(3) In the case of the Caribbean, there are twenty-three littoral States, as well as island territories of four non-Carbbean countries. Ten States border the South China Sea, eight line the shores of the Persian Gulf. Clearly, the logistical problems of management might be easier in the case of the Bering or Solomon Seas, each of which is bordered by only two States. Along with numbers, there may be ideological, territorial or other differences to contend with. UNEP was able to bring Israel and the bordering Arab States together in the Mediterranean Action Plan, but the Arabs balked at such cooperation in a proposed Red Sea Action Plan. Cooperation between the United States and Cuba would be necessary in any management program for the Gulf of Mexico; between North and South Korea, and probably Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China in any East China-Yellow Sea initiative; and between Vietnam, Cambodia and their ASEAN neighbors with respect to a viable South China Sea effort. In the latter case, there are also territorial disputes among several of the littoral States over ownership Of the Paracel and Spratly Islands and Pratas Reef. Variations in Ocean Management Programs The term “management” as applied to the ocean environment, implies an investment of time, money, and restrictive rules and regulations in order to achieve some short or long-term pbjective. The objective may be to increase the benefits derived from resource or non-resource ocean uses. It

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may be to minimize detrimental effects on the ocean environment, or it may seek to reduce conflict of use situations.(4) Goals such as these can, of course, be combined with one another in various forms. What is basic is that the participants in a management program acknowledge that the management efforts, whatever its costs, is preferable to a no-management situation. There are several states in a management process. A first is the collection and assessment of data, be it associated with fisheries biology, oxygen content of water, or the infow of pollutants from discharging rivers. The mere act of data collection on the part of a number of countries may, in itself, be a daunting task, as was experienced by UNEP in the early years of the Mediterranean Action Plan where there was need to coordinate the monitoring and assessment procedures of the participating countries. The question inevitably arises, how much data is required in order to prepare and put into effect some type of plan for action? Some potential management schemes seem never to get beyond the data acquisition and analysis phase. For example, monitoring and assessment programs have been underway for some years now on living marine resources in such areas as the Caribbean, the Red Sea and the East China Sea without, as yet, any follow-up on potential fisheries management programs. A second stage in the management process is the formulation of a plan, designed to increase benefits from ocean use, and/or to prevent further deterioration of the marine environment. Here, it is necessary to distinguish between marine resource management, which focuses on a single resource or problem, and integrated ocean management, which has a multiple-use focus. The latter is much more difficult to achieve, and planning for integrated management is a complex and sophis ticated undertaking. In a plan for single resource management, there are always one or more parties (or countries) that stand to lose, once a plan is implemented. In the case of fisheries conservation, for example, proposals may be made for closed areas, closed seasons, reductions in mesh size, or quotas placed on the take of certain species. Opponents of a particular proposal may argue that the data on which assumptions are based is insufficient to justify action, that monitoring was carried out on a particularly poor year class of fish, that unusual environmental conditions were present, such as the temporary disappearance of an important ocean current, etc. Since participation in a regional ocean program is voluntary, such attitudes can be difficult to cope with. In one area, the North Sea, there has for a number of years been a move to develop a comprehensive approach to ocean management through a

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process known as “Sea Use Planning.” Such an approach takes account of sea transport, mineral exploitation, fisheries, waste disposal and pollution control, as well as defense, research, recreation and conservation. An essential tool of Sea Use Planning is a specialized information system that “may be used as a research tool systematically to build up data and examine interaction problems in depth within a spatial management context.”(5) Such a system would appear to have considerable potential for use as a basis for integrated marine management programs. Once a plan of action has been adopted by a regional body there arises the question of ratification by the member States. Here again, the number of participants is important. Also important is the degree of investment which member States are called upon to make. In formulating a management strategy, a planner must bear this in mind. Often the rules and regulations necessary for a management venture filter down to the lowest common denominator. Political will is obviously important here, as is the capacity to fund management programs. The countries of Western Europe, for example, have a long history of successfully promoting regional management schemes on their own, particularly for the North and Baltic Seas. Among these are the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission, the 1969 North Sea Oil Pollution Agreement, and the 1979 Common Fisheries Policy of the European Economic Community (EEC). The United States, Canada, Japan, and other States have also engaged in developong and sustaining regional arrangements outside the UN system. But the majority of marine regional management arrangements have been developed under the auspicies of UN-related agencies, particularly the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). These and other UN organizations face two formidable tasks. First, they must retain the support of all or most of the States bordering a particular enclosed or semi-enclosed sea; this may mean avoiding the imposition of seemingly-onerous responsibilities on the part of the member-countries as the price for participation. Second, at a time of UN budget difficulties, the agencies must somehow find the means to fund the regional operations—including seeking assistance from such outside groups as AID, CIDA, and the World Bank. The next to last stage in the management process is the implementation of a program, including enforcement of its rules and regulations. All, or nearly all, of the waters of enclosed and semi-enclosed seas are divided up among the exclusive economic or fisheries zones of the bordering States. In the case of fisheries programs, the responsible States may lack the capacity

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(or at times the political will) to enforce agreed-upon standards on their own fishermen. They may demand compliance on the part of foreign fishermen, as part of the price for being granted access to surplus stocks in their EEZ, but again does the coastal State have the ability to place observers on board the foreign vessels and to punish violators? Finally, all management programs, in terrestrial as well as maritime areas, should have some type of feedback system, so that changes can be made when conditions become unworkable. One specific case where this process appears to be functioning is with respect to the EEC Common Fisheries Policy. There is evidence of overfishing of certain stocks in the North Sea and in the waters north and west of the British Isles, and this issue is now being addressed. Some Case Studies of Regional Arrangements Most of the marine regional activities associated with enclosed and semienclosed seas have occurred since the end of World War II and the establishment of the United Nations. One exception is ICES, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, which, since 1902, has been gathering and analyzing fisheries data for the North and Baltic Seas. Starting in the early 1950s, FAO has gradually developed nine regional fisheries organizations, and a tenth is soon to be established. Of these, only one, the General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM) corresponds in coverage to an enclosed or semi-enclosed sea. The Council is involved primarily in various aspects of stock assessment in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, although it has also worked with ICSEM, the International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea—a non-UN body based in Monaco—on pollution problems, including those associated with UNEP’s Mediterranean Action Plan. UNEP itself, in addition to its successful Mediterranean Action Plan, has initiated marine environment protection plans for ten other regions, of which four would appear to correspond in geographic scope with enclosed or semi-enclosed seas. These regions include the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Caribbean, and the East Asian Seas. “The regions are covered by the comprehensive Action Plans which…have five basic, closely interdependent components: environmental assessment, environmental management, institutional arrangements, financial arrangements, and regional legal instruments/ framework…. UNEP plays a catalytic and generally coordinating role by providing financial and

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institutional support in the initial stages of regional programs…but its policy is that eventually the states concerned will take over responsibility fpr tje omplementation of the Action Plans.”(6) In the planning and implementation of the Action Plans, UNEP works closely with other agencies of the UN, as evidenced by the role of ICSEM in the Mediterranean A third UN agency with regional marine interests is IOC, a commission of UNESCO, although the areas covered by its various activities are usually more extensive than enclosed or semi-enclosed seas. Its one major regional sea effort has been IOCARIBE, the IOC Association for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions, whose function is to oversee IOC projects in the Caribbean area and to coordinate these activities with those of other UN bodies. Turning to non-UN regional arrangements for enclosed and semienclosed seas, one of the most successful has been the EEC Common Fisheries Policy for the North Sea and adjacent areas. The arrangement excludes the northeasternmost part of the North Sea, since this lies within the EEZ of Norway, which is not a member of the European Community. The management system each year establishes Total Allowable Catches for most stocks of commercial interest, and divides these into quotas which are allocated to individual member States. This unique “common pool” arrangement is intended to avoid the fierce competition of previous years among fishing fleets and provides protection against overexploitation. Unfortunately, there have recently been indications of overfishing of certain preferred stocks, and a concurrent need for readjustment of some of the system’s mechanisms. Some Thoughts on Comprehensive Management There have as yet been no comprehensive management systerms adopted for any of the world’s enclosed or semi-enclosed seas. While progress was being made twenty years ago in establishing fisheries conservation measures in the high seas areas of some water bodies, beyond territorial limits, the coming of the 200-mile exclusive economic or fisheries zones effectively ended these efforts, and the only strong international fisheries management effort now is in the North Sea. Likewise, with respect to environmental protection, there are the UNEP Regional Seas Programmes at various levels of development, but these are mostly concerned with monitoring the environment, setting standards for ship-generated pollution, and establishing crisis centers for action in the event of environmental disasters.

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It should be pointed out that enclosed and semi-enclosed seas are only a part of the total marine regional environment, and that some of the lessons learned from activities in larger areas may have some relevance for these water bodies. This is true, for example, in the case of the South Pacific, where the multi-national Forum, whose activities cover nearly 10 million square miles of area, (7) is becoming an increasingly meaningful regional entity. If one were to contemplate integrated management activities in partiallyenclosed water bodies, several points might be emphasized. First, planners must be flexible about the geographic areas to be covered. Enclosed and semi-enclosed seas may need to be combined for certain management purposes, as might be the case with the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean Sea. Flexibility would also be necessary in determining the limits of a Gulf of Guinea management program. Planners should start with the known and move to the unknown. This is important both in terms of successful projects and of successful agencies for directing management projects. In the latter situation, UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme offers guidelines at least for partial-integration efforts. Third, planners should consider areas to be managed from a total ecosystem approach with respect to living marine resources, pollution prevention, coastal protection and development, the establishment of ecologically-sensitive areas, etc. One new trend in this direction has been the evolution of the Large Marine Ecosystem concept, dealing with multiple species of living marine resources, spread over 60,000 square nautical miles or more of ocean space.(8) Another trend, as noted earlier, has been the development of integrated Sea Use Planning concepts. Finally, attention should where possible be given to programs of regional economic development, an issue toward which the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, as well as other funding agencies have been favorable. Mixing Development benefits with the restrictive actions necessary for effective regional management would seem a logical course of action as we move toward the Twenty-first Century. REFERENCES 1. 2.

Alexander, L., Regionalism and the Law of the Sea: The Case of Semienclosed Seas. Ocean Dev & International Law, 1974, 2, 151–187. One nautical miles equals 1.151 statute miles. A square nautical mile is the equivalent of 1.325 square statute miles.

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3. 4. 5.

6.

7. 8.

Cyprus and Albania did not attend. Cyprus later parcipated in the Action Plan. See Juda, L. and Burroughs, R., The Prospects for comprehensive ocean management. Marine Policy, 1990, 14, 23– 36. Couper, A.D. and Smith, H.D. The North Sea: Bases for Management and Planning in a Milti-State Region. In The Law of the Sea and Ocean Industry: New Opportunities and Restraints, ed. Douglas Johnson and Norman Retalik, University of Hawaii Press, 1984, p. 85. Kwiatkowska, B., The Role of Regional Oranizations in Development Cooperation in Marine Affairs. In Implementation of the Law of the Sea Conventions Through International Institutions, ed. Alfred Soon,The University of Hawaii Press, 1990, pp. 72–72. The figure includes “windows” of high seas within the framework of the islands’ EEZs. See Sherman, K., Biomass Yields of Large Marine Ecosystems In Ocean Yearbook 8, ed. Elisabeth Mann Borgese, Norton Ginsburg, and Joseph Morgan, University of Chicago Press 1990, pp. 1–30.

THE ARCTIC OCEAN H.JESSE WALKER Department of Geography and Anthropology Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803–4105 USA

To the memory of Vilhjalmur Stefansson “The prophet of the North”* ABSTRACT The Arctic Ocean, the edge of which was once visited by Columbus, has been a place of mystery throughout most of history. As an ice-covered ocean remote from centers of civilization, its vast resources, with few exceptions, remained untapped and its seas generally impenetrable. However, recent advances in technology, increasing demands for energy resources, the recognition that the Arctic Ocean is strategically located and the realization that it is ecologically distinct, have attracted the attention of governments, the military, industry and other special interest groups. Because of the recency of these developments, policy declarations and management procedures are only now beginning to receive the attention they deserve. INTRODUCTION The Arctic Ocean as portrayed on a Mercator Map leaves one with the impression that it is an extremely elongated body of water rather than the elliptical-mediterranean that is observed on a polar projection (Fig. 1). Further, a polar projection illustrates well that distances between the eight

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Figure 1. A polar map projection of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent land areas with the distribution of rivers, seas, permafrost and ocean currents. Compiled from numerous sources including [43], [32] and [55].

countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are relatively short. These facts were appreciated by explorers (especially during the 16th Century) as suggested by the many attempts to open up northwest, northeast and over-the-pole trade routes. That those attempts failed is not because of distance but rather because technology had not developed to the stage of effectively countering environmental (mainly sea ice) constraints. With the establishment in 1957 of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line (now the North Warning System), the use of nuclear submarines under ice, nuclear-powered ice breaking transport ships and the discovery and exploitation of oil and gas in high northern latitudes have made the Arctic more than just a frozen wasteland in the eyes of most citizens.

* As stated by J.Mirsky in To The Arctic! [35].

