Regional Arrangements in the Oceans

Abstract

The techniques of ocean management are in a process of continuing and accelerating change as new countries emerge into independence and as new perspectives are adopted toward the control and use of the ocean environment. Two decades ago, as preparations were underway for the First Law of the Sea Conference, all of the ocean space, save for narrow bands of coastal waters, was conceived of as high seas, open to the use of all countries. Little attention was paid to the differences in marine interests and capabilities of the then nearly ninety independent coastal and land-locked states. The preeminence of the major maritime powers and their insistence on maximizing the freedom of the seas meant that few concessions to the special needs and concerns of the less-developed countries were even considered. Freedom of navigation, overflight, fishing, and scientific research beyond narrow territorial limits were major blocks upon which the law of the sea of the latter 1950’s was constructed.