Why is there a Law of the Sea

Since ancient time, the sea has been used for fishing, maritime trade and commerce. Two –third of the worlds surface is water and this has been the ultimate route for human being to explore the world for political or commercial gain. In the modern world the oceans has gained greater and greater prominence with the vast growth in the global seaborne trade and requirement of national jurisdiction over maritime domains. Nearly sixty five percent of the world population lives within a few kilometres of the coast. ( B, Gerald) Maritime security became an important issue for the states to seek a common set of rule and guidance to resolve disputes. Marine resources have increased tension between nations and the environmental aspects in the sea gained greater attention by globalised international community. To examine why there is an international law of the sea, this essay will look into some main important aspects of the law of the sea. These are setting the limit in the sea, settlement of disputes and prevention of marine pollution.

The first and foremost reason why there is a law of the sea is that there was an immense need to separate the national and international water. Settling the limit was very important to create a peaceful marine environment. The concern for security is one fundamental reason why there had to be a law of the sea. And to achieve security the separations was inevitable.
After the emergence of modern state system it was apparent for the states to define the territorial boundaries in land. Eventually the territory in water also had to be determined precisely. As soon as the Second World War end there has been competition between states to undermine the traditional 3 nautical miles territorial limit. In 1945 Henry Truman had to extend United States jurisdiction over all natural resources on that nation's continental shelf - oil, gas, minerals, etc; because of its domestic oil interest (www.un.org). This was the beginning of nations over passing the Freedom of the sea doctrine.
The notion of security in the sea intensified because of marine resources and nations started to claim sea up to 200 nautical miles, which later on became the coastal baseline according to the UNCLOS 1982. ‘’The law of the sea is essentially concerned is achieving peace in the oceans by providing rules for reconciling conflicting uses, claims to use, ownership of the ocean, and its living and non-living resources.’’ ( McConnell, Moria).


The UNCLOS divided the sea into seven administrative zones and gave the discipline that would organise the ocean into a reasonable form for all the states. However demarcation the ocean is not as simple like the land. Because of the close geographical proximity of many states, their maritime zones often overlap to a greater or lesser extent. (Churchill, R.R & Lowe A.V). Determining the baseline to allocate the coastal states their territorial sea and fixing the states EEZ (exclusive economic zone) become complicated when there are states with desperate needs of marine resources and strained relation.

Maritime navigation obviously requires for its efficiency that its safety should be secured. (C, John; 1967, p-332). The law of the sea made the ocean fairer and well-organized the international navigation by creating these administrative zones and specified the coastal states rights and responsibility to the landlocked and geographically disadvantaged states. There are about 42 states that do not have any sea coast. Had there been no law of the sea they would suffer from the lack of direct access to the sea and its resources. Again there are states like Iraq and Congo whose coastline is very short compare to the size of their land territory. So the question of the rights of the landlocked states ship to navigate in the sea and their right to access to the high sea resources and EEZ has been answered by the UNCLOS.

One of the issues that the states needed were to focus on, is establishing a legal concept allowing them to exercise jurisdiction over parts of the sea to securitize the ocean. International disputes over the protection of states interest for resource or foreign policy objective made the ocean a theatre for competing over position in the water. The law of the sea arguably gave a common platform to the states to seek peace.
In the 1967’s UNCLOS Malta’s ambassador to the UN Arvid Pardo asserted his concern that the oceans are in danger by the looming conflict by nations. He also spoke about the super power rivalry that spreading to the oceans, the pollution that poisoning the sea, the conflicting legal claims and their implication for a stable order of the rich potential that lay on the seabed. (www.Un.org)

When it comes to peace enforcement action we can see that decisive actions have been taken by the united nation. Well before the first conference in Geneva in 1958 the international community has experienced the importance of the unity to seek peace in the ocean. The Korean War (1950-3) is an example how multinational peacekeeping operations have relied upon transportation and resupply by the sea. (McConnell, Moria: 1991). So international security has a great connection with the law of the sea and the states sought to come into agreements through multilateral conventions.
‘’A very important part of international maritime law relates to peace-time transactions, just as the main problem of international law is to find means for the pacific enforcement of rules which the moral conscience of the civilised world recognises as answering to justice , and thus to avoid disaster’s and sufferings caused by war’’. (C, John; 1967). Law of the sea has identified the naval arms control different categories such as structural, geographic and confidence building measures and also there has to be agreement to decide which zones can be exercised by the respective states for their usage of military practice.
Sea boundary disputes and the constant competition between the coastal countries for resources can decline relations between states. The law of the sea offer the guidelines to resolve the disputes by enabling the disputing nations and individuals to recourse to municipal courts, option of diplomatic protection and also settling inter-state disputes. General principles were laid out to states to decide on the case. Thus the maritime security environment is more stable since the end of the Second World War. ‘’The decline of military confrontation between the western powers and the former Soviet bloc, the proliferation of aerospace, oceans and weapons technology and the increased rights and obligations of coastal states in the wake of the 1982 convention of the law of the sea are bringing about a major change in the maritime security environment’’. ( McConnell, Moria).