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These activities are akin to the Columbus/Viking controversy. The effective colonization of the Americas (for good or bad) came with Columbus even though the Norsemen had sailed to the Americas nearly 500 years earlier. In the case of the Arctic, the above mentioned activities effectively opened it up to exploitation (for good or bad) whereas most of the earlier impacts (whaling for example) were mainly of a transient nature. It has been maintained by some that the petroleum industry may go the same way as whaling when the giant arctic oil and gas resources are depleted. However, recent developments have had a great impact on government, law, economy, society and culture in the Arctic (both land and sea) and are leading to an expanding development as prophesied by Vilhjalmur Stefansson over 75 years ago. With these developments has come a concern for the environment and increasing demands for effective management, which will depend on: (1) the environmental characteristics of the area, (2) the nature and distribution of Arctic Ocean resources, (3) the state of technology and the economic feasibility of exploitation and (4) the impact of development on the environment. THE ARCTIC OCEAN: ITS PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Knowledge about the Arctic Ocean, which with its bordering seas has an area of 14×106km2, came slowly. The folklore about the Arctic of the early Mediterranean peoples was based in part on the hearsay that accompanied trade goods from the north. It was not until about 300 B.C. that Pytheas brought a first-hand account back to Massalia (Marseilles) of the Arctic Ocean. Portions of his account, although discounted by many of his contemporaries and successors, have been preserved. As Sarton [47] wrote: among Pytheas’ incredible stories were the first reports of arctic conditions …He described the inextricable mixture of air, sea, and land…and the frozen sea which can neither be traversed by foot or by boat. Of course many people such as those Pytheas met at Thule, the Inuit (Eskimos) of Greenland, North America and Siberia, the Lapps of Scandinavia and numerous Siberian coastal groups lived with just those conditions that astounded Pytheas and were unbelieved by Mediterranean scholars. The familarity of some of the indigenous peoples with the Arctic

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Ocean is well exemplified by the fact the Inuit have at least 79 sea-ice terms ranging from one for slush ice to one for ice once used by walrus. History records that by the 8th Century A.D.Irish were living in Iceland year round and that Icelanders (Norse plus Irish) were sailing to Greenland and beyond during the 10th to 12th Centuries. They penetrated northward at least 900 km beyond the Arctic Circle. Even Columbus went north before his voyage west in 1492 and, just before 1500 (after his voyages west), he proposed that an over-the-pole route be tried [50]. In a note designed to prove that the Arctic Zone (as well as the Torrid Zone) was inhabitable, Columbus wrote that he had sailed 100 leagues north of Thule and that, when he was there, the sea was not frozen [36]. Mirsky [35] observed that: Only the very strongest of motives could induce men to undertake arctic voyages during the period just following the discovery of the New World…. [nonetheless] the wealth of the North was noted and exploited, and the romantic strangeness of its regions was broadcast By the 17th Century the seas around Svalbard were being visited by fleets capturing seals, walrus and whales. Subsequent to Columbus, the main objective of most navigators heading into arctic waters was to establish a short economical sea route over ‘the top’ of the Eurasian and American continents, an objective that to this day even with all its modern technology, has only been partially realized. With the Franklin Expedition disaster in the mid-19th Century, most arctic travel began to focus on either the discovery and mapping of unknown territory or on accomplishing something no one had done before, such as reaching the North Pole. Although much information of a practical nature was acquired (especially in relation to ice and ships), Stefansson was wont to write that “if the average American or European university graduate had ten ideas about the North, nine of them would be wrong” [25]. Much of the mystery and some of the misimpressions about the Arctic still linger. However, they are gradually being eliminated by the increasing number of people who live and work (including those engaged in research) in the Arctic. Bathymetry and Morphology The nature of the central part of the Arctic Ocean was unknown as recently as 100 years ago. It was believed by some that the North Pole was surrounded by land; a belief that prompted a number of attempts at finding

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what would have been the last major masses of land on earth. Others thought it was a shallow sea [57]. Both of these notions were dispelled by Nansen who froze a specially designed boat, (the Fram) into the ice pack. The soundings made during the Fram’s drift (1893–1896) showed that the Ocean was more than 3,000 m deep along the line of drift. Only a few years later (1904) an analysis of tidal data prompted the conclusion that the Arctic Basin must have a ridge through it. The existence of this ridge, later named the Lomonosov Ridge, was confirmed by soundings made during 1948 and 1949 by the Soviets (Fig. 2). Prior to the Second World War, measurements of depths in the Arctic Ocean were made from ships, ice stations and airplanes. Although subice exploration was attempted in 1931 by Sir Hubert Wilkins, it was not until the 1950s with the development of nuclear submarines that extensive subice research began. The Soviets established their first ice station in 1937, the Americans in 1952 and the Canadians in 1967. The Soviets published the first realistic map of the sea floor in 1954. Although major refinements of the original map have appeared, many details are still missing because of the difficulties of data collection such as climate, finance and incentive. Sea ice is advantageous because it can serve as a platform for operations, but disadvantageous in that its drift, while generally predictable, cannot be controlled. The most prominent ridge in the Arctic Ocean is the Lomonosov Ridge, which divides the Ocean into the Eurasia and Amerasia Basins (Fig. 2) each of which, in turn, is separated into smaller basins. The Lomonosov Ridge, rising in places to within 500 m of the surface (more than 2,000 m above the basins that border it), influences Arctic Ocean circulation. The deep Amerasian Basin with its restricted circulation is a sediment trap isolated from the world ocean [34]. Separating the basins from the continents to their south are the continental margins which are comprised of continental rises, slopes and shelves (Fig. 3). Whereas the continental slopes are quite steep, the shelves are gentle, some with gradients as low as 1:12,000. The continental shelves (many of which are potential petroleum producers) vary greatly in width and depth. The break between the shelves and slopes ranges from approximately 150 m off Scandinavia to some 800 m off Alaska. The width of the shelves, even more varied, range from about 20 km off northern Greenland to more than 800 km off central Siberia. Generally the shelf is narrow north of the Americas and wide north of Siberia. The Eurasian shelf, 75% of which is less than 100 m deep, occupies more than one-third of the Arctic Ocean (Fig. 2). The bottom sediments of the Arctic’s continental shelves are frequently gouged by the keels of pressure-ridge ice

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Figure 2. The Arctic Ocean with emphasis on the deep basins and shallow bordering seas. The Amerasia Basin is also known as the Canada Basin, Amerasian Basin and Laurentian Basin. The Eurasia Basin is also referred to as the Eurasian Basin and the Angara Basin. Modified from [18].

and fragments of ice islands; some of these gouges appear to be fossil scars [57]. The highest densities of gouges occur at depths of between 20 m to 40 m. In some areas they average more than 150/km2 [7]. Permafrost, which underlies most Arctic land areas, is also present in some continental shelf regions including the Beaufort Sea. Although its subsea distribution is not well known, it appears to occur in three different patterns, namely; as shallow relict permafrost, as deep relict permafrost and as layered ice-bonded permafrost [38]. It may occur at distances of over 50 km from the shore. Climatology The Arctic Ocean, regarded through much of history as a place so frigid that life can not exist, is dominated by a cover of sea ice which overlies water at a temperature no colder than—1.8°C. Nonetheless, because of extreme seasonal variations in the extent of its ice cover and variations in solar energy received, albedo, snow cover and circulation patterns, the Ocean’s

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Figure 3. Geological and legal divisions of the offshore. Source unknown.

climate is not easily characterized [9]. The major factors of climate that impact Arctic Ocean operations are air temperature, precipitation, wind and seasonal variation in daylight and darkness. Air temperatures during winter over the central ice pack average about— 30°C to—40°C although, because of strong temperature inversions, it may be some 10°C to 20°C warmer at elevations between 500 m and 1,500 m. Because of the heat flux from the water beneath the 2 m—to 4 m-thick sea ice, extreme low temperatures are not recorded over the sea ice but rather over the continents well inland from the coasts. Summer temperatures in the central Arctic remain low with only a few weeks per year when temperatures are above 0°C. Nonetheless, these temperatures, low as they are, are sufficient to melt the snow cover (beginning about the end of June near the North Pole) and create ponds on the sea surface (Fig. 4). Over the seas marginal to the ice pack, air temperatures are higher and the duration of warmer conditions may last up to four months [2]. Despite the fact that the Arctic is no more windy than most midlatitude areas [10], wind is of critical importance because of wind chill, snow drifting and sea ice drift. January wind speeds are about 6 m/sec, rarely rising above 12 m/sec. Directions are variable with location and season; e.g. in the Beaufort Sea northeast winds prevail but during late summer and fall strong southwest winds are common. They frequently cause severe erosion along the Alaskan shore especially when the ice edge is far from the coast providing a long fetch over open water [56]. Wind enhances the sensation of cold; an effect known as wind chill. Even moderate winds may seriously hamper activities at low temperatures, e.g. a wind of 6 m/sec (about the average over the ice pack) at an air temperature of—15°C equates to a wind chill equivalent temperature of—

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Figure 4. Drifting research station on pack ice in the Arctic Ocean illustrating melt ponds. Photo courtesy M.Brewer.

30°C. Wind blown snow, a common phenomenon in the Arctic, can be very disruptive to surface and air transport. Precipitation over the Arctic Ocean is usually snow although rain (up to 25% of the total) occurs during summer. Total amounts are generally low, except in the eastern Arctic where wind from over the north Atlantic may result in heavy snowfalls. Wind-accumulated drifts around pressure ridges and other surface irregularities are common. The amount of snow accumulating over the central Arctic Ocean is about 20 cm of which nearly one-third evaporates [8]. Oceanography Part of the uniqueness of the Arctic Ocean is its location atop the North Pole in contrast to Antarctica which is a continent atop the South Pole. The Arctic Ocean, like the Mediterranean Sea, is nearly landlocked and, although the Arctic Ocean has a number of connections to the south, all but one are shallow. The one deep connection, the Fram Strait, lies between Svalbard and Greenland and has been called the “crucial point of the whole system” [45]. It is a strait that is deep enough (more than 2,000 m) so that warm, highly saline water from the Atlantic enters in large volumes. Because of the Lomonosov Ridge, only the upper layer (known as Atlantic Water) can circulate freely; large amounts are essentially trapped in the basins [32]. The surface layer is affected by seasonal events such as salt rejection during sea water freezing, freshening during sea ice melting and river runoff, mechanical stirring and convection (Fig. 5). Because of the large size of the continental shelves, the quality of high-

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Figure 5. Processes operating in the shallow surface layer of the Arctic Ocean. Redrawn from [32].

salinity water produced during freeze up is sufficiently large to cause drainage over the shelves and down the slope. Surface circulation, set up by wind forcing, includes two main patterns. The Beaufort Sea Gyre circulates in a clockwise direction over the Canadian Basin; the Transpolar Drift Stream moves from Siberian waters across the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean east of Greenland (Fig. 1). The existence of a transpolar current leading out of the Arctic Ocean was early recognized because of timber that drifted from Siberia to Europe and because of the parts of the wrecked ship Jeanette (1879) that were carried to Greenland. Water is also transported out of the Arctic Ocean and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean between the many islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Sea Ice Sea ice, which dominates the surface of the Arctic Ocean, is of critical importance to most human activities that take place in the ocean area. Sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean and bordering seas ranges from about 8×106 km2 before freeze-up (August) to 14×106 km2 at its maximum (February to March) (Fig. 6). The marginal seas (Fig. 1) and narrow bands along the coasts of North America and Siberia are ice free seasonally. The thickness of sea ice varies with season, location, snowfall, ablation (Fig. 7) and amount of ridging. Average ice thicknesses increase from Eurasia across the basin to Canada [52]. Unridged first year ice may be as much as 2 m thick

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Figure 6. Sea ice and subsea permafrost distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. Compiled from [8] and [43].

whereas multi-year ice often ranges between 3 m and 4 m in thickness. Further, unridged first year ice is usually quite level whereas multi-year ice is often undulating (Fig. 8). The thickness of ice in pressure ridges is highly variable ranging up to 50 m with keel depths averaging 3.2 times sail heights in multi-year ridges (Fig. 9). Thus, gouging by the keels of moving pressure ridges may occur on the low gradient continental shelves out to distances of 10’s of kilometers off Alaska and 100’s of kilometers off Siberia. In heavily impacted areas, as off the Canadian Archipelago, ridges may account for as much as 50% of the total ice mass [23].

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Figure 7. The pedestaling of a building on an ice island after 10 years because of ablation. Photo by H.J.Walker.

Figure 8. The eroded surface of sea ice with a newly frozen lead. Photo by H.J.Walker.

There is constant movement of ice within the pack ice segment of the Ocean. The general movement, while controlled by the currents in the Ocean, is affected by wind. The general drift patterns and speeds, especially around the Beaufort Sea Gyre and in the Transpolar Drift Stream (which carries ice from as far as Bering Strait to the Atlantic) have been established through observation of the movements of various pack ice stations, ice islands and ships. The general drift rate in the Beaufort Sea Gyre is 2.3 cm/s. Along the Siberian coast the drift rate averages about 2.8

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Figure 9. Sea ice forms in the southern Beaufort Sea. Redrawn from [30].

cm/s. Thus, ice takes about five years to make one circuit of the Beaufort Sea Gyre. Sea ice is lost to the Arctic Ocean by ablation (about 60%) and export (about 40%) mostly past east Greenland. A major factor affecting the development of resources in the Arctic Ocean is the strength of sea ice. Strength varies with a number of factors including brine content, crystal organization, temperature, age and type [41]. Kotlyakov and Grosswald [28] write that: The most conservative part of the Arctic sea-ice cover is multiyear ice and two-year-old ice…Its mean area over many years, not counting stretches of open water within the ice, is 6,800,000 km2. Outside the nucleus lies first-year ice. It begins to form among fragments of older ice as early as September. In October it extends into areas of open water and thereafter month after month advances farther and farther south, forming a broad band of first-year ice. Imbedded within pack ice is the occasional ice island that drifts along with the pack. Ice islands represent the thickest (45 m to 50 m) ice hazard for near shore (and submarine) environments. Also, there is the seasonal shorefast and bottomfast ice which, when they melt or break loose, leaves a lead of various widths between the pack and the shore. The formation of this lead is especially important to migrating mammals and present-day transport. A factor affecting the rate and extent of shore lead formation is the drainage of rivers into the ocean (Fig. 5). Antonov [4] noted that “the heat of the river waters is one of the major factors favoring the intensive melting of the fast ice.”

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Marine Biology As Dunbar [15] wrote: Life in the polar regions has interested the civilized world for many centuries, first as an unfailing stimulant of wonder, as something essentially strange and exotic, later as a series of phenomena requiring serious attention, and finally as offering a special laboratory from which results of general significance can be elicited. Despite the fact that the Arctic Ocean proper is one of the least biologically productive areas of the world’s oceans [46], it has a variety of sub-environments where productivity is high and upon which native populations depend. In those seas where water from the Atlantic and Pacific mixes with arctic water, marine productivity is enhanced. For example, primary productivity in the oceanic portions of the Bering Sea is as much as 75 times that of the Arctic Ocean proper and in Frobisher Bay 70 times [16]. Seals, whales and sea birds often concentrate near the ice edge where they have been exploited for centuries. Polynyas, areas of open water during winter, are found in several locations in the Canadian Archipelago, the eastern Beaufort Sea and along the Siberian coast. They provide habitats for walrus, seals, polar bears and migratory birds. Sea ice itself is important in several ways to life in the Arctic. It not only reduces the amount of light reaching the water beneath it, therefore limiting photosynthesis, but, being a solid, it provides a firm surface where birds and mammals can feed and bear their young. Although the Arctic Ocean food chain has been called simple, it begins, as elsewhere, with phytoplankton. Among the more important contributions, at least during spring, are the over 300 species of algae that live in and on sea ice, especially its the lowest parts [24]. Ice algae along with other phytoplankton form the basic food for species up the food chain. Thus, anything that affects phytoplankton production will impact heavily on the mammals and birds that use arctic waters permanently or on a seasonal basis. THE NATURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF ARCTIC OCEAN RESOURCES The objective of the presentation above was to provide an outline of those environmental features of the Arctic Ocean that are currently being utilized

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or are potentially usable, those environmental conditions that impact their utilization and the knowledge about them that has occurred through history. The common practice of distinguishing between renewable and nonrenewable resources is also applicable to the Arctic Ocean. Renewable resources, limited as they are, include sea mammals, fish and birds. Nonrenewable resources are dominated by fossil energy fuels but also include many potentially important hard minerals. Renewable Resources The bulk of the Ocean’s biological resources are confined to the marginal seas with only occasional or seasonal (usually ice permitting) forays into the Arctic Ocean proper. The value of fisheries in marginal seas had been recognized for centuries by Europeans and even longer by native groups. As mentioned above, Europeans were using the fishing grounds around Svalbard in the 17th Century whereas native groups, especially those living on the coast bordering the North American Arctic, depended on the sea for their food supply. The Bering Sea, Baffin Bay and Barents Sea join the rest of the Arctic in accounting for 10% of the world’s fish catch [54] with cod, capelin, herring, pollack and salmon being numerous. There have been major oscillations in the quantity of fish occupying those waters because of climatic and sea ice changes and over-fishing. Whales, seals and walrus have been harvested heavily. The vulnerability of sea mammals to harvesting is exemplified by the fact that over 65% of northern fur seals breed on two small islands in the Bering Sea [42]. Concentrations also occur in polynyas where access to air and food is available even during winter. Ringed seals, the most common of the arctic seals, are year-round residents and maintain breathing holes through the ice. It is the most important seal in the Inuit economy [12]. Polar bears, which are circumpolar in distribution, are well adapted to the marine environment. They roam the ice depending on ringed seals for most of their food. Because they have been prized as trophies, they have been over-hunted in some locations and today are protected by quota limitations. Birds in the Arctic have been and are important as a source of food for aboriginal peoples but as a commercial resource are not significant. Most of them are present for only a short summer season during which time they nest and rear their broods. The importance of the Arctic for migratory birds is illustrated by the fact that 6×106 sea birds breed in Arctic Canada

