2. What exactly is the Law of the
Sea?
The law of the sea convention/treaty is an international agreement, that resulted from a third United Nations
conference on the laws in regards to the seas of the world.
The treaty began in the year 1973, and ran all the way up to 1982.
A total of 160 states participated, and eleven sessions were held between 1973 and 1982. The final convention
contained a total of 320 articles and 9 annexes.
Initially, only 119 states were involved, but by the time the convention had closed 2 years later, the number had risen
to 160.
The convention defines the rights & responsibilities of nations in regards to the ocean’s, establishing business
guidelines, protecting the environment, and managing marine natural resources.
3. This map basically shows the ratified, and signed but not
ratified states in dark green and light green,
respectively, along with the states that were
not involved in grey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Law_of_the_Sea_Convention.png
5. What was the purpose of this convention?
In other words, what were the goals and hopes that the
involved countries wanted to achieve?
From 1973 to 1982, the United Nations was responsible for
putting together the convention of the Law of the Sea, an
agreement that laid out the guidelines and restrictions
among nations in regards to the ocean’s of the world.
6. What were the main highlights/features of the
Convention?
The issue of territorial jurisdiction, in regards to the waters of
the convention participants.
The Rights and Duties of each state involved in regards to the
sea.
Matters of global concern, ecological and environmental.
7. Convention Features - States and Territorial
Jurisdiction
The first main feature/objective of the 1973 convention on the law of the sea would be state and territorial
jurisdiction.
Before any laws in regards to the seas can be discussed, the nations involved in the convention would be required to
know which area’s of the world’s ocean’s were under their control.
Some of the early issues mentioned in the convention focus on national jurisdiction, and what area’s of the sea fall
under a specific state’s control.
The convention would have needed to organize a system in which the participants involved would know which areas
of the ocean fell under their control and at which point they no longer have jurisdiction.
8. States and Territorial Jurisdiction - Cont’d
The convention allowed for establishing a territorial sea for each participant, a
territory of up to twelve nautical miles.
The convention also allowed for an economic zone of the sea, beyond a
nation’s territorial waters, an economic zone of two hundred nautical miles,
over sixteen times larger than a nation’s territorial waters.
The convention states that today, any territory beyond a nation’s territorial
waters is to be considered a part of the high seas.
9. This diagram gives a visual in regards to the different zones off the coast of nations.
Zones mentioned before such as territorial waters, economic zone and international
waters are present
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zonmar-en.svg
10. Importance of Territorial Jurisdiction
Why is territorial jurisdiction so important as being a part of the law of the
sea? Why have territorial jurisdiction?
With many current disagreements over fishing, industry, piracy, naval
passage, marine resources, etc. in today’s society, it is critical that the world
have some kind of system to be able to maintain order within the earth’s
waters.
Having nation’s knowing which waters are under their control, where they can
and cannot go, and which nation’s control other area’s of the sea are critical
in maintaing working, healthy and peaceful waters.
11. Convention Features - Rights and Duties
All of the participants of the Law of the Sea convention had certain rights & duties that they needed to understand in
order to be apart of the Convention.
It is not actually legally permissible to claim rights under the convention without being willing to assume the duties
of the convention as well.
Some of these duties included:
Respecting the rights of other participants in order to avoid any violations.
A more specific one would be, the duty to give notice of water hazards, even in one’s own waters. A participant needs
to be aware of any actions that may violate other participants rights and/or damage their territorial waters.
12. Importance of Rights & Duties
Respecting the rights & duties of the convention is one of the most important parts of the convention.
Even with the rights in place, if none of the participants were willing to follow them, none of the progress and order
trying to be achieved would be obtained.
Similar to signing any kind of contract, a participant needs to know what is involved, and what they can and cannot
do.
Basically, without knowing the proper rights & duties, and following them, maintaining order and peace within the
sea’s would be near impossible, and the convention would matter for nothing.
13. Convention Features - Global Matters of Concern
Thus so far, the main convention features mentioned include territorial waters & jurisdiction, and the rights & duties
of the participating countries.
Other global matters of concern mentioned in the Law of the Sea include issues on pollution, fishing restrictions,
marine industry, such as oil drilling, passage through territorial waters, and the protection of marine inhabitants &
resources.
With territorial boundaries & jurisdictions, and knowing rights & duties being more general area’s, other global
matters of concern focus on the more specific, smaller issues. While smaller, these issues make up the big picture that
is the convention on the Law of the Sea.
14. Importance of Global Matters
The minor global matters are what truly make up the convention on the Law of the Sea. Territorial waters and rights
& duties are in place, but it is the seriousness of other matters that affect the first two features and help them
function.
The global matters truly are the main issues involved with the marine environment today, that the convention is
trying to smooth out and fix.
In a way, the global matters make the convention whole, making it clear what the modern day issues are in the
planet’s ocean’s today, and what needs to be improved.
One of the most important parts of global matters is it speaks for the common man. Where territorial jurisdiction,
and rights & duties have more of a nation focus, global matters such as fishing, pollution, and industry focus more
on individual people’s trouble’s rather than a nation’s trouble.
15. Overall review on the Convention on the Law of the
Sea
Overall, does it appear that the convention was a success? Was it able to achieve an understandable constitution for
the ocean’s that would last throughout time?
The convention was able to promote the maintenance of international peace & security with universally agreed limits
on nation’s territorial waters.
The planet’s interest in freedom of navigation would be facilitated due to the economic zone, and by the regime of
innocent passage through territorial waters.
The convention resulted in specific rules for marine environment protection from pollution, and marine scientific
research.
Finally, while not perfect, the convention produced elements of equity, including revenue sharing on the continental
shelf, fisherman and distant water fisherman relations, and the benefit sharing from the exploration of sea bed
resources.
16. Concluding Thoughts
The 1973 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was a treaty put together from 1973 to 1982, with hopes
to maintain order and peace within the world’s ocean’s leading into the near future.
Due to the convention, the nation’s involved would be aware of which area’s of the ocean’s were considered their
territory, and they were aware of the the rights & duties they were obliged to follow, in order for peace to be
maintained.
Without the convention of the law of the sea, marine pollution, fishing conflicts, and disagreements over territorial
boundaries would likely be at an all time high.
Overall, it appears that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was a very successful treaty, that was
able to maintain a working and peaceful ocean environment, was able to create decent relations between most of the
involved countries, and will hopefully continue to guide a fairly peaceful marine environment into the future.
