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Poisoners of the seas
Conference reports
mitted by the industrialized G-6 elaborated on the steps to be taken by the Enterprise before invoking the obligation. The debate took place in an orderly manner, non-confrontational and although there are differences of view over what specifically the Convention does require in this regard. The position of the developing nations is that the mandatory requirements apply to processing as well as to resource recovery technology, and explanations to the contrary of the negotiating history of these provisions have not won the day. There was also a certain element of ‘positioning’ in SCN 3, where in light of the possibility of US re-engagement, no interest group was willing to concede points of substance until/if a real negotiation takes off. Nevetheless, by the end of the summer meeting, there was widespread support for the views that the Enterprise may not discriminate in purchasing technology nor infringe on anyone’s proprietary rights; that the Enterprise may not allow third parties to acquire technology to which it does not hold proprietary rights; and that in seeking to procure technology, the Enterprise should follow normal commercial practice. A number of states continued to refer to the value of joint
venture arrangements with the Enterprise as a means to assist it in acquiring necessary skills and technologies. Discussion of these regulations will be completed in 1989. Walkate noted that the revised regulations on prospecting and the application process were available, and that the financial regulations would be revised by 1989. Neither of these documents, however, nor the implementing regulations on issuance of production authorizations, is expected to be taken up until the summer 1989 meeting.
Special Commission
Four
Under its Chairman Gunter Goerner of the German Democratic Republic, SCN 4 completed a first reading of a draft headquarters agreement, and expects to complete a first reading of a draft protocol/agreement on the privileges, immunities and facilities to be accorded the Tribunal and its personnel in 1989. Also in 1989, SCN 4 will begin discussing the principles to govern agreements between the Tribunal and other international organizations, such as the United Nations, ISA and the International Court of Justice, based on a secretariat working paper. On the unresolved issue of the seat of the Tribunal, the chairman indi-
cated that he intends to convene, at the appropriate time, an informal meeting to adopt a proposal. His consultations are based on a 1986 draft providing that if the FRG does not accede to the Convention by the date of the 60th ratification, the one year prior to Convention entry into force would be utilized to make alternative arrangements for its location. The key issue before SCN 4 in 1988 was the role of the Tribunal in prompt release of vessels proceedings. The debate narrowed differences significantly. Delegates agreed that a flag state guarantee constitutes sufficient financial security for the detaining state to release a vessel if it is enforceable pursuant to normal commercial practice or if the flag state and the detaining state agree. There was also a preference for excluding reference to any single situation contemplated in the Convention, such as that set forth in Article 226(l) (c), that the release of a vessel would present an unreasonable threat of damage to the marine environment.
Lee Kimball Council on Ocean Law Washington, DC
Book reviews The marine environment POISONERS
OF THE SEAS
by K. A. Gourlay Zed Books Ltd, 1988, 256 pp, f7.95.
Before deciding on the question whether to review a book or not the first question to answer is whether the reviewer belongs to the target group as identified by the author and its publisher. According to the back cover of the book the book attempts
MARINE
POLICY April 1989
to answer questions relating to oil and toxic chemicals, mercury and other heavy metals sewage and radioactive wastes as to the composition and their effects on the marine environment. The answers are given in a language that can be understood by the nonspecialist. Thus being part of the target group is a sufficient justification to review the book. In addition to a prologue the book contains three main parts. Part one deals with the seas and humanity, part two deals with marine pollutants and finally, part three looks at the future
of the sea and evaluates legislative response and attempts a diagnosis of the underlying causes of the threats to the marine environment. Futhermore the book contains a foreword by Stanley Clinton Davies (EC) and an epilogue describing the Sandoz disaster. The manuscript of the book was closed in May 1987, which did not prevent the author taking into account developments occurring after that date like the Chicago judgment in the Amoco Cadiz case. In the prologue, the author describes in detail four major acci-
171
Book reviews
dents or incidents which have marked and will continue to mark perceptions of the marine environment: The accident with the Torrey Canyon, the disaster of the Minamata Fishermen, the incident with the Stella Maris and finally the problems with the Sellafield nuclear reactor. These descriptions are accurate and useful to remind the reader what the book is about. They illustrate the pathway by which polluting materials enter the marine environment and the effects of these materials on a given ecosystem. The first two chapters give factual descriptions of the marine ecosystem taking as points of departure a geographical, a chemist’s and marine biologist’s view. In the second chapter the benefits for humanity of these seas are described looking at the exploitation of living and non-living resources of the sea, thereby including aggregates and manganese nodules. The author discusses questions like the use of the sea for energy extraction (OTECs, tides etc) and the question as to who uses the seas for which purposes. Part two is a mirror of the prologue in that the polluting materials, oil (‘the black dead’), chemicals (‘toxic technology’), radioactivity (‘the future in danger’) are objects of separate chapters. The author rightly adds to this list of polluting materials, destruction of the marine environment by what promises to be one of the great threats to the marine ecosystem: sewage (‘in the shit’). He did not use this pollutant in his description of incidents, probably due to production time delay, but he could have used the disaster of the algae bloom in the North Sea of Spring 1988, killing the entire ecosystem on the spot of the bloom, but other bloom disasters are known and have been described in this chapter of the book. Part three gives an adequate description of the applicable legal frameworks in respect of vessel source pollution, dumping and points at the important issues of the future: greenhouse effect resulting in sea level rise and atmospheric deposition in general. It should be made clear that the author has made a very strong case in favour of the marine environment. He
172