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after migrating there from about one-third of the earth’s surface [39]. Although some hunting (subsistence as well as sport hunting) occurs in the Arctic, many arctic birds, after migrating south, become the prized game birds of sportsmen. Non-Renewable Resources As Osherenko and Young [42] declared: Though the Arctic may never emerge as a great center of manufacturing industries, the region is destined to become a major source of raw materials of critical importance to advanced industrial societies both in the Arctic rim states and in other Northern Hemisphere states like Japan and Korea. Many of these raw materials are located under the Arctic Ocean and some are being exported at the present time. The one that has gained the most attention by far is oil, but it is not the only hydrocarbon present; gas, coal and solid gas hydrate (calthrate) are also plentiful. In addition to these energy sources, hard minerals such as barite, gold, tin, sand and gravel, are present. During the last two decades many discoveries of natural gas and oil have been made on the continental shelves of Alaska and Canada. Although the Canadians initiated offshore exploration in 1960 [14], it was after 1968, with the discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska, that offshore exploration was intensified. Extensive exploration, including 240 exploratory wells in the Mackenzie Delta-Canadian Beaufort Sea region, has shown that the petroleum potential of some sedimentary basins, especially those on the continental shelf of North America, are large [19]. The Soviet continental shelf areas are relatively unknown, although it is believed that the East Siberian Sea Basin has great potential. It is probably similar to much of the Chukchi Sea Basin in that it will be a producer of gas rather than oil [19]. Exploration in the Barents and Pechora Seas is being conducted presently [20]. Coal is widely distributed around the Arctic being known to occur in coastal areas of Siberia, Svalbard, Greenland, some of the Canadian Arctic islands and Alaska. Although the offshore potential in Arctic waters has been little addressed, it is believed that the potential is great. Some seismic data and mud logs suggest that the Beaufort Sea shelf has large amounts of lignite and that parts of the Chukchi shelf has subbituminous coal [20].

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One of the most interesting of the potential sources of energy trapped offshore in the Arctic are gas hydrates. Composed mainly of methane and water, these solids are found in two distinctive environments: “(1) offshore, in sediment of the outer continental margin, and (2) onshore, in and below areas of thick permafrost” [29]. The band of gas hydrate deposits range in thickness from about 200 m to over 1500 m in offshore areas. The largest offshore area (more than 7, 500 km2) of gas hydrates yet determined is north of Alaska. However, calculations for the Arctic Ocean as a whole show that there may be over 1015 m3 of methane present, an amount that is comparable to some of the estimates made for the rest of the world [29]. Because gas hydrates lie close to the ocean bottom they could prove to be an economical source of energy [37]. In addition to coal, considered above with the hydrocarbons, a number of other hard minerals are also present offshore in the Arctic Ocean. Some of them may be minable by undersea techniques that have been used for centuries. Presently tin, sand and gravel are mined offshore in the Arctic. There is promise for others in the near future. Deep-sea deposits of heavy minerals have been observed in small amounts but do not hold much promise for development. Nearshore mineral deposits include those in which nearly all of the material is used (the industrial minerals) and those in which only selected heavy minerals (placer minerals) are retained [20]. The most mined minerals in the Arctic are sand and gravel for use as aggregate. The petroleum industry has depended heavily on aggregate for the construction of onshore facilities and for temporary artificial islands. Although the first islands were built by trucking sand and gravel from onshore deposits, later ones in Canada were built from offshore deposits. The quantities used are very large, for example, an island constructed in 20 m of water needs more than 4.1×106 m3 of aggregate [20]. Although the availability of usable material varies with location, some deposits (especially sand) do seem to be present in most continental shelf locations. Sand and gravel, as presently known, are the only hard minerals that are economically exploitable in the eastern Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea. The frequency of placer deposits with potentially usable quantities of gold, chromite, tungsten, platinum and tin among others has yet to be determined. There has been some mining such as gold at Nome, Alaska; barite at Petersburg, Alaska and lead at Marmorilik, Greenland. Although these deposits have been mined on land, their presence suggests, as do those minerals known to exist in other coastal areas, that minable materials are also present offshore. The first offshore placer mining operation in the

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Arctic was for tin at Vankina Bay, Siberia, an operation that could pave the way for additional placer mining. TECHNOLOGY AND EXPLOITATION OF ARCTIC OCEAN RESOURCES Honor the High North ever and ever, Whether she crown you, or whether she slay; Suffer her fury, cherish and love her— He who would rule he must learn to obey. Robert Service, in his poem Men of the High North [48] catches the essence of the Arctic and sets forth a rule for those who would effectively exploit her resources; adapt to the environment! The presence of numerous resources in the Arctic Ocean region (some not even dreamed of a few decades ago) along with the ocean’s strategic location has resulted in a rapid expansion in its development. The difficulties inherent in attempts at ‘opening’ the Arctic have placed new pressures (and opportunities) on scientists and engineers. Meeting the demands of transportation, exploration, exploitation and environmental protection is requiring not only the modification of technologies used in temperate environments but also the development of new technologies. Low temperatures, sea ice and remoteness increase drastically the cost of most operations in the Arctic. Sea ice is considered to be the most important design factor for engineering in the Beaufort, Chukchi and northern reaches of the Bering Sea [41] as well as in Siberian waters. Although Martin Frobisher set off a gold rush to the Canadian Archipelago in the 1570s (including even the transport of prefabricated buildings) and a successful gold rush took place at Nome (‘city of the golden beaches’) in 1900, it was not until the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968 that the industrialization of the North American Arctic seemed to become a real possibility. Such development came much later in North America than in the Soviet Union which began intensive development of navigation on the Northern Sea route in the early 1930s [4].

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Transportation One of the major difficulties in opening the Arctic has been insuring adequate logistical support—transportation, communications and the supply and maintenance of equipment among others. It is generally considered that the “high cost of transportation is the greatest single deterrent to remote location resource development” [27]. The early commercial efforts in the bordering seas and at the edge of the ice pack were by ships engaged in whaling, sealing and fishing. At times the number of vessels was large, for example, in 1849, 154 vessels were whaling north of Alaska; in 1871, 34 of them were lost in the ice [21], a situation reminiscent of the many ships lost in earlier centuries. As these instances emphasize, the major problem for transportation on the Arctic Ocean has been the impenetrability of the ice pack (Fig. 6). Ice-reinforced vessels gradually made possible longer periods of use in marginal ice areas and the addition of icebreakers (especially in the Soviet Union) has aided the movement of commercial ships. The effectiveness of these operations has been improved by recent advances in ice forecasting. It was with the development of nuclear-powered icebreakers and icebreaking container ships that year round surface movement in much of the Arctic Ocean became possible. The Soviet nuclear-powered ice breaker Arktika made a round trip (over 7,000 km) to the North Pole in 1977 in 14 days. Nonetheless, where pressure-ridged sea ice is present in large amounts, as near the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada, even movement by these powerful ships could be drastically slowed or stopped [37]. The Soviet Union has been the leader in the construction and use of ships in Arctic waters. In 1980, the Soviet Union had 31 icebreakers and 21 strengthened freighters as well as 238 other ice worthy vessels. Although not all of these ships operate in the Arctic Ocean, many do [5]. The Soviets have also led the way in the development of specialized icebreakers and in the development of new equipment such as spoon-shaped bows and bubblers. Whereas ships have to contend directly with sea ice, aircraft can fly above it. The airplane made transportation around the Arctic Ocean possible, although some of the early attempts met with disaster. Airplanes have been used in scientific research for over 50 years, e.g. Papanin used them to establish ice stations in 1937. Most of the data collected to date about the Arctic Ocean environment was made possible by aircraft. They have the ability to utilize sea ice as a solid platform upon which to land and take off (Fig. 10). For the movement of personnel, supplies and even some

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equipment in support of present-day activities they have been indispensible. Even more versatile than fixed wing aircraft are helicopters which have proven their value in offshore activities around the world. In the Arctic they provide contact with artificial islands not often possible by any other vehicle. Although these, usually small, aircraft are limited to relatively short distances, present-day jets regularly cross the Arctic Ocean taking advantage of the shorter great-circle routes it affords. Aircraft, the operation of which is expensive, have limitations as to equipment and product transport. The transport of energy fuels (oil, gas, coal) by air is economically (even if technically) impossible. However, the dredges used by the North Slope Borough (NSB) in a sand and gravel extraction program (1981 to present) were designed to be transported by aircraft. It was 60 years ago (1931) that the first attempt at using a submarine under sea ice was attempted. However, their effective use did not occur until the 1950s after nuclear submarines came on line. To date their use has been tied to military operations although some scientific data have been collected. In an exercise in 1986, three United States Navy submarines surfaced together at the North Pole demonstrating their effectiveness in sea ice. By 1985, three of the four nations with nuclear powered submarines, had conducted research beneath the sea ice [26]. Although submarines have transported strategic materials as well as people and weapons, they have not yet been used for the transport of bulky products. It is believed that the submarine may have a place in the future, mainly in a type of shuttle-service that is integrated with other methods of conveyance [26]. Sea ice will be a major problem for the use of submarines as transport vehicles in the Arctic Ocean. Because of the gentle slope of the continental shelf off many of the production areas and of the deep drafts of sea ice keels (Fig. 9), submarine terminals will have to be located scores of kilometers offshore. Stefansson [49], who had forecast the development of transpolar air routes, also believed that submarine tankers would someday be utilized, a belief that, over 70 years later is still unrealized. Sea ice is a disadvantage for some of the operations of submarines. For example, the ambient noise during sea ice movement affects acoustic monitoring and the opaqueness of ice hinders visual observation [58]. However, it is an advantage in that it provides a protective cover under which maneuvers can be made with little chance of detection. Because of the Ocean’s central position, submarines can move close to potential

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Figure 10. Naval Arctic Research Laboratory research planes on sea ice. These two planes were the first single engine planes to land at the North Pole. Photo courtesy J.Schindler.

targets in Eurasia and especially North America where the continental shelf is relatively narrow. Air cushion vehicles are being used by the Soviets for ferrying cargo between ship and shore along the Northeast Passage. Elsewhere their use is limited although, with their ability to operate over land, water and ice, their potential value in the Arctic is great [17]. Mineral Extraction Technologies During the last two decades the hydrocarbon potential of the shallow waters of Arctic Alaska has led to the sale of numerous offshore leases and exploratory drilling. The expense of exploration and development of offshore resources in the Arctic is much greater than that in most offshore areas and the difficulties involved are more severe. However, the Office of Technology Assessment [41] concluded that present-day technology is adequate for both exploration and exploitation although it did hold out reservations about oil spill cleanup technology. From the time (1945) the first offshore well was drilled in shallow water in the Gulf of Mexico to the present, significant improvements in technology have made it possible to operate under adverse environmental conditions including those found in ice-covered seas. The problems facing engineers in arctic offshore drilling include those faced elsewhere such as waves and subsidence, plus those unique to ice covered areas such as ice

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Figure 11. Type of loads to which offshore structures can be subjected in the Arctic. From [22].

loading (Fig. 11). Structures must be able to withstand annual ice in seas like the Bering Sea and multiyear ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Both Canada and the United States have been successful in island construction. In 1987 and 1989 drilling was done from man-made ice islands. The procedure involves spraying seawater into the air which creates a shower of ice. Upon falling to the surface the ice particles are compacted. As the ice accumulates it sinks and eventually becomes bottom fast providing a stable platform for drilling [3]. Despite two decades of experience and technological improvement, heavy ice in the summer of 1991 prohibited a drill ship from reaching an exploration site off eastern Alaska and slowed work on a well being drilled in the Chukchi Sea. Normally drill ships can operate about 110 days in the Beaufort Sea. In contrast, artificial islands provide a year-round base of operation. Another critical factor involved in petroleum production on continental shelves is subsea permafrost. “Measures to prevent ground collapse should be taken if the construction could cause thermal changes and thawing of ice-rich permafrost” [54]. Once oil is discovered and a decision is made to go into production, exploration islands will have to be strengthened and enlarged. In addition, it will be necessary to transport the oil from the island’s wells. Presently it is planned to use pipelines buried in the shelf below the depths of ice scour. In the case of Beaufort Sea discoveries, oil would be transported to the present Trans-Alaska pipeline for movement to Valdez.

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Pipelines in the Arctic face problems unknown elsewhere. The great seasonal temperature variations, permafrost (both onshore and offshore) and other environmental impacts have already led to “some of the most complex and expensive civil engineering projects in history” [42]. Although the technology for the exploration and exploitation of Arctic Ocean hydrocarbons, at least in shallow shelf areas, is considered adequate, actual production will depend largely on economics. The cost of exploration is high, but even it is small in comparison to the cost of production and transportation [13]. The prospecting for and mining of hard minerals offshore in the Arctic Ocean will face some of the same problems faced by the petroleum industry. Some prospecting can be done during winter using the ice as a platform. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union investigated the deposits of tin ore at Vankina Bay, Siberia during winter through the ice and the NSB has put test holes through the ice off Barrow in order to investigate the availability of aggregate that might be used for beach renourishment [56]. In areas where shore leads develop, dredges similar to those used elsewhere are functional during the ice-free period. During most of the icefree period, daylight lasts up to 24 hours per day aiding round-the-clock operations. Under such conditions large dredges have been used in offshore sand and gravel operations in the Canadian Arctic since 1972. Present-day dredges can operate in water depths of up to 80 m. Hale [20] points out that dredges capable of operating at greater depths can be built but only at great expense. If 80 m to 100 m depths are considered to be the limit for the next decade, only the inner parts of the North American continental shelves can be mined. In contrast, off Siberia such mining could extend out as far as 600 km. Although there has been no commercial dredging in the North American Arctic during periods of ice cover (8 to 12 months per year over most of the Arctic Ocean), the Soviets have attempted it and may be mining cassiterite at Vankina Bay year round [20]. They have experimented with nuclear-powered dredges which are capable of producing sufficient quantities of hot water to keep ice thawed around the dredge. Such technological developments will be necessary if effective utilization of placer deposits is to occur in the future. THE IMPACT OF ARCTIC OCEAN DEVELOPMENT ON THE ENVIRONMENT The sections above suggest that the Arctic Ocean possesses vast resources that are technologically available for exploitation, albeit at great expense.

