"Oceans Policy: New Institutions, Challenges and Opportunities" draws attention to three new international institutions created by the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. The International Seabed Authority located in Jamaica governs global activities to convert polymetallic resources into reserves of metal. The Legal Counsel for the Authority provides the first public review of the Authority's draft Mining Code containing the rules, regulations, and procedures for deep seabed mining. The second institution dealt with is the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Professor Louis Sohn outlines several innovative uses of advisory opinions available to the Tribunal while the President of the Tribunal reports on a busy first year of work by this new institution located in Hamburg. Other items discussed are the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and its working methods, including its rules, proceedings and internal procedures. The third international institution established to implement the 1980 Convention is the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. An explanation is given of the geographical context for the development of the legal concept of the Continental Shelf. The principal problems that the Commission must resolve are summarized, in particular with respect to the definition in the Convention of the outer limit of the Continental Shelf. The fourth part of this work is focused on the global challenges posed by drug trafficking in the Caribbean region. The international legal framework governing intercepting illegal drug shipments at sea is analyzed. Recent counter-drug initiatives undertaken at the International Maritime Organization are thenreviewed. The book also contains discussion of the growing threat to ocean freedom posed by piracy and armed robbery at sea, as well as the increasing problems in reconciling the rules for salvage of shipwrecks and underwater archeology. The publication is based on a conference held in Jamaica that was organized by the Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia School of Law.

This textbook provides the reader with a foundation in policy development and analysis and describes how policy, including legal mechanisms, is applied to marine environments around the world. It offers a systematic treatment of all aspects of marine policy, including environmental protection, fisheries, transportation, energy, mining and climate change. It starts with a biophysical overview of the structure and function of the marine environment with a particular emphasis on the challenges and opportunities of managing the marine environment. An overview of the creation and function of international law is then provided with a focus on international marine law. It explores the geographic and jurisdictional dimensions of marine policy, as well the current and anticipated challenges facing marine systems, including climate change-related impacts and resource over-exploitation. The book should appeal to senior undergraduate and graduate students and form a core part of the curriculum for marine affairs, science and policy courses. It will also provide supplementary reading for students taking a course in the law of the oceans, but is not aimed at legal specialists.

This book deals with Canada's oceans management policies since the conclusion of the 1982 Convention of the Law of the Sea. That Convention set out a jurisdictional framework for the management of the world's oceans, but it did not provide states with precise guidance on all the issues that can arise. As a state with one of the world's longest coastlines, Canada was one of the principal beneficiaries under the 1982 Convention regime. A study of Canadian policy is particularly significant, as Canadian oceans management places in relief many of the difficult questions yet to be resolved. The central theme of this book, whose multidisciplinary contributors include leading Canadian participants in the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, as well as leading Canadian academic and government oceans specialists, concerns the adequacy of the Canadian management responses to a new oceans regime which grants substantial jurisdiction to the coastal state. The chapters look at dispute settlement (maritime boundaries) and examine future Canadian and international policy directions. They are both analytical and prophetic, providing an assessment of the past and presenting a glimpse of the future. Canadian Oceans Policy provides insights into how Canada is managing the oceans and ocean resources off its coast and looks at the problems that lie ahead. The book also makes a major contribution to our understanding of an increasingly vital area of global politics. It will be of interest both to academics and policymakers and to all those concerned with the future of the oceans.