Regional Marine Cooperation In Semi-enclosed Seas

The main point of this thesis is that the Part IX of 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS)provides the basis for regional marine cooperation."Enclosed or semi-enclosed sea" is geographic basis as well as legal basis.It's important to China because the seas surrounding China all are semi-enclosed seas.However the Part IX of UNCLOS is quite general,consisted by only two articles,i.e.Article 122 "Definition" and Article 123 "Co-operation of States bordering enclosed or semi-enclosed seas".In order to find out how to apply these articles,four aspects of works have been done in this thesis.Firstly,the formation of the topic "enclosed or semi-enclosed sea" and the negotiation on the Third UN Conference of the Law of the Sea are reviewed.The reasons for formulating special provision for such kind of seas are as follows.On one hand,their especial characteristics need to be considered:(1)the complexity of navigation in these seas and in outlets connecting them with the open seas due to their small surface and poor connection with other seas;(2)the growing danger from all types of pollution because of their small size and poor interchange of their waters with adjacent seas;(3)the necessity of taking special precautionary measures in relation to the management conservation and exploitation of the living resources.One the other hand,the application of general rules,especially the Exclusive Economic Zone,may cause difficulties on marine demarcation and navigation.The intention of the Article 123 is to relieve the tension caused by coastal states extending their jurisdiction through encouraging functional regional cooperation.Secondly,other provisions on regional marine cooperation in the UNCLOS,relevant developments of the international law represented by the Agenda 21 and 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement,and efforts of UNEP and FAO to promote the regional approach are analyzed.It points out that the application of Part IX of UNCLOS should refer to other sources of international law,and base on the especial characteristics of such seas.Thirdly,as the main part of this thesis,the regional marine cooperation practices in the Mediterranean Sea and Baltic Sea are reviewed through the angle of the Article 123.The evolvements of regional cooperation practices on marine environment and fisheries conservation and management in these two semi-enclosed seas reveal that:(1)the especial characteristics of such seas call for cooperation;(2)the development of global international laws promoted the modification of regional legal frameworks;(3)international organizations of different kinds play important roles in different phrases of cooperation.Through more detailed comparison,some lessons are summarized for regional marine cooperation practices in the seas surrounding China.Fourthly,based on the studies above,some suggestions are given for China's marine policy:(1)the tensions inherent in the law of the sea still existing,carefully balancing these tensions should be the key of China's marine policy which aimed at building China into a maritime power;(2)from the point of view that China is a coastal state of semi-enclosed seas,the "semi-enclosed sea" should be the start point of handling the issues in the seas surrounding China;(3)combined with the regional marine cooperation practices in South China Sea,some concrete suggestions are given on China's taking part in and promoting regional cooperation on marine environment protection,fisheries conservation and management,and other issues.