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The extent to which they will be exploited will depend especially on economics and politics. Although exploitation in the Arctic today has been much less extensive than in many other areas of the world, it has, nonetheless, been quite intensive at a few specific locations such as Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and Norilsk, Siberia. As with similar developments elsewhere, those in the Arctic have had and are having an impact on both the natural environment and the indigenous peoples. Lord Hunt [33], former President of the Royal Geographical Society, London, wrote: No longer can we seek comfort in the thought that the fartherest ends of the earth…are safe from the harmful consequences of everexpanding technology. Localized Impacts In recent years, this ever-expanding technology has been directly impacting the Arctic Ocean through a number of different activities including the use of modernized transport vehicles, drilling for oil and gas, mining and fishing. Although the environmental change caused to date by the first three of these activities has been small (at least in comparison with their impacts in other oceanic regions) their potential for major damage to the physical, chemical and biological character of the Arctic Ocean’s environment is large. Early ships did little damage to the physical and chemical characteristics of the Ocean, however, the fisheries they supported helped change population numbers as is well illustrated by the reduction of the numbers of whales in Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea. Bowhead whales are now protected (except for the few allowed the Inuit) and presently number around 4,000 [42]. Ships plying the Arctic Ocean not only release contaminants into the water but also affect oceanic life through collision and noise. In addition, the breaking of sea ice by icebreakers and other ships can disturb those mammals (seals, walrus, polar bears) that use it and might even affect their distribution and migration patterns and thus accessibility to hunters. In addition, airplanes and helicopters can disturb birds and mammals including the polar bear. Oil and gas exploration and production have some of the same impacts on the ocean as ship traffic including noise and oil spills. Major concerns include oil well blowouts during drilling, tanker accidents once super tankers begin direct shipment from the Arctic Ocean, and ruptured pipelines once offshore terminals are developed [12]. Although oil well

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blowouts are rare, one occurring just before freeze-up could prove disastrous. Almost any oil spill will destroy some marine life. In the case of the Arctic Ocean, given the migratory patterns of its fauna, the amount of life lost will depend partly on the season. However, the lower levels of the food chain may be destroyed and thus impact the higher migratory levels upon their return to arctic waters. The extent of the damage will also depend on the location of the spill and type of oil released. Oil spilled in the Arctic Ocean degrades at slower rates than oil spilled in warmer seas. It can become trapped between ice and sea—water and remain there for some time. It also could concentrate in leads and polynyas, zones where plankton, fish and mammals are numerous [42]. Traditional methods of oil cleanup, such as with oil booms, will often be impossible to use. A program designed to improve technology for cleaning up oil in broken ice has developed a number of procedures including those involving modified versions of present-day equipment, chemicals and burning. Some believe that burning may be better than mechanical methods in ice-clogged seas. Therefore, the Alaska Clean Seas organization is proposing (with the approval of the NSB) that, in 1992, tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil be spilled on the Beaufort Sea in order to test the effectiveness of in situ burning [51]. Offshore mining will impact the oceanic environment in many of the same ways as those activities associated with gas and oil production. Placer mining disturbs bottom materials, releases some pollutants and generates some noise. Although the area affected will be much smaller than that of a serious oil spill, the fine sediment stirred up during mining can impact a sizeable area down drift from the operation. Impacts Resulting from Non-Arctic Activities Although the impacts from localized activities, as discussed above, are increasing in number and intensity, they are not alone because pollutants from the industrialized parts of the Americas and Eurasia are reaching the Arctic Ocean by river, by sea and by air. For example, as Alexander [1] reports: “Organo-chlorinated compounds that are used extensively at those lower latitudes are appearing in the fat of polar animals, including many marine mammals.” The Arctic Ocean receives as much as 10% of the world’s riverine discharge via four of the world’s 10 longest rivers and numerous shorter ones (Fig. 1). Over half of the territory of the former Soviet Union drains into the Arctic Ocean. This runoff includes pollutants (such as those from

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the Norilsk mining center on the Yenisei River), pollutants that can be carried to most parts of the Arctic Ocean by its surface currents (Fig. 1). A potential riverine impact that was put on hold in 1986 in the Soviet Union was the diversion of fresh water from north-flowing rivers toward the South. Such diversions, if they should ever materialize, would reduce the quantity of water and sediment discharged into the Ocean, affect the salinity of nearshore waters, change the amount and timing of sea ice formation and thus affect oceanic transportation. In addition to a riverine input of about 9×104 m3/s, there is an inflow of warm, saline Atlantic water via Fram Strait of about 7×106 m3/s. Because this water was formerly a part of the North Atlantic Drift and the Gulf Stream, it contains pollutants from eastern North America and even Europe. The density of the water flowing north through Fram Strait is sufficiently high so that it descends toward the bottom of the basins where the heavier pollutants become trapped. In this sense (as well as others) the Arctic Mediterranean is similar to the Mediterranean Sea which has earned the unenviable designation as the ‘waste disposal tank’ of Europe. Northern Hemisphere wind systems are such that air borne aerosols from mid-latitudes are carried to the Arctic and are believed to be responsible for heavy haze during winter and spring [44]. Among the pollutants carried by these winds are carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, sooty carbon and chlorofluorocarbons. The materials deposited on snow and sea ice and some of those deposited on the tundra eventually are added to the ocean. Two of the pathways to the Arctic Ocean proposed by Rahn [44] involve movement from the northeastern United States northeastward over Iceland and from central Europe northward over Scandinavia. This latter route was dramatically documented by the radioactive fallout that affected the vegetation and animal life in Lapland following the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Possibly the most important impacts atmospheric pollution will have on the Arctic Ocean region are those that accompany greenhouse warming. If the present-day rate of atmospheric pollution around the world is a reliable indicator, it is likely that the amount of greenhouse warming in the Arctic will be greater than in temperate regions. Factors affecting the rate of warming in the Arctic include the strong stratification of the atmosphere and an increased amount of absorption of heat by the tundra and open sea as the melting of snow and ice increases. It has been estimated that a global warming of 2°C would be accompanied by a polar warming of some 10°C [6]. The impacts of the anticipated warming of the Arctic are likely to be severe and complex. In addition to higher temperatures, especially in

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winter, precipitation amounts are likely to increase. Such a combination would result in shorter, more intense periods of snowfall, reduced and thinner ice cover, warmer ocean waters and degradation of permafrost [40]. Such changes would affect the use of ice as a drilling platform, the construction of pipelines in permafrost, navigation and fish and mammal numbers and distribution. Further, because the Arctic is a weather generator, major changes in the Arctic will have repercussions in the more temperate environments to the south. MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN Management strategies are only now beginning to be developed for the Arctic Ocean because of: (1) the difficult nature of its environment, (2) its remoteness from the centers of authority and technological development, (3) a delayed acceptance of its strategic significance and (4) the scattered distribution of a variety of relatively low impact endeavors. Most of these endeavors, whether by explorers, missionaries, whalers or scientists, were traditionally pursued with minimal restraints from governmental authority. Those restraints that did exist were almost always environmentally, economically or self generated and enforced. The general statement that appears in the ‘Preliminary Programme’ for the International Conference on Ocean Management in Global Change (held in Genoa, Italy in 1992) applies remarkably well to the Arctic Ocean: There have…been considerable changes in human attitudes towards the sea, and unprecedented developments in science and technology that, by enlarging human capabilities to operate in the ocean environment and broadening the knowledge of the oceans, open fresh opportunities for exploiting resources and developing new uses of the ocean. All these developments pose new and serious challenges as well as responsibilities … Many of the challenges facing Arctic developers are only now being recognized; indeed, some are only now materializing. However, as the case is with most new endeavors and achievements, specific responses depend to a large extent on the perspective of concerned individuals or organizations. Today varied groups with arctic agendas are organizing as never before and each has its own vested interests, many of which are conflicting. Occasionally, disparate groups do cooperate on specific issues. Possibly the

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best example of such cooperation occurred in 1989 when three whales became trapped in the ice off Barrow, Alaska. The Inupiat (Inuit of the Point Barrow area), oil company personnel, conservation groups, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Soviet ice breakers all worked together to free them. The type of conflicts that are occurring is highly varied; examples include: (1) the Inuit vs conservation-oriented groups over whaling, (2) the Inuit vs oil companies over the impact of noise on whale migration, (3) environmental groups vs oil companies, (4) the NSB, the State of Alaska and the United States Government over oil revenues from continental shelf production, (5) the Canadian Government vs the United States Government over the status of the Northwest Passage, (6) Norway vs the Soviet Union over maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea and (7) military organizations vs both environmental and native groups. For a detailed analysis of Arctic conflicts see Osherenko and Young, pp. 157–268 [42]. With such an array of conflicts among such widely contrasting groups, it is obvious that the laissez faire approach to arctic activities is rapidly being outdated and that meaningful policies and management practices need to be adopted. These policies and management practices must take into account the “relationships between the natural ocean system, its resources, human uses, and regulatory programmes” [11]. The human activities involved include the pursuit of sovereignty and security; oil, gas, hard mineral and biota exploitation; transportation and communication; native concerns; environmental protection and arctic research, among others. Virtually all of the land (and its natural resources) that borders the Arctic Ocean is sovereign territory. By extension, the poleward marine areas have come under governmental control especially since the formation of exclusive economic zones (Fig. 3). Nonetheless, how and when this control is exercised depends to a large extent on the influence generated by international politics, native organizations, environmental groups and industry. On the international scene, the Law of the Sea Convention is proving to be especially important even though its legal status remains unresolved. For Arctic Ocean management, Article 234 stipulates that regulations should be adopted to control pollution from ships in ice-covered areas. Further: If the Arctic Ocean is considered to be a semi-enclosed sea…Article 123 urges all littoral states to cooperate in coordinating conservation and exploitation of living resources, protection of the marine environment, and scientific research policies and programs [53].

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Such management policies and programs are especially significant when today, in addition to the immemorial movement of sea mammals and birds across political boundaries, there is an ever increasing amount of human-generated activities and materials, such as shipping and water and air pollutants, that also cross political boundaries. Therefore, the many international and bilateral agreements made during the past decade are a healthy sign for the future management of the Arctic. Further indication of international cooperation was the establishment of The International Arctic Science Committee in August, 1990. It was founded as a nongovernmental scientific organization to encourage and facilitate international consultation and cooperation for scientific research. A rapidly increasing force in the development of management strategies is that exerted by the native groups bordering the Arctic Ocean. With their close relationship to the environment and its resources (especially biotic) they are today involved in complicated and important decision making. In response to a controversy with the International Whaling Commission (IWC) the Inupiat created their own Alaskan Eskimo Whaling Commission which is involved not only in promoting subsistence whaling but also whale protection. The political base of native groups around the Arctic have been strengthened. For example, the NSB in Arctic Alaska was created in 1971 and is owned by the Inupiat. More recently an agreement between the Canadian Government and the Inuit of Canada formed Nunavut (meaning ‘homeland’). Encompassing about one-fifth of Canada, it has an area of 1.9×106 km2 (of which 0.35×106 km2 will be owned outright by the Canadian Inuit) and extends from 60°N to the North Pole. Environmental groups, whether they be conservationists, environmentalists or preservationists, have become a major force in the way the Arctic is being developed and managed. Although espousing different philosophies, these groups have agendas that often overlap adding strength to their causes. Through the pressure they exert on government, industry, the military and even native groups, they have been successful in stopping or delaying many developments (such as oil and gas exploration in the ANWR, a plan even the President of the United States favors). All of the governments whose countries border the Arctic Ocean are not only cognizant of these groups but are also incorporating their concepts into their management programs. During the early days of development in the Arctic there was minimal concern for the environment by industry; management practices were dictated mainly by economy and safety. However, as industry and commerce expanded, environmental concerns became more significant and governmental regulations became more restrictive. For example, each

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company leasing tracts from Beaufort Sea Lease Sale 124 of June 26, 1991 is required to determine the existence of prehistoric or historic sites, to conduct a whale monitoring program, prepare oil spill contingency plans, be prepared to conduct biological surveys and operate in a manner that minimizes potential conflict with subsistence activities [31]. The antipollution campaigns of environmentalists are shared (at least in part) by industry. Individual employees as well as corporation activities are governed accordingly. Although serious disagreements over the course the development of the Arctic should take and therefore over the management procedures that should be followed remain between industry and various other interest groups, vast strides have been made toward the resolution of many of them. As each compromise is forged, development practices and their management become more clearly defined. CONCLUSIONS In 1922 Stefansson [49] wrote: There is no northern boundary beyond which productive enterprise cannot go until north meets north on opposite shores of the Arctic Ocean. In this statement, Stefansson recognizes that the Arctic is multinational and that it has resources upon which the surrounding countries should capitalize. With the industrial, commercial, political and technological endeavors that characterize present-day arctic affairs, it appears that the ‘north-meets-north’ vision of Stefansson has a good chance of being eventually realized even given numerous conflicts some of which are enumerated above. Among the encouraging signs, in addition to the technological advances that are making the development of the Arctic possible, is the sense of cooperation that appears to permeate most international concerns as related to the Arctic. Recently (1991) the United States gave up its sovereign claim to Wrangel Island and in December, 1991, 36 governments signed the European Energy Charter with which the Soviets were to be given technological assistance in exchange for permission to lease oil and gas reserves in the U.S.S.R. Just what affect the subsequent restructuring of the Soviet Union into a Commonwealth (also in December, 1991) will have on such agreements is unclear. However, unlike the fragmentation that has taken place in the western and southern parts of the former Soviet Union, the part that borders the Arctic Ocean

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Kind permission has been received for the use of copyrighted material as follows: A. for short quotations: Arctic Institute of North America—from VanderZwaag and Lamson (1986) and Kennedy (1969); University of British Columbia—from Hunt (1986); Cambridge University Press—from Oshrenko and Young (1989); Geological Society of America—from Kvenvolden (1990); Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc.—from Stefansson (1922); Prentice-Hall—from Dunbar (1968); Random House, Inc.—from Mirsky (1948); American Association for the Advancement of Science— from Washburn and Gunter (1986); John Wiley & Sons—from Lord Hunt (1982); H.V.Winston & Son, Inc.—from Kotlyakov and Grosswald (1990); Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—from Alexander (1986), B. for reproduction or redrafting of figures: Arctic and Alpine Research— figure on page 146 of Péwé (1983); Carleton University—figure 1 in Hayley (1989); Geological Society of America—figure 1 in Grantz et al.

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(1990); Geoscience Publications, Louisiana State University—figure 1 in Walker (1977); McGill-Queen’s University Press—figure 8 from Lake (1990); Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.—figure 1.1 in Barry (1989); John Wiley & Sons—figure 2.7 from Lewis (1982).

MANAGEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT JUAN CARLOS M.BELTRAMINO Ambassador Rodríguez Peña 1465, 8B, 1021, Buenos Aires, Argentina

ABSTRACT Reference is made to the area, resources and environment covered by the chapter’s subject. Sealing and whaling activities before the establishment of the Antarctic Treaty System are successively examined. Particular attention is given to the regulatory efforts undertaken under the System on sealing and fisheries and with respect to icebergs and sea bed resources. The protection of the environment is considered separately, including the evolution of adopted measures and the point reached until now. INTRODUCTION The wide area of oceanic waters lying between Antarctica and other continents of the Southern hemisphere has neither a common name nor a Northern limit universally recognized by the scientists (1). Moreover the name of Southern Ocean has a rather frequent use and can be safely taken to identify those waters. They can be divided in two major subareas, North and South, by the Antarctic Convergence, a circumpolar band where the cold and low salinity Antarctic surface water sink and spread northwards below the sub-Antarctic waters. The Convergence, represented in maps by a continues line that oscillates between the 60° and 50° of South latitude, is recognized as an hydrological limit and as a limit for the distribution of marine life, - - - - -

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The opinions expressed are responsability of the author and do not necessarily represent those of his Government. having waters North and South of it a clear influence on the atmospheric circulation. It must be mentioned also that the The opinions expressed are responsability of the author and do not necessarily represent those of his Government. Antarctic Convergence has been established for scientific research purposes by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) as the Northern limit of the vast portion of the earth surface, embracing waters and lands, including Antarctica, neighbouring and circumpolar islands. While the present chapter will be mainly centered on oceanic waters South of the Antarctic Convergence references will be also made to oceanic waters North of it. Scientific research in the Southern Ocean and international cooperation with this purpose, embracing different disciplines, has had a remarkable development in recent decades and interested readers can usefully consult the literature published on it (2). In the study of our subject, and for the sake of precision and clarity in the exposé, living and non-living resources as well as the environment of the sea will be considered separately. Among the living resources of the sea are included in broad terms and taking into account their dependency from the sea not only fin fishes and whales, molluscs and crustaceans and other living organisms, but also seals and birds. The non-living resources cover minerals and marine and inland origin ice and the environment could be defined as the ensemble of physical, chemical and biotic conditions prevailing in the Southern Ocean and having a direct or indirect influence on the living organisms and on human activities. The point reached at present in the management of the Southern Ocean has been the result of an historical evolution in which different important factors intervened:—the economic benefits derived from the exploitation of living resources,—the development of a co-operative organization of the community of States to deal with matters of common interest,—the accumulation of scientific knowledge and results of exploitation activities, —the conscience about the advantages of conservationist and protective actions related to natural resources and nature itself and—the adoption of conventional and functional rules for this purpose. It was a long lasting process.

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I. UNRESTRICTED EXPLOITATION OF SEALS AND AREAL EFFORTS OF CONTROL. A very intensive, indiscriminating and at the end exhaustive catch of seals took place on islands West of the Antarctic peninsula and South Georgia island in the first quarter of the XIXth Century and later on other islands of the Southern Ocean. From 1870 sealers were present intermitently in several islands as the South Shetlands, Kerguelen and Heard, and ravaged the seals populations they found. They went in search of new colonies of seals when the exploited ones seemed to be depleted. Seals were killed for their furs and for oil in the case of elephant seals. Penguins were also killed at the same time as seals in some areas for the purpose of getting their oil. Laws estimated that possibly some two to three million or even more fur seals and as much as one million elephant seals were killed during the XIXth Century (3). The exploitation of this resource produced such a disastrous result that in some cases a long time was required for the recovery of the respective populations and would make necessary to take some steps for the conservation of existing grounds. During the present Century seals were also captured in Macquarie island until 1919 and in South Georgia island until 1964. Measures for the conservation of fur seals and elephant seals stocks were adopted for South Georgia, Macquarie and Kerguelen islands. Particularly in South Georgia a full recovery of those mammals populations through the years was registered. II. MANAGEMENT OF WHALING IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN AS PART OF GLOBAL MANAGEMENT. At the turn of the Century the existence of a great number whales was discovered in the Southern Ocean. Whaling started soon afterwards, first restricted to the waters near the islands coasts where the processing of carcasses was possible at shore stations. The introduction of factory ships operating in the high seas at the beginning of the second quarter of the Century represented a big step forward for the industry and the number of whales caught increased considerably. The whale catch augmented almost continuously until de world economic crisis of 1929 In 1930 a Committe for Whaling Statistics was established in Oslo and from the first issue of its publication entitled “International Whaling

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Statistics” it included data of whales caught in the Southern Ocean, area that later was referred to as the Antarctic. Those statistics were regularly published until 1985, the last year that commercial whaling took place (4). The international regulation of whaling started with a Convention signed in Geneva on September 24, 1931 as a result of discussions at a Committee of the League of Nations and prohibited the killing of calves, inmature whales and female whales accompanied by calves. Successively two Conferences were held in London, from May 24 to June 7, 1937, and from June 14 to June 24, 1938 aimed at the improvement of the existing rules in view of facing the risks of an increasing exploitation of whales. The first adopted an International Agreement prohibiting the killing of whales below the length it fixed for the respective species and the use of factory ships South of parallel 40° except during summer months of the Southern hemisphere. A Protocol to the Agreement signed on June 24, 1938 established a closed area for factory ships and catchers South of 40° South latitude and between 70° and 160° West longitude and prohibited taking humpback whales South of such parallel for one year beginning on October 1, 1938. One more Conference in London in 1944 attended by seven countries Contracting Parties of the Agreement of 1937 and the Protocol of 1938 established that the total catch would have a limit of 16, 000 blue whale units. This unit was adopted as a basic measurement in view of the fixing of catch quotas, taking into account the oil yield of different species of whales. So 1 blue whale was equivalent to 2 fin whales, 2 1/2 humpback whales and 6 sei whales (5). Later, convened by the United States Government, a Conference was held in Washington, from November 20 to December 2, 1946, and 16 countries participated. An International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was signed on December 2 and entered into force on November 10, 1948, with an Schedule annexed to it with regulatory detailed provisions that were subjected to be amended from time to time. The Convention applies to all oceans of the world and basically contains provisions on rights and obligations of Contracting Parties and terms of reference of the Commission that it creates. The Commission is supported by a Secretariat, can establish committees of experts and advisers and keeps links with other organizations, national and international. Its decisions are taken by simple majority but for the amendment of the Schedule a majority of 3/4 is required. How was the development of the whaling industry during the six decades of international regulation? How far was it affected or constrained by this regulation?

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The first Convention, adopted in 1931, found the industry prospering, favoured as it was shown, by the use of factory ships, and reaching a peak of more than 40,000 whales caught in 1930/31. The market then collapsed, catch fell considerably the following season but inmediately after augmented again, season after season, being 1937/38 a record season with 46,000 caught. The Second World War produced an almost total stop in whaling operations and consequently a considerable reduction in the catch in the Southern Ocean, but once the conflict ended whaling continued unabated and more than 30,000 whales killed was the annual return. Being the blue whale the species biggest in size and most oil productive, it was for years the main target of whalers. The catch of blue whales increased through the years but experienced a considerable fall after the War due to the depletion of their stocks. At the same time due also to its oil yield, fin whales were caught in increasing number. Season 1964–65 was a turning point, a start of a continuous decline in the whaling industry of the Southern Ocean: only 20 blue whales were captured and 7,800 fin whales compared with the record of 28,700 in 1960–61. Whaling ceased from land stations in South Georgia in 1965, an island where several companies operated in the best periods of whaling. In 1944 and later, after the entering into force of the Washington Convention, the catch was limited by annual quotas first of 16,000 blue whale units, reduced to 15,000 and even to 14,500 in a few seasons. But at the same time whale catch experienced a decline from the middle of the 60s’. The greater and more productive whales disappeared from Antarctic waters and whalers centered their efforts on the smaller and less productive species. A total of 31,413 whales were killed in 1964–65, 5,936 in 1970– 71 and 7,700 in 1978–79. The maximum quota system covering all species of whales was belatedly abolished in 1972. The fixation of 200 fin whales, 2,300 sei and Bryde’s whales and 6,800 minke whales as top limits for these species for season 1975–76 was indicative of the effect of previous considerable overcatching (6). Results of the catch and the presumable state of whales stock was such that the International Whaling Commission adopted a moratorium of commercial catch in 1982, which came into force in 1986 and 1985–86 season, deciding at the same time that by 1990 it would undertake a comprehensive assessment of the effect of the moratorium on the stocks and consider eventual modification to the existing provisions and the establishment of other catch limits. Only a reduced number of whales would be permitted to be caught subsequently for scientific studies and

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research. Even so the respective decisions by the Commission received a high number of critics from different quarters. In its meeting of 1991 in Reykjavik the Commission did not modify the moratorium and asked Japan to reconsider its research catching of a limited number of whales that has been fixed in the past. The Scientific Committee had previously examined also a proposed permit from that country of catching about 300 whales in the Southern Ocean. This evolution of whaling while successive international regulations were set up to put some limits to the catch with the purpose of the conservation of the resource demonstrates that the international regulatory efforts were not powerful enough to face the pressure of economic interests in view of its exploitation. The scientific advise and data gathering to be used for the decisions making in the Commission was not always sufficient or duly taken into account. The fixation of quotas represented to some extent a limitation, but measures adopted fell short of those more severe that were badly needed to insure a sustainable yield of whale species. The undeniable conclusion is that those regulations were not at the end effective in the management of whaling activities for the conservation of whales stocks (7) . Already in 1976 a representative to the Commission dramatized in this way the point reached: “like it or not the whale is now the symbol of mankind’s failure to manage the world’s resources responsibly” (8). III. MANAGEMENT UNDER THE ANTARCTIC TREATY SYSTEM. When the Antarctic Treaty, signed at the end of the Antarctic Conference of Washington on December 1, 1959 entered into force on June 23, 1961 the Convention of Washington for the Regulation of Whaling of 1946 had been implemented for more than one decade. Following the approach established during the International Geophysical Year 1957–58 the Treaty provided basically for freedom of scientific research in Antarctica and also for a non militarization of the continent (articles II and I). The activities regulated by the Treaty were those carried out on land and on ice-shelves, for this purpose assimilated to land, but no mention to oceanic waters was made with the exception of article VI: “nothing in the present Treaty shall prejudice or in any way affect the rights, or the exercise of the rights, of any State under international law with regard to the high seas” in the area of the Treaty, that is to say South of the 60° parallel. Without prejudice of different

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positions on the territorial status of Antarctica reflected in article IV of the Treaty, its article VI mentions only the high seas, being this provision as many others the result of a compromise among the States that participated in the Washington Conference. The exclusion of the high seas and the fact that scientific research was centered on land explain that the concern for the management of the Southern Ocean by the Contracting Parties of the Antarctic Treaty had a slow development. In a comprehensive way the Antarctic Treaty System can be defined as the ensemble of juridical rules, procedures and practices, principles and objectives, and individual and collective activities carried out inside the System and in relation to the outside world. Its juridical rules are embodied in a) the Antarctic Treaty itself, b) the Recommendations and decisions adopted by the Consultative Parties to the Treaty, and c) the existing Conventions linked to the Treaty, namely the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals of 1972, and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources of 1980, the new Protocole to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection of 1991, as well as the decisions adopted by the bodies established by those instruments (9). 1. CONSERVATION OF LIVING RESOURCES. Article IX of the Antarctic Treaty provides that, among the measures that Governments (that are Contracting Parties) may adopt “in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty” are included those regarding the “preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica”— paragraph (f)—. It was understood from the very beginning to be living resources on land, that is to say land, land covered by ice and iceshelves, in conformity with the above mentioned article VI of the Treaty. a) SEALING. As early as 1964 a Recommendation (III–XI) was adopted by the Third Antarctic Consultative Meeting that regulates sealing activities on the pack ice by the ships of the nationality of the Contracting Parties. During the same meeting an original code of conduct was also adopted under the title of “Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora” (Recommendation III–VIII) to be applied by the Contractiing Parties in their activities, that later were a basis for a number of Recommendations in

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that field. It must be noticed that, defining “native mammal” to be protected in article II (a) of the Agreed Measures, whales were expressly excluded, in the understanding that they had their own regulations. A more elaborated Recommendation (IV–21) on pelagic sealing was approved in the following Consultative Meeting in 1966. It contains some embrionary elements for conservation to be developed later into conventional rules. It provides for voluntary regulation by States parties in the Treaty until the existence of a binding international agreement for effective regulation, the objective of the latter being threefold: protection, scientific study and rational use. The Recommendation says that sealing must not exceed a maximum sustainable yield for each species, that no seal will be killed when it is in the water, that States must exchange information on seals killed and that a Consultative Meeting will be convened when harvest approaches the maximum sustainable yield. The Report of the VI Consultative Meeting, Paris, November 1968, registered that in view of having considered that “the conservation of the seals in the sea does not fall within the scope” of the Antarctic Treaty “and is also of interest of countries which are not Parties” informal meetings were held, separate from the Consultative Meeting, to consider the subject and as a result a draft Convention was sent to the Governments. Subsequently the United Kingdom Government convened a Conference in London that in a rather short time, from 3 to 11 February 1972, elaborated and approved the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (10). The purpose of the Convention—the first to cover an Antarctic renewable resource and adopted before its commercial exploitation started —was not to encourage commercial sealing but to conserve seals instead. It differs from the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Fauna and Flora previously mentioned in which conservation of seals on land has a purpose in itself as well as a scientific purpose. The Contracting Parties to the Convention agree that their nationals and ships shall not kill seals in the Convention area—seas South of the 60° South parallel (article 1)—except in accordance to the provisions of the Convention and its Annex, being the last subject to amendments from time to time (articles 2 and 3) . Once the commercial sealing has started a meeting of the Contracting Parties can establish an effective system of control, including the creation of a Commission to perform their functions and of a scientific advisory committee (article 6). The Commission has the special task of advising and reporting, as well as calling the attention of the Contracting Parties when it considers that excessive killing of seals has taken place, and when this killing is having a harmful effect on the stocks or the ecological system (articles 6 and 5).

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Secretarial functions are fulfilled by the Government of the United Kingdom that is the depositary of the Convention. The conservation measures foreseen in the Convention and its Annex that could necessarily be adopted such as permissible catch, protected species, open and close seasons, sealing zones and seal reserves, review and evaluation of scientific information, etc., as well as the procedure for the revision of the Annex (article 9), are similar to those of different comissions for the commercial exploitation of sea resources. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals was signed on 9 February 1972 and entered into force on 11 March 1978. 14 States are Contracting Parties of the Convention. The permissible catch established by the Annex to the Convention by species was as follows: Crabeater seals 175,000, Leopard seals 12,000 and Weddell seals 5,000, being forbidden to kill Ross seals, Southern elephant seals and fur seals of the genus Arctocephalus. During season 1986/87 information was received that one country Contracting Party to the Convention had killed 4,852 seals and notwithstanding the fact that this figure was below the authorized limits and as a precautionary step, a meeting of the Contracting Parties was convened in London in September 1988. The SCAR Group of Specialists on seals considered in its report to the meeting that the number of animals killed or captured has not had a significant adverse effect on any seal population. Some measures to improve the existing ones for the operation of the Convention and its Annex on the regulation of the Antarctic sealing were adopted at the meeting. It is worthwhile to register that participating delegations indicated that their countries were unlikely to engage in commercial sealing in the near future. It was concluded on the basis of the information that the meeting had before it that “there was no evidence to suggest that the Convention had not operated in a reasonably satisfactory manner” (11). The meeting also informed that in the 21 years period between 1964 and 1985 some 10,141 seals were killed or captured under permit in the Antarctic, corresponding 3,193 to those taken from 1974/75 to 1984/85, that is to say less than half the number of the previous decade (12). b) FISHERIES. The exploitation of living resources of the sea, including birds, is regulated by the Canberra Convention on the Conservation on Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), adopted by a Conference held in Canberra,

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from 7 to 20 May 1980 and entered into force on 7 April 1982. It was preceded by negotiations in the same capital that started in February 1978 and ended in May 1980. The concern of the Consultative Parties of the Antarctic Treaty for the living resources of the sea began some time later than in the case of seals. The first Recommendation on the matter (VIII–10) was adopted during the VIII Consultative Meeting in 1975 and other Recommendations in subsequent meetings. On the request by Recommendation VIII–10 the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) developed a program on Biological Investigation on Marine Antarctic Systems and Stocks, better known by the acronym of BIOMASS. It was a multidisciplinary exercise aimed at collecting information and knowledge in this field that could be a basis also for future fishing operations. It accomplished a lot in fulfillment of its terms of reference as a result of a dedicated work of participating scientists. At the time when the Conference of Canberra was convened fishing activities in the Southern Ocean had already started. Commercial harvesting of fin fishes began in the mid-sixties and of krill in the early seventies and it was mainly the concern for the overexploitation of krill that led to the adoption of CCAMLR (13). For the fulfillment of its objectives the Convention established a Commission and a Scientific Committee that meet annually and a permanent Secretariat. Decisions of the Commission on substantive matters are adopted by consensus and on the basis of reports and conclusions provided by its Scientific Committee and also by a system of inspection, that recently became operative. Contracting Parties active in the area must send to the Commission the information it requests on captures and implement its recommendations. The territorial competence of the Convention is larger tant that of the Convention on seals. Its Northern limit follows approximately the Antarctic Convergence, most of which lies North of the 60° South parallel. The approach of the Convention to the living resources of the sea is the result of a compromise of positions aimed on one hand exclusively to the conservation of these resources and on the other hand to the exploitation with less possible restrictions. Article II says: “The objective of this Convention is the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources”, followed by: “For the purpose of this Convention the term “conservation” includes rational use”. Another important aspect of the Convention is the provision contained in the same article linking fishing and associated activities with the maintenance of ecological relationships with other marine living resources and the marine ecosystem.

