Conflicts And Solutions Between Navigation Rights And Environmental Protection Jurisdiction In The International Strait

The globalization of shipping puts heavy pressure on the marine ecological environment system of the international strait and challenges the ability of coastal countries of the international strait to protect the marine ecological environment.In 2005,the Marine Environmental Protection Committee under the International Maritime Organization approved the extension of the particularly sensitive areas of the Great Barrier Reef to the Torres Strait.Subsequently,Australia's designation of the Torres Strait as a mandatory pilot zone caused controversy.The dispute is superficially a contradiction between the mandatory pilotage and the transit passage,but its essence reflects the conflict between the flag State 's navigation rights in the international straits and the coastal state 's environmental protection jurisdiction.It can be seen from the analysis of relevant international legal norms that the cause of this conflict is that the legal regime of the international straits is excessively inclined to protect the navigation right of the flag State,while ignoring the environmental interests of littoral states and not taking into account the possible negative impact on the marine environment from navigation activities,therefore,the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international regulations regulate the environmental protection jurisdiction of the littoral countries,especially the legislative jurisdiction of the littoral countries under the transit passage,and at the same time the international strait environmental protection regime based on marine zoning does not meet the requirements of the integrity of marine ecological environmental protection,making it difficult for the littoral countries to properly deal with the environmental problems caused by ship navigation.The particularly sensitive sea area regime is a marine protected area regime for ship navigation activities led by the International Maritime Organization.It is also one of the possible ways to resolve the conflict between navigation rights and environmental protection jurisdiction.The countries along the straits have the right to designate particularly sensitive sea areas within the international straits,and also have the right to implement the associated protective measures attached to the particularly sensitive sea areas,but the associated protective measures are limited to the scope prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.Therefore,it is necessary to revise the guidance documents for particularly sensitive sea areas to make them more complete and specific.In addition,the countries along the strait can also actively establish the basic principles of international strait cooperation and improve the cooperation mechanism of the international strait to promote the cooperation of all parties in the international strait to reach consensus on the issues of navigation and environmental protection of ships in the strait.