Sea is also the main route for drug smuggling. The Caribbean Basin and Gulf of Mexico has been the infamous route for transporting illegal drugs. There has to be mutual arrangement between states to share information thus law of the sea codified the code of conducts between them allowing securing its people from the threat of illegal drugs.

The oceans has been the subject of freedom of seas doctrine which began in 17th century to just have a limited national jurisdiction and a minimum practice of allowing ships of any nation through international waters unhampered. However the 20th and 21st century globalisation changed the whole context. The increasing demand for resources and the intensification of interconnectedness also gave rise to the importance of defining a strong international consensus over the law of the sea. Disputes over marine resources has occurred during and after 20th century decolonisation and the increasing number of states started claiming their part of the ocean. The second half of the twentieth century has witnessed dramatic increase in the marine disputes either claiming over the islands or the marine resources. USA and México’s relation has been strained when Mexico increased fishing industry. The ocean dispute was complicated by the US imposition of trade barriers (on Tuna) against arresting countries. (McConnell, Moria). Fisheries disputes are a common phenomenon in the ocean.

Bangladesh have refrained from blood bath as long as from 1974, The Bay of Bengal has always been a lucrative territory which is filled with trillions of cubic feet of gas and also some possibilities of oil, this bay lies at the border centre within the radius of three nations India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. From these discoveries this Bay of Bengal became a very dispute related area in relation to the boundary limits and ownership. India and Myanmar aggressively explored and harvested gas under the New Exploration Licensing Policy. India to the International Oil Companies (IOCs) offered 55 blocks (beyond 400m bathymetry 24 deepwater blocks) within the radius of Bay of Bengal in the year 2006, and is in the new phrase of exploration. . (Uddin, S; 2009). This is just one example of how issues can emerge al over the ocean by finding the resources and put the states into competition and gradually into disputes. The law of the sea thus play a big role in deciding how to address such issues.

Another very important aspect of the law of the sea is the protection and preservation of the marine environment from pollution. ‘’The modern law of the sea is increasingly concerned with activities on land which may affect the marine environment and, ultimately, access to and maximum enjoyment of the resources of the ocean.’’ (McConnell, Moria). After 1960s the concern for marine pollution raised rapidly because of the accidents to the oil tankers Torrey Canyons off land’s End in 1967, Amaco Cadiz off Brittany in 1978, Sea Empress of off south-west Wales in 1996, all of which ran around spilling thousands of tonnes of crude oil into sea. ((Churchill, R.R & Lowe A.V). Marine pollution can be resulted by ships- which are driven by oil burning diesel engines, dumping of waste from land based activity, polluting matter entering the sea from land. The great damage in marine environment occurs when oil fouls the coastlines, kills bird, fish and other marine life. This ultimately affects us human being by causing severe dieses.

International community made no serious attempt to deal with the problem of marine pollution by treaty until the 50’s. ( Brown,E.D).UNCLOS set out the prescription and enforcement of the pollution standard by states. What action could be taken by the coastal states against an individual ship or sates dumping the waste into their territorial sea and what are the responsibilities to avoid the accidental pollutions, this questions had to be addressed in the increasing concerns over marine pollution. The UNCLOS adopted rules that deal with these concerns effectively. It also determines which category of states ( coastal states, port states or flag states) would be responsible for preventing pollution and punishing polluters, and what kind of enforcement actions are allowable.(McConnell, Moria).

From oil to tin, diamonds to gravel, metals to fish, the resources of the sea are enormous. The reality of their exploitation grows day by day as technology opens new ways to tap those resources. ( UN.org)
The fishing industry, oil and other mineral resources are vital source for power and conflict in the ocean. After the second world war through to the cold war and in post cold war era the world faces even greater threats from terrorism. The pirates of Somalia are frequently in the news terrorising the ships that comes near red sea. The complex geographical position of states and the fair usage of the sea resources are now possible because of the finding of the UNCLOS. The law of the sea enabled the states to have a legal code for their rights to security by claiming the right proportion of the sea. The administrative zones found in the convention divided the ocean in such order that now it will be difficult for any nation to claim anything beyond their national jurisdiction.

China ratified the convention in July 1996. However as the United States and Russia the two greatest marine powers remain amongst the non ratifiers, many uncertainties clouds the hope of law of the sea’s application. Nonetheless192 countries ratified the law of the sea so far and it carries the value of how important it was for international community to achieve a stable world order and peace in the greatest part of the word surface by law of the sea.It is considerable advantage to have these rulkes incorporated in a convention able to attract near universal participation. ( Brown, E.D). There is a need significantly to improve implementation of, and compliance with, existing law of the sea to achieve peace in the oceans of the world.