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The accession to the Convention is open, and being Contracting Party of the Antarctic Treaty is not required but the new Contracting Party of the Convention is also bound by the provisions of the Treaty (articles III to V) . At present, 1991, there are 21 States members of the Commission but only 4 of them engaged in fishing activities in the Southern Ocean. The conservative approach of non fishing States, that are a majority in the total membership, is compensated at the time of adoption of decisions by the rule of consensus that put a potential veto in the hand of any member. It must be also noticed that CCAMLR deals in broad terms with marine living resources and does not derogate from the right and obligations of the Contracting Parties under the Convention on Whales and the Convention on Seals (article VI). But in spite of the fact that sealing management is regulated by its own Convention, seals are also object of research inside CCAMLR (14). About half a million tons of fin fishes and krill are annually harvested in the Southern Ocean. In season 1989/90 47,727 tons was the total catch of different species of fish and 374,793 tons the corresponding figure for krill. In previous seasons statistics show an increase of krill catches from 65, 707 tons in 1984/85 to 103,802 tons in 1988/89. Fin fishes catches instead have a less even development: in 1984/85 was registered a total catch of 72,750 tons, jumping to 104,405 tons in 1988/89, falling to 47, 727 tons in 1989/90 as it was seen (15). During the year starting on July 1, 1991 a total of 126 ships sent by 4 countries was expected to operate, and 21 research ships sent by one fishing country and two non fishing countries (16). In the opinion of Kaczynski the operating cost of factory trawlers and large support fleets in the Southern Ocean may be more than twice than the cost needed for equivalent vessels in traditional grounds (17). For the purpose of collecting fishing statistics CCAMLR adopted the zonation or reporting areas established already by FAO for the oceanic waters surrounding Antarctica as it is shown on map at the end of this chapter. As it can be seen there are several subareas in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean in relation to the abundance of fish. The concentration around South Georgia island (subarea 48.3) explains that a number of conservation measures for this subarea has been successively adopted by annual meetings of the Comission. Other subareas, namely South Shetland islands (subarea 48.1) and South Orkney islands (subarea 48.2) have also been under conservation measures (18). Fishing around South Georgia of several species has been prohibited and on several others limits of catch have been established.

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Under CCAMLR management of fisheries is based on:—Reporting of data by fishing countries;—Collection, analysis and publication of fishing data by the Secretariat of the Commission;—Analysis of data, reporting and advising to the Commission by the Scientific Committee, that creates working groups as required;—Discussion of the conservation measures by the Commission on the basis of the Scientific Committee reports. Among the measures adopted concerning fish stocks by the Commission the following must be mentioned:—Prohibition of fishing of specific species;—Limitation of total catch of specific species;—Regulation of mesh-size measurement;—Inspection procedure on board of fishing boats; —Monitoring on land on effects of fishing among predators;—Closed seasons and report calendars. In 1991, for the first time, the Commission adopted a precautory limit of catch for Euphausia superba (krill) , in statistical area 48, of 1,5 million tons per fishing season, providing, at the same time, that if the total catch exceeds 620,000 tons in any season a limit by subareas will be established. Covering seals and birds monitoring as well as fish and krill CCAMLR has become the instrument for the conservation of living resources of the Southern Ocean with the only exception of whales. How effective the management under CCAMLR has been until now? On the basis of an evaluation of the work accomplished in the field of data collecting and analysis, the conservation measures adopted and the implementation of these measures the following provisional considerations can be drawn. Undoubtely through the years the Commission has considerably increased and improved the existing knowledge about different species of fish and the impact of catch on the respective stocks and tried to act accordingly in compliance with the Convention provisions and conservation measures. The Scientific Committee that has the responsability of providing the best possible advice to the Commission was confronted at the beginning of its activity, and some discussion are still going on, with the methodology to be followed for research and reporting. There is a lot of accumulated data but many gaps to cover specially in relation to less common species and on biological aspects of some of them. This fact and the uncertainties about stocks of fishes and their behaviour affect the assessments that have to be produced by the Committee. On the other hand a general and complete assessment on the whole of fiheries as well as on their impact on the environment, responding to an obligation under the Convention, has not been made until now. Perhaps it is a little too early to address these important aspects that require much more information than that gathered to date.

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A judgement by the Executive Secretary reflects the real problem faced by the Commission: “It is impossible to say from the available data and from research conducted to date whether or not the conservation measures adopted are having the desired effect” and that “political, economic and social pressures often combine to oppose even what is irrefutable evidence the possibly irreversible, decline of species” (19). The condition of krill is different. It is more abundant than fin fishes and an adequate scientific knowledge about it is lacking. This explain assessments of possible volumes to be harvested ranging from fifty million tons to several hundreds million tons per year. Moreover it has to be registered that the recent conservation measure adopted by the Commission fixing a precautory limit for krill harvesting offers new prospects for the appropriate implementation of the Convention on this important marine resource. A closer co-operation by fishing countries with the Commission as well as the improvement of the working method of this body are in fact necesarry prerequisites in view of a comprehensive and successful development of its activities and the full implementation of the objectives of the Convention. 2. PROTECTION OF MARINE ENVIRONMENT. Historically initiatives and measures adopted by the Consultative Parties of the Antarctic Treaty in view of managing the protection of sea environment came later than those related to conservation of living resources of the sea, being seals, fishes, etc. But the concern for the impact that specific human activities in the area of the Treaty could have in adjacent areas, including the Southern Ocean, was also in the mind of government representatives at the Antarctic Conference of Washington in 1959 when article V of the Treaty was adopted. It prohibits all kind of nuclear explosions in Antarctica as well as the disposal of radioactive waste, evidently with the aim of protecting the environment of Antarctica and the extra-Antarctic environment adjacent to it. The development of scientific research and logistic support activities and the accumulated experience on their impact on ocean waters led to the adoption of several Recommendations by Consultative Meetings mainly on the discharge of hydrocarbons by ships and the disposal of sewage and other waste of the stations into the sea. The adopted regulations, to be implemented by the Governments of the Consultative Parties, their nationals and ships, have the purpose to prevent

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damages to the environment and to restore it if a damage occurs. “Antarctic ecosystem”, “Antarctic ecological systems”, “dependent and associated ecosystems” and “Antarctic environment” have been expressions commonly used indicating the object of the measures. Exchange of information, monitoring, evaluation of the impacts, restoration to previous conditions were the kind of measures to fulfill the ambitious and wide scope Recommendations for the protection of the environment. The protection of the environment has also a high place in the Convention for Conservation of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The first paragraph of its preamble points out “the importance of safeguarding the environment and protecting the integrity of the ecosystems of the seas surroubding Antarctica” and later mentions “the prime responsability of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties for the protection and preservation of the Antarctic environment”. Furthermore, among the principles of conservation are included the maintenance of the marine ecological ecosystem and environment (article II) and the obligation of non-Contracting Parties to observe the existing provisions on the protection and preservation of the environment (article V). Responding to the need of having a more comprehensive and efficient system to protect the Antarctic environment as well as a result of the reluctance of a number of Consultative Parties of the Antarctic Treaty to ratify the draft Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources Activities adopted in 1988, a Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was elaborated by a Special Consultative Meeting held in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 1990 and in Madrid in 1991 (20). It should be recalled that the Convention on minerals already embodied well advanced and strict rules concerning the protection and restauration of the environment. The Protocol, that has the same Northern limit that the Antarctic Treaty, that is to say parallel 60° South, makes frequent references to the “Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems” and its Annex IV is specifically dealing with the Prevention of Marine Pollution. This Annex deserves a particular consideration. Its purpose is to prevent the pollution of sea waters by discharge of oil and oil mixtures, noxious liquid substances, garbage and sewage in the Antarctic Treaty area. It refers mainly to ships operating in that area and has corresponding provisions adopted by the Committee of Marine Environment of the International Maritime Organization in 1990 as amendments to Annex I and V to the International Convention for the Preventuion of Pollution from Ships 1973, amended by the Protocol of 1978, known as MARPOL 73/78. Annexes I and V provide that in the

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“Antarctic zone”, South of the 60° parallel, hydrocarbons and oil mixtures and garbage in general can not be discharged in that zone and must be brought outside it. By contrast in other marine areas these discharges are permitted to a certain distanmce from the coasts. Annex IV of the Protocol of 1991 is centered in pollution from ships but also covers pollution that can be originated by Antarctic stations. Articles 3 to 6 are detailed rules concerning prohibition of discharge and covering aspects and conditions that must be faced to avoid pollution or to reduce it to a minimum if an unavoidable situation arises. A set of environmental guiding principles are binding for the Contracting Party governments and all those engaged in Antarctic activities to prevent damages to the environment and represent the cornerstone of the instrument. These principles are completed by provisions on co-operation between Parties and with other components of the Antarctic System and on settlement of disputes. General policy is the responsability of Consultative Meetings assisted by a Committee in charge of providing advice and making recommendations on the implementation of the Protocol. The Protocol itself has five Annexes dealing respectively with environmental impact assessment, conservation of fauna and flora, waste disposal and waste management and prevention of marine pollution, already mentioned. It is a well balanced and detailed code on the environment integrated by existing rules and others that have been created and based on the experience gathered in relation with Antarctic activities from a pragmatic approach, taking into account accomplishments as well as detected failures of the past. The Protocol has just been adopted and the Consulative Parties have to be praised for their decision to keep under its rules the marine environment uncontaminated, free of pollution. It is considered at the same time a way to strengthen the Antarctic Treaty System as a whole. Time will be required to evaluate the provisions of the Protocol and its implementation, but no doubt that it is a big step forward in the right direction. 3. OTHER FIELDS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE OCEAN. Sea bed and icebergs have been considered for some time in Antarctic Consultative Meetings as possible objects of commercial exploitation. The Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources Activities of 1988, that did not enter into force, included sea bed and “deep sea bed” South of 60° South parallel as an area of eventual mineral

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exploitation (article 5(2) and (3). Subsequently the Protocol on Environmental Protection above referred says in its article 7 that “any activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research, shall be prohibited”. No question then of exploiting the sea bed and “deep sea bed” resources in this area. Subaquatic areas North of 60° South parallel are in fact only submitted to the rules of the UN Law of the Sea Convention but the existence of valuable hydrocarbons and nodules has still to be demonstrated. This fact and the very difficult and risky natural conditions of the Southern Ocean make highly unlikely the exploitation in the near future of those resources, if they exist, taking into account the present stage of technological development. Instead there are some expectations and ideas towards the regulation by the Consultative Parties of the commercial exploitation of icebergs, even before a clear conclusion about the economic and technical feasibility of this exploitation (21). The XV Consultative Meeting of 1989 adopted a Recommendation (XV–21) asking for an exchange of information between Consultative Parties on “feasibility of commercial exploitation of icebergs, relevant technologies and possible environmental impacts”. SCAR should provide advice and continue to coordinate research. The item will be discussed also in the subsequent Consultative Meeting. Again the concern of the Consultative Parties for the protection of the environment and the purpose of considering the adoption of measures before the exploitation of the resource has begun is clearly shown in the Recommendation. IV. CONCLUSIONS. As it has been previously seen successive international instruments and decisions in the field of whaling management were at the end unable to satisfy a rational and wise conservation of whales stocks that could has benefited all nations, including those engaged in whaling activities. The idea of profit prevailed and the result was the collapse of the whaling industry and the depletion or almost extinction of whales. In the framework of the Antarctic Treaty System and in spite of the fact that conservationism is highly ranked in the policies of participating governments the risk exists also that harvesting of fin fishes not duly limited by conservation measures can with time lead to the extinction of different species. The condition of krill seems at the moment of less concern due to its abundance and current annual catch. But additional efforts by the Commission of the Convention on the Conservation of

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Antarctic Marine Living Resources are needed in relation to those resources in view of preventing in the future to reach a situation similar to that of whales. The adoption of measures for the protection of sea environment is in general terms less controversial than those related to living resources but the matter will require firm determination and constant attention by the Consultative Parties in the implementation of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty to duly fulfill its objective. The evolution of the Antarctic Treaty Systema has shown an increasing complexity and a solidary and pragmatic approach on problems concerning resources and environment by the States that are part of the System. It is highly desirable that this approach can prevail in the future, satisfying at the same time individual interests of each of those States and the interests of mankind as a whole.

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REFERENCES 1.

2. 3. 4.

Deacon, G.E.R. , The Southern Ocean, in The Sea ed. N.M.Hill, Interscience, New York, 1963, 2, p. 281; Sverdrup, H., Johnson, M.W. and Fleming, R.H., The Oceans. Their Physics, Chemistry and General Biology, Prentice-Hall, New York, 1942, p. 605–625. Library of Congress, Antarctic Bibliography, Washington D.C., 17 volumes published until now. Covering bibliography since 1951. Laws, R., Antarctica. The Last Frontier, Christopher Stocks, London, 1989, p. 175. Committee for Whaling Statistics, International Whaling Statistics, Oslo, 1930–1985.

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5.

6. 7.

8. 9.

10. 11.

12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

18. 19. 20. 21.

