On China's Sea Area Use Management And Its Legal Regime

Sea area use management is a marine regulatory regime China has established recently, which has both a solid base out of practical needs, and more extensive and integrated theoretical areas. Although the establishment of its administrative systems and its legislation in the National People's Congress have been completed so far, there are still many proplems both in its theory and practice that need to be further studied.This paper is a preliminary theoretical summary by the author on the basis of her practice in engaging in the sea area use management for many years.I . I integrated mar i ne management i s the guarantee of the susta i nab I e and healthy development of marine development undertakings The littoral sea area is the shallow-sea part of the global ocean adjacent to the land. Its area only occupies 7.5% of the global ocean, but it has a greatest bearing and most significant effect on mankind. The littoral sea area, an expandable and extendible region of coastal economy and social development, boasts obvious frontier advantages, and also a key zone linking varions regions and the world as a whole. Therefore, the littoral sea waters is a sea area with extremely high economic and social values in the ocean, and has always been, from ancient times to the present, the major area in which man develops and uses the ocean. It is also for this reason that the damage to and destruction of resource and enviromment within this area are most serious and that some sea areas have exhibited an ecological unbalance. China has a continental and insular coastline of over 32000 km, so the coastal sea area is vast, rich in resources and obvious in its locational superiority for development and utilization. Moreover, owing to such factors as the highly developed economy and society, and the great density of population in the coastal region of China's mainland, the resource damage and environmental destruction in the nearshore sea area are relatively more obvious. In the light of the actual situation in the coastal sea of China and the prediction on its future developing trend, it is essential to devote major efforts to strengthening the management of coastal sea area and establishing a perfect system for sea area management so as to check as soon as possible the environmental deterioration and gradually recover and improve the ecological conditions in the sea area.In the past 2-3 decades, in order to suit the development of marine development undertakings, most countries have recognized that it is necessary to strengthen marine management and gradually establish the marine regulatory system combining integrated marine management and marine professional management and that management of sea area use is the core of integrated marine management. The law of the People's Republic of China on the Management of Sea Area Use which came into force as of January 1, 2001 ( hereinafter referred to as "Sea Area Law" for short) ushers in a new stage of sea area use management and is an important indication that the integrated marine management has embarked on the road of institutionalized management. In order to carry out the Sea Area Law thoroughly, constantly perfect the regulatory regime for sea area use, promote the sustainable development of marine development undertakings and marine economy and quicken the steps of building a better-off society in an all-round way, it is quite necessary to make an in-depth exploration into the theoretical and practical problems concerning sea area use management and its legal regime. On the basis of her experiences in enagaging in marine management for many years as well as the problems in theory and practice encountered in the course of formulating the law of sea area use management, the author makes analysis, summary and discussion of China's management of sea area use and its legal regime in this paper.II. Establishing the regulatory regime for sea area use is the coreof implementing integrated marine managementWith a view to strengthening the coastal sea area management an...