Birnie, P., International Regulation of Whaling, vol. I and II, Oceana Publications Inc., New York, 1985, p. 105–142; Brandt, K., Whale Oil. An Economic Analysis, Stanford University, California, 1940, 264 p.; Ibidem, Whaling and Whale Oil During and After World War II, 1948, 48 p. International Whaling Commission, Basic Documents and Annual Reports, Cambridge, England; Committee for Whaling Statistics, Ibidem. Gulland, J.A., The Management for Living Resources, The Antarctic Legal Regime, ed. by. C.C.Joyner and S.K.Chopra, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1988, p. 219–240; Maffei, M.C., New Trends in the Protection of Whales, International Law for Antarctica, ed. by F.Francioni and T.Scovazzi, Giufré Editore, Milano, 1987, p. 395–420. Tonnessen, J.N. and Johnsen, A.O., The History of Modern Whaling, C.Hurst and Co., London, 1982, p. 675. Beltramino, J.C.M., Recursos y Medio Ambiente en el Sistema del Tratado Antártico, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Revista de Derecho, Politica y Administración, vol. VII, No. 1, Buenos Aires, January–March 1990, p. 5–13. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Report of the Conference on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, London, 1972. Report of the 1988 Meeting to Review the Operation on the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, London, 12–16 September 1988, par. 15. Ibidem, par. 12. Powell, D., Antarctic Marine Living Resources and CCAMLR, Antarctica’s Future: Continuity or Change?, ed. by R.A.Herr, H.R.Hall and M.G.Haward, Australian Institute of International Affairs, Hobart, 1990, p. 62 and 65. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Basic Documents, Hobart, 1990. Ibidem, Statistical Bulletin, volume 1 (1970–19769), 1990, volume 2 (1980–1989), 1990 and volume 3 (1981–1990), 1991. Ibidem, List of Ships expected to operate in the year starting on 1 July 1991. Kaczynski, V.M., Economic Aspects of Fisheries Management in the Southern Ocean and Adjacent Waters, Proceedings of the International Conference on Marine Resources of the Pacific, Viña del Mar, Chile, 1983, p. 461. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Conservation Measures in Force 1990/91. Powell, D., op. cit., p. 65 and 68. Antarctic Treaty, XIth Special Consultative Meeting, XI ATSCM/2, 1991, Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Husseiny, A.A., Iceberg Utilization, Proceedings of the First Conference held at Ames, Iowa, Pergamon Press, New York, 1978; Schwerdtfeger, P.,

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Antarctic Icebers as Potential Sources of Water and Energy, Antarctic Challenge II, ed. by Instituts für Internationales Recht, University of Kiel, Duncker und Humblot, Berlin, 1986, p. 377–389.

Recommendations adopted by Antarctic Consultative Meetings can easily be consulted in Scott Polar Research Institute, Handbook of the Antarctic Treaty System, Seventh Edition, October 1990, in 4 Parts.

FUTURE CHALLENGES IN OCEAN MANAGEMENT: TOWARDS INTEGRATED NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY EDWARD L.MILES Director, School of Marine Affairs HF-05 College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 U.S.A.

ABSTRACT This paper continues elaboration of approaches to the development of integrated national ocean policy suggested previously by Arid Underdal [2] and the author [1]. Brief summaries of the arguments therein are provided followed by presentation and application of a framework for comparative evaluation of the performance of national ocean policy decision systems. In addition, the analysis of multiple use conflicts as a critical element of change in forging integrated national ocean policy is considered and the paper concludes with formulation of advice to governments. ALTERNATIVE DIRECTIONS FOR OCEAN MANAGEMENT DURING THE 1990’S AND BEYOND The Problem Defined Let us first be clear on the nature of the problem for which we are seeking solutions. In an earlier article [1], I have argued that most of what currently passes for national ocean policy is quite primitive, both conceptually and analytically. This characterization is as true for most advanced industrial countries as it is for most developing countries. The major drawback is a widespread inability to formulate and implement

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ocean policy as an integrated whole, balancing the overall interests of the nation in the short- and long-term. The reason for such widespread fragmentation in national policymaking structures and processes for the oceans seems to be a result of the fact that patterns of ocean use have developed largely in isolation from each other. Different technologies have given rise to separate networks, communities, and ways of thinking and doing. These communities have matured into fully autonomous sectors with weak or no links between them. This condition was not problematic when the pace of technological change was slow and when human use of neritic zones of the world ocean was limited. It is highly dysfunctional now when the rate of technological change is rapid, when human use of neritic zones is multiplying apace, and when different uses begin to generate adverse impacts (or negative externalities) for each other. The challenge to the nation-state comes not only in the form of technological advance and its effects. There has simultaneously been a jurisdictional revolution in the law of the sea, enshrined in the concept of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which replaces the patchwork quilt of coastal state jurisdiction over specific activities in the ocean adjacent to its coast with generalized authority over the ocean and its resources out to 200 miles from shore and, in some cases, to 350 miles or the 2,500 metre isobath (whichever is greater) on the continental margin. In this zone, the coastal state exercises sovereign rights over all living and non-living resources and other activities for the economic exploration and exploitation of the zone. In addition, the coastal state exercises jurisdiction of varying scope over: 1). the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations, and structures; 2). the conduct of marine scientific research; and 3). the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Finally, as applied to archipelagoes, the implementation of the EEZ concept within the regime for archipelagoes, significantly extends coastal state sovereignty over the archipelagic waters enclosed therein.* Collectively, this jurisdictional revolution is of tremendous global significance because it represents the consolidation of coastal state control over an additional 35– 36% of the surface of the planet and precisely over those areas of the ocean most intensively utilized by human beings. But, anchored as they are firmly to the past, most coastal states continue to be

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oblivious to the opportunities now available and incapable of resolving the growing multiple use conflicts in the EEZ which they now face. Furthermore, the ocean as a whole continues to play a role in the national development process which is far below its potential for most coastal states. Changing the way ocean policy is made and practiced is proposed as the principal remedy for this unsatisfactory state of affairs. In particular, the argument is that to become more effective and efficient, national ocean policy must become more integrated. What is Integrated National Ocean Policy? Underdal [2] has elaborated the first comprehensive response to the question posed above. He argues that since processes of ocean use are diverse and intensifying, they involve a significant exchange of externalities. Solutions for this problem must therefore be sought in increased coordination. An integrated policy, consequently, is one in which the diverse policy components are unified according to conceptual notions of the whole range of interests involved and it must meet the tests of comprehensiveness, aggregation and consistency. Comprehensiveness is measured in terms of space, time, actors, and issues and it is most important at the input stage. Aggregation is the critical component of the input processing or analytic stage where the choice of policy options would depend on the aggregate evaluation of consequences in the short- and long-term. Consistency has both vertical and horizontal dimensions. In the vertical dimension, it means that specific actions taken by different agencies conform to general guidelines. In the horizontal dimension, it means that only one policy is being pursued at any specific period in time. Aggregation may in fact be the single most critical phase of developing an integrated policy because a concern for the aggregate evaluation of consequences in the short- and long-term implies a concern for net benefit. Underdal reminds us that this concept need not be narrowly construed to imply trade-offs between ocean uses in every case. To the contrary, we are advised to seek Pareto-optimal solutions in order to avoid defections by those who see themselves as losers. If trade-offs are necessary, then those in * Archipelagic waters include the ocean enclosed by the application of straight baselines within an archipelago. These baselines are to join the outermost islands and drying reefs of the archipelago, provided that the main islands are included and that the ratio of the area of the water to the area of the land is between 1 to 1 and 9 to 1.

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charge should seek to provide compensatory arrangements to the losers. In any event, policy integration inevitably means weighing interests and setting priorities. When and How Should We Seek to Integrate National Ocean Policy? Underdal further reminds us that not everything should be integrated all the time and that, given its costs, the search for integrated policy should be pursued only where and when significant interdependencies exist. As an operational rule, also, we should not try to integrate beyond the point where the marginal cost of the integration effort equals the gain from policy improvement. Finally, Underdal distinguishes between two approaches to policy integration: the direct route via command and the indirect route via research, training, analysis, and institutional design. Miles [1] sought to take Underdal’s analysis one step further by designing an approach which is intermediate between the extremes of merely expanding the capabilities of the different sectors to deal with multiple use problems, on the one hand, and centralizing all ocean activities in a single ministry, on the other. Each extreme was in fact rejected. The first was rejected because it does not go far enough and would not solve the problems identified and the second because it would consume the energies of all participants in a massive battle to protect and/ or enlarge organizational domain (turf), which would deflect the entire attempt and render it unfeasible. The intermediate solution recognizes that the individual sectors would and should continue to exist in order to foster the level of specialization required to manage operations characteristic of that sector. At the same time, it seeks to provide the state with a capability to integrate policy according to explicitly defined notions of national net benefit. This capability would be overlaid on the sectors and would be based on limited direct (command) approaches augmented principally by indirect approaches as identified by Underdal. The limited direct approach would be to vest overall responsibility for coordinating sea-use planning and ocean development activities in a cabinet-level appointment. This need not be a new position. Indeed, it is preferable if one of the existing agencies be designated the lead agency, the choice contingent upon which ocean uses are most significant for the country in question. The task of this agency vis-a-vis formulating and implementing integrated national ocean policy would be to harmonize sector policies in

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relation to national objectives and strategies. National objectives and strategies would be defined as a result of an explicit analytic exercise involving the bureaucracy, the legislature, and the marine user community. The exercise itself would pose and seek to answer four questions covering the entire suite of ocean uses in which the country is engaged: 1). What do we want? 2). What should we want, given our biogeophysical conditions? 3). How do we get there? 4). What are we prepared to pay to get there? At the end of this exercise, the national decision system should have a clear idea on what activities need to be managed, when and where governmental regulation would be appropriate, and what more cost effective alternatives to regulation might be feasible. In addition, one would expect out of this exercise at least the following outcomes: 1). an articulation of short- and long-term goals; 2). goals should be few in number and ranked in order of priority; 3). an explicit process for coordinating policy across all marine sectors; 4). a requirement for annual reports to the nation evaluating performance in relation to stipulated goals; 5). creation of intersector links to facilitate communication and common awareness of problems; and 6). allocation of authority adequate to assigned responsibilities. What is set out above constitutes a significant improvement over existing conditions and, indeed, several countries have systems in place which approximate this reasonable ideal. Realistically, however, the existing, fragmented, sectorally-based model of institutional design will be a major constraint on getting from where we are to where we want to be. Let us therefore turn to an analysis of the existing situation as represented by a variety of national systems in an attempt to understand where the most significant elements of change might lie. SEEKING THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ELEMENTS OF CHANGE: COMPARING NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY DECISION SYSTEMS Given the large number of coastal states in the world (135)* and the significant variation potentially existing between them in terms of their

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ocean management systems, the onus is on the analyst to elaborate an approach to comparative evaluation which will be general enough to subsume all empirical examples while still allowing quite detailed investigation of particular cases. Moreover, since only a few detailed examinations of the systems and performance of some coastal states are currently available, it must be admitted that a comprehensive comparative evaluation cannot now be undertaken. But one can at least lay out an agenda for research on these issues and consider a few empirical cases. The analytic approach herein adopted is based on some earlier work by Oran Young [3, 4] which suggests that comparative evaluation of national ocean management regimes should include at least three types of analyses: 1). Regime Dimensions a). The structure of rules and rights: i). ownership; ii). use. b). Procedures for decision making. c). Approaches to conflict resolution. d). Compliance mechanisms. 2). Criteria of Evaluation a). Equity. b). Efficiency. c). Effectiveness. d). Accountability.

3). Regime Dynamics (i.e., what causes variation?) a). The role of the state. In addition, I would add the following dynamics:

* This total does not include new coastal states in process of creation as a result of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union.

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b). culture and philosophical approaches to ocean resources and ocean uses. c). The nature of the resource: i). short-term renewable (months to decades); ii). long-term renewable (centuries to millennia); iii). intrinsically important to life. d). The value of the resource/ocean use. e). Technologies of ocean use. f). The structure of political coalitions. As indicated above, we do not yet have the information available to permit a comprehensive evaluation to be attempted. In the time and space available to me therefore, and bearing in mind the desirability of focussing on the critical elements of change, I shall focus on only a few national systems and provide responses to the following specific questions: 1). what are the specific “engines” [dynamics] driving the policy sequences? 2). What consequences did they generate? 3). What are the critical levers for inducing change? 4). How manipulable are they over the short- and long-term? 5). What is the role of the government in each case? 6). What policy instruments were actually utilized? 7). How did the regime perform as judged by the evaluation criteria? TABLE 1 summarizes in very general fashion the major successes and failures for the national systems of the U.S., Japan, Canada, Norway, and The Netherlands. The national ocean management systems of these five states are all fully developed. They all have high technical capabilities to use the ocean and its resources and there exist significant ocean policy-making capabilities in each case. Japan and The Netherlands have explicitly stipulated lead agencies and coordinated decision processes but, in all cases except the U.S., the emphasis is placed to varying degrees on intersectoral coordination, policy harmonization, and negotiations across sectors at the ministerial level. The specific situations differ within each country with respect to the nature of the resource, the value of the resource/use, and the technologies of use but it does appear that culture and philosophical approaches

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TABLE 1 National Ocean Policy: Comparing Systems

Source: [11–19]

towards fisheries as a resource is the most important variable generating differences across countries as far as the role of the state is concerned. The structure of political coalitions is derived from the combined effects of culture/philosophy and the role of the state. As will be seen from a detailed look at three sectors (fisheries/oil and gas/ and shipping), one finds also that judgements on the criteria of evaluation vary independently. For instance, national systems or regimes can be

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efficient and effective but simultaneously mixed on equity and low on accountability. Conversely, they can be high on accountability, mixed on equity, and low on efficiency and effectiveness. Fisheries Let us now look at the detailed performance by sector beginning with fisheries in TABLE 2. The basic management problems in fisheries are common to all coastal states. These are represented by the potentially severe imbalances which exist between fugitive but vulnerable stocks and the scale of fishing effort, however constituted. Beyond this commonality, one can note also that traditional social organization and culture in Japan combined with consensus decision-making at every level [5] can lead to the same kind of overall control of the management system achieved by New Zealand [6] after a formal decision was taken to maximize economic returns to society. Extended coastal state jurisdiction was a significant stimulus to innovate in most cases but what was done differs markedly from place to place. Where extended jurisdiction was combined with centralized governmental control over fisheries and the will to use it, the result was a major impetus to optimize social benefits or to maximize economic returns to society (New Zealand and Canada). Where, however, extended jurisdiction was combined with the abdication of effective control and even responsibility by the central government, as in the case of the U.S., the results were quite chaotic [7, 8]. There are considerable commonalities in the role of the government. In most cases, the government is the unified coordinator, regulator, manager, and retains control over policy implementation. The government is also the source of information concerning the status of stocks, planning for management, research, and policy innovation. In addition, it is the government which usually negotiates foreign access agreements and sets policy applicable to joint venture agreements. In the case of Japan, the chosen policy instruments are the same as the critical levers while, in New Zealand, the government relies principally on the individual transferable quota system. Canada relies on its Fisheries Act, federal authority (ownership) over the resource, and prescriptive regulation. The U.S., on the other hand, relies on prescriptive regulation under the Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act but federal authority is constrained by the sharing of jurisdiction with the states and a widespread tendency to be a rubber stamp for the regional Fisheries Management Councils. The process also suffers from a continuously

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interventionist Congress seeking to protect and advance the preferences of particular special interest groups. What then are the determinants of effective performance which we can isolate as the critical elements of change? The first necessary condition is comprehensive and centralized authority over fisheries resources combined with the will to use it rationally. This will implies control over the award of fishing licenses to both domestic and foreign vessels with or without quota allocations. Japan, for instance, can maximize the economic rent directly and facilitate market stability via control over vessel licenses, even though the government chooses not to capture that rent via direct taxation. There is an indirect tax on economic rent which inheres in the principle that the winners (i.e., those who are left in the fishery in a time of fleet reduction) must compensate the losers (i.e., those forced to withdraw). If a government chooses systematic allocation of property rights in fisheries and control over all fishing vessel licenses, this condition will facilitate the development of a coordinated planning capability and the emergence of an organizational capacity to learn from trial and error (single-loop learning) [9]. As New Zealand has shown, in these conditions a government can also enhance learning how to learn (double-loop learning) [9] by adopting a method of systematic prior search and evaluation of all major existing management systems. Finally, it is also clearly necessary to have coherent industry organizations with the capacity to aggregate interests and demands of different groups of fishermen, processors, and the like and to negotiate solutions. When a single system combines all of the attributes identified above, it also develops the capacity to manipulate the critical levers in both the short- and long-term. It is worth noting that the consequences of policy innovation in fisheries management can also differ markedly. Where control over implementation is tight and where mechanisms and approaches are consistent with management objectives, as in the cases of Japan and New Zealand, effectiveness can be high though efficiency will vary, given the large choice of options. Equity and accountability also vary significantly. But, even where control over implementation is tight, as in the case of Canada, policy consistency can be derailed by severe regional socioeconomic problems which politically force the government to adopt policies which produce schizophrenic results and devalue major policy objectives. However, where control over implementation is loose and

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TABLE 2 Fisheries

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policy inconsistency is high, as in the case of the U.S., the results are high

Source: [5, 6, 7, 20–22]

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FUTURE CHALLENGES IN OCEAN MANAGEMENT 629

transaction costs, high conflict, large inefficiencies, and constant turbulence. Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas The engines of the policy process in this category as shown in TABLE 3 are: 1). coastal state sovereign rights to its continental shelves and to portions of the continental margin (i.e., the shelf, the slope, and the rise) where applicable. 2). The desire for rapid development of domestic oil resources either to enhance energy independence or to generate significant revenues, or both. 3). In two cases, Japan and Norway, [10] there was also the desire to control both the upstream (i.e., exploration, discovery, and production) and the downstream (i.e., refining, marketing, and sales) dimensions via vertically integrated sectors. The consequences of following these engines demonstrate that even for major advanced industrial countries it is possible to succeed in vertically integrating only the upstream activities and not the downstream. The latter are tightly controlled by the multinational oil companies. Moreover, while success in the upstream can indeed produce significant revenues, these benefits are often accompanied by high inflation and increasing social conflict which devalue the net benefit to be derived from such exploration and exploitation. Not surprisingly, the critical levers are governmental authority, ministerial discretion, support infrastructure (industry, banks, unions), and governmental licensing arrangements and/or lease sales. All of the above, except for lease sales, are manipulable, in both the short- and long-term. Lease sales are manipulable only in the long term. Compared to fisheries, the role of the government is much less complex. Where significant offshore hydrocarbon resources exist, the government plays the roles of owner, partner (through national oil companies), and regulator. The U.S. is again an exception here, compared to Norway, the U.K., and Canada, since it has eschewed the role of partner (there is no U.S. national oil company). But where no significant offshore hydrocarbon resources exist, as in the case of Japan, the government can only play the roles of financier (partly) and regulator.

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TABLE 3 OCS and Gas

Source: [10, 23–26]

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The chosen policy instruments are even more limited since the primary reliance is on licenses for exploration and production and, in the case of

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the U.S., lease sales. What is surprising though is that the performance actually varies considerably as between the “scores” achieved on equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability criteria. Equity and accountability vary from low to medium, while the spread on efficiency ranges from low to high, and effectiveness ranges from medium to high. Shipping The primary engines of the shipping policy process, as shown in TABLE 4, are: 1). defense/national security interests. 2). Economic interests relating to trade and costs of freight.

3). The symbolic value of a national flag fleet and resentment against discrimination by closed Conferences. 4). Shipping services as stimuli for economic and technological development. But the evidence clearly shows that the consequences of employing these engines of policy development are usually unfortunate in the sense that they produce significant inefficiencies, overcapacity, rising costs, shifting of national flag fleet to open registries, and continuing subsidies of one kind or another. One avoids these unfortunate consequences only where one avoids building a national flag fleet, as in the case of Canada, or where it is possible to take advantage of geography or other national attributes to carve out a niche in the support infrastructure, as in the case of Singapore which has focussed on ship repair and the construction of specialized, artificial installations. Like the sector of OCS oil and gas, the role of the government in the shipping sector is restricted to promoter/owner/regulator. The primary policy instruments are subsidies, regulation, and information generation via formal inquiries. In terms of overall performance, subsidies tend to drive down efficiency but they have a mixed impact on effectiveness.

TABLE 4 Shipping

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Results of the Comparative Evaluation Even within the sectors per se, all is not well. The biggest problems and

Source [27–35]

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the greatest complexity are encountered in the fisheries sector but there are significant problems also in OCS oil and gas and shipping. The critical elements of change in fisheries relate to overall system design and the effective use of centralized authority. With respect to oil and gas and shipping, they relate primarily to policy objectives of national governments. We note, too that no systematic links between the sectors emerge, although in many countries fisheries, oil and gas, and shipping impinge significantly on each other. We therefore now turn to the analysis of multiple use conflict problems as a critical element of change. THE ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE USE CONFLICTS AS A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF CHANGE IN FORGING INTEGRATED NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY To return to Underdal [2], we are concerned with multiple use conflicts because it is necessary to reduce the negative externalities different types of marine uses create for each other. As Andresen and Fløistad [16] point out, certain uses of the sea are tied together in such a way that they create problems for each other but considerable variation exists in the strength of the linkages and among geographic areas. All ocean uses are not linked in such a way as to require any single management system to cover all activities. Andresen and Fløistad conclude that: 1). most complex externalities exist at the local or regional level within and between nations; and 2). conflicts tend to be bisectoral rather than multisectoral in most cases, thereby requiring less comprehensive coordination units. On the basis of a perusal of the existing literature [17–19 and 36–41], I would add that: 1). management does not occur unless the conflicts are severe and continuous; 2). a triggering event is required in order to create the perception of a need to manage multiple use conflicts; and 3). it is better to adopt a self-consciously experimental, adaptive stance to solutions of such conflicts. The types of conflicts observable can be differentiated in the following way:

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1). competition for ocean space and therefore conflict over value of space to the respective interests. 2). Operational impacts. 3). Ecosystem impacts. 4). On-shore impacts. Within the EEZ, conflicts occur most frequently between fisheries and OCS oil and gas development and, where exploitation of hydrocarbons is especially intense, between oil and gas development and shipping (navigation). In addition, exploitation of ocean resources and ocean space can generate pervasive and adverse ecosystem impacts and one also finds to varying degrees conflicts between fishing and marine cables and fishing and military uses. Finally, it would appear that OCS oil and gas development can often generate significantly adverse on-shore impacts in terms of crowding, degradation of the near-shore environment, and recreation and tourism. Any attempt at solving these conflicts requires coordination, which implies the need for policy integration at some level. Approaching these problems from a primarily sectoral perspective usually produces ad hoc adjustments which may or may not maximize the net benefit which can be derived from all activities. It is therefore the focus on maximizing net benefit that is as crucial to effective resolution of multiple use conflicts as it is to the development of integrated national ocean policy as a whole. It is important to understand that while conflicts have both objective and subjective components, the latter tend to take on lives of their own. Since perception of conflicts is crucial, facilitating communication between the parties involved is vital for achieving resolution. Planning and regulation, environmental standard setting and mediation are also effective contributors to conflict resolution. Planning entails rather detailed analysis of the various activities differentiated according to their operational phases. This is necessary because the scale and timing of activities may vary within each phase and such variation may generate fluctuations in levels of conflict. Moreover, when the magnitude and location of conflicts vary widely along different time and space scales, one should seek to determine what effects are likely to be generated if a decision were taken to increase X activity by some percentage under Y conditions. The types of claims one set of parties makes vis-a-vis the other are another important factor in multiple use conflicts. Compensation can have important conflict reducing impact in many situations but its utility is limited if true value is sought by an aggrieved party. For instance, it is

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easier for oil companies to provide compensation for gear damage to fishermen from debris and suspended well heads than it is for them to agree to pay for loss of space, and therefore fishing opportunity, and/or reduced marketability of products on a continuing basis. A decision process which is fragmented on a sectoral basis cannot easily respond to these kinds of problems and one can never guarantee that ad hoc resolutions won’t create even greater difficulties sooner or later. Not only does one need to have an integrated decision process but managers need to involve all parties affected by the conflict. Rather than attempting to impose a solution from the top down, more stable relationships appear to be created in the long run if the management system instead forces the parties to engage in negotiations directly. In this case, it is important that the locus of ultimate decision authority be clear and that the constituted authorities expend considerable effort in the search for variable sum outcomes. We need to recognize also that the approach recommended here represents an enormous hurdle for developing countries most of which suffer from extreme bureaucratic fragmentation, lack of technical skills, lack of information, lack of funds, and inadequate planning and decision processes. It is therefore necessary for both multilateral and bilateral donors to focus on developing the capability to formulate and implement integrated national ocean policy in the Third World and increasingly to concert their efforts to this end. As one looks at the ways in which different coastal states have organized themselves to formulate and implement national ocean policy, two countries come closest to the ideals of an integrated decision process and integrated ocean policy. These are Japan and The Netherlands. Perhaps this state of affairs is not coincidental since these two countries exhibit the densest concentration of multiple ocean uses and conflicts off their shores. The Japanese system evolved over a period of about 400 years or so and is deeply embedded in Japanese social structure and culture. The Dutch system is recent, deliberate, and analytically sophisticated. Consequently, it may have the clearest lessons to teach us all on how one could proceed. Since there has already been a presentation in this Conference on the Dutch system, I shall not go into detail. Instead, using the existing literature [17–19] as a base, I shall restrict myself to outlining the essential steps in the recent transformation of the Dutch ocean management system. It seems to me that the first lesson we learn is there must be a trigger which forces the state to conclude that it must integrate its decision process and its policies. A powerful trigger is the ratio ofEEZ space to density of use. The corollary to this inference is that if we have a situation characterized by

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large space and low to medium density of use (e.g., the U.S.), the coastal state is unlikely to view integrating national ocean policy as an attractive proposition. Only if space is limited and density of use is high, is the trigger present. In the Dutch case we have to a most unusual degree a combination of small space and very high density of use involving shipping, OCS oil and gas development, fishing, military activities, marine cables, recreation, sand and gravel, land reclamation, and waste disposal/incineration. Not surprisingly, this set of conditions generates severe policy problems particularly with respect to competition for space, marine pollution, and overfishing. Management authority relative to fisheries is now in the hands of the EEC Commission but the Dutch Government retains control over enforcement of management regulations. In this situation, the proposal by the North Sea Island Group (an industry organization) to expand the density of artificial installations in the Dutch EEZ was the finger that pulled the trigger since the weight of public opinion was such that the Dutch Parliament put the whole issue at the top of their national agenda. Once this occurred, decisions were taken to embark on a large-scale analytic effort and to engage in institutional realignment. The analytic effort focussed on developing a systematic inventory of trends in ocean use, administrative structure and regulations, and an assessment of actual and potential damage and losses. The approach to institutional re-alignment seems to me critical. Happily, the Dutch Government did not choose to try a totally centralized approach, which would probably have been counter-productive. Instead, they chose to designate a lead agency, (not surprisingly, in this case, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works), and an Inter-ministerial Board consisting of six agencies concerned with North Sea affairs called MINCONA. Since all parties have to have a voice in the decision process, MINCONA is staffed by an interagency unit drawn from the bureaucracy of the six agencies involved (ICONA) and it interacts with both a Special Commission of the Parliament on North Sea Policies and a nongovernmental advisory council (ACONA) which includes representation from industry, public interest groups, and the scientific community. ACONA therefore has a voice in both the executive and legislative dimensions of the Dutch Government. The next major choice made by the Dutch Government was to reject creation of a decision process based upon a fixed set of rules allocating priorities across sectors of ocean use. Instead, in order to maximize flexibility, the decision was made to seek harmonization of policy across the

FUTURE CHALLENGES IN OCEAN MANAGEMENT 639

six agencies involved. Coordination is therefore achieved via an agreed set of general objectives, a policy framework, and a program of action. Where two or more Ministers share implementation responsibilities, the Minister with the greater or greatest level of involvement has the supervisory initiative. Finally, the overall objectives, which exist in five categories (economics, use of space, environment, social/cultural/scientific, international/ administrative), guide harmonization over time of each set of sector objectives. The policy framework and action program are derived from the split level harmonization of overall and sector objectives, and the system includes mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating performance and updating the balance of interests as events unfold. CONCLUSION The major challenge of the future facing those of us engaged in national and international ocean management consists in shifting course from the traditional approach based on a single sector focus to a broader focus which attempts to define the overall interests of the nation in the ocean, its resources, environment and patterns of use and to balance sector development into the overall definition. Not only is this analytically difficult but it is entirely novel. As such, it is against history and none of us should assume that success will come easily. We must adopt the long view and put our efforts into education, training, and changing the analytic perspectives of decision makers. In other words, the direct route to policy integration is unlikely to be ours except in very few cases. Our path is the indirect one. As such, there is a vast field of research awaiting enterprising scholars and graduate students. The fact is that we have very few comprehensive case studies in depth of how most coastal states of the world, even the major ones, go about the task of making and implementing national ocean polices. We need those profiles if we are to do the analytic work that is pre-requisite for getting from where we are to where we want to be. We also need to pay attention to issues of institutional design. In this connection, I would offer the following advice to governments of coastal states: 1). avoid large-scale fights over major re-organizational initiatives (e.g., creation of a new ministry gobbling up significant activities of others). Seek instead an incremental approach.

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2). Seek to broaden the scope of narrowly focussed sectoral planning to take account of interactions and dependencies. 3). Involve all agencies and interest groups concerned with diverse marine and coastal interests and activities. 4). Seek to develop an overall focus with defined national interests. 5). Ensure that organizational innovations are compatible with local culture. What works in one country is not necessarily directly transferable elsewhere. 6). Seek to develop both horizontal and vertical integration (i.e. across and within sectors) in planning. 7). Foster the capability to evaluate ocean development projects from sectoral as well as national perspectives. REFERENCES 1.

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INDEX OF CONTRIBUTORS

Alexander, L.M., 539 Arriaga M, L., 440

Lalwani, S., 134 Marchese, U., 419 Miles, E.L., 595

Beltramino, J.C.M., 576 Bird, E.C.F., 90 Birnie, P., 308 Buchholz, H., 470

Peck, L.D., 57 Peet, G., 39 Pinder, D.A., 482 Prescott, V., 227 Psuty, N.P., 502

Cicin-Sain, B., 280 Cole-King, A., 134 Couper, A.D., 1

Smith, H.D., 19 Fabbri, P., 169 Tangsubkul, P., 255 Garcia, S.M., 381 Guilcher, A., 74

Vallejo, S.M.A., 153 Vigarié, A., 108 Vignes, D., 247

Hayashi, M., 209 Herz, R., 124 Hoyle, B.S., 482

Walker, H.J., 550 Wang, Y., 460 Williams, S.J., 57 Wonham, J., 361

Keckes, S., 344 Kimball, L.A., 325 Knecht, R.W., 184

Zabi, S.G.F., 521

644