has a ‘parti pris’ which one will not often find among the writers on marine environment problems. This is not to say of course that other writers are not in favour of a clean marine environment. I am inclined to think that their scientific methods and maybe the limits of their knowledge prevent them from saying what they think. The author shows clearly how scientists use words in order not to say things or to leave sufficient ambiguity on the signification of words. He rightly points out at the ambiguous character of GESAMP’s definition of marine pollution and at other cases in which words are used to conceal the real meaning of what should be made clear, Another point of criticism is what the author calls ‘ a GESAMP favourite’ viz the use of the word ‘local’. He convincingly demonstrates that according to GESAMP almost everything has ‘local’ effects. I cannot but agree with this outcry ‘must human beings affected, the fishes poisoned and birds killed, the contaminated beaches, ruined mangrove swamps and coastal reefs, and estuaries made unihabitable through industrial effluent be ignored because the entire world has not yet suffered their fate?‘. From the outline given supra it is clear that the book is not only about words but it is useful to underline the author’s philosophy that trying to translate the environmental problems in an understandable language may contribute considerably to increase public awareness (the ‘non-specialist’ of the back cover) in respect of the threat to the marine environment. I think the book is most useful not
Environmental
Saetevik
Belhaven
Press, London,
Netherlands
Ton IJlstra, for the Law of the Sea Utrecht, Netherlands
institute
cooperation
ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION BETWEEN THE NORTH SEA STATES
Sunneva
only to the public at large, but also for all scientists working in the field of the marine environment because it enables them to look beyond the limits of their own field. Lawyers, like the present reviewer, can learn from the explanations on chemical and technical issues: eg what is BOD and what does it mean, what are PAHs and what are their effects etc. Natural scientists may learn from the descriptions of the legal frameworks, the role of the legal instruments and their shortcomings. For students of the marine environment of all disciplines this book should be compulsory reading material. Appreciating the book as it is and its aims as they have been expressed there may be room for a critic of this or that aspect. The author rightly emphasizes the fact that landbased pollution in all its forms is the danger of the present and the future, but this justified evaluation is not paralelled by proportionate attention for the legal framework in the field of land-based pollution, which would certainly have shown that his framework is largely deficient. The author’s sources, although always accessible, do not always seem to be the most authoritive sources. He is often relying on newspapers etc which are not the most reliable sources imaginable. But these are minor points of criticism which do not ‘contaminate’ the overall conclusion that this is a book which deserves to be read.
1988
The subject matter of this book is most timely and insights of significance are cautiously presented con-
cerning both the sustainable exploitation of the North Sea cooperation between the states participating under the Oslo and Paris Conventions for the prevention of marine pollution. This was set up in 1972 (for marine dumping) and 1974 (for land-based sources) and obliges Denmark, the UK, FR Germany, Norway, France, and Sweden to Portugal Spain, prevent marine pollution, with the
MARINE
POLICY
April 1989
mitted by the industrialized G-6 elaborated on the steps to be taken by the Enterprise before invoking the obligation. The debate took place in an orderly manner, non-confrontational and although there are differences of view over what specifically the Convention does require in this regard. The position of the developing nations is that the mandatory requirements apply to processing as well as to resource recovery technology, and explanations to the contrary of the negotiating history of these provisions have not won the day. There was also a certain element of ‘positioning’ in SCN 3, where in light of the possibility of US re-engagement, no interest group was willing to concede points of substance until/if a real negotiation takes off. Nevetheless, by the end of the summer meeting, there was widespread support for the views that the Enterprise may not discriminate in purchasing technology nor infringe on anyone’s proprietary rights; that the Enterprise may not allow third parties to acquire technology to which it does not hold proprietary rights; and that in seeking to procure technology, the Enterprise should follow normal commercial practice. A number of states continued to refer to the value of joint
venture arrangements with the Enterprise as a means to assist it in acquiring necessary skills and technologies. Discussion of these regulations will be completed in 1989. Walkate noted that the revised regulations on prospecting and the application process were available, and that the financial regulations would be revised by 1989. Neither of these documents, however, nor the implementing regulations on issuance of production authorizations, is expected to be taken up until the summer 1989 meeting.
Special Commission
Four
Under its Chairman Gunter Goerner of the German Democratic Republic, SCN 4 completed a first reading of a draft headquarters agreement, and expects to complete a first reading of a draft protocol/agreement on the privileges, immunities and facilities to be accorded the Tribunal and its personnel in 1989. Also in 1989, SCN 4 will begin discussing the principles to govern agreements between the Tribunal and other international organizations, such as the United Nations, ISA and the International Court of Justice, based on a secretariat working paper. On the unresolved issue of the seat of the Tribunal, the chairman indi-
cated that he intends to convene, at the appropriate time, an informal meeting to adopt a proposal. His consultations are based on a 1986 draft providing that if the FRG does not accede to the Convention by the date of the 60th ratification, the one year prior to Convention entry into force would be utilized to make alternative arrangements for its location. The key issue before SCN 4 in 1988 was the role of the Tribunal in prompt release of vessels proceedings. The debate narrowed differences significantly. Delegates agreed that a flag state guarantee constitutes sufficient financial security for the detaining state to release a vessel if it is enforceable pursuant to normal commercial practice or if the flag state and the detaining state agree. There was also a preference for excluding reference to any single situation contemplated in the Convention, such as that set forth in Article 226(l) (c), that the release of a vessel would present an unreasonable threat of damage to the marine environment.
Lee Kimball Council on Ocean Law Washington, DC
Book reviews The marine environment POISONERS
OF THE SEAS
by K. A. Gourlay Zed Books Ltd, 1988, 256 pp, f7.95.
Before deciding on the question whether to review a book or not the first question to answer is whether the reviewer belongs to the target group as identified by the author and its publisher. According to the back cover of the book the book attempts
MARINE
POLICY April 1989
to answer questions relating to oil and toxic chemicals, mercury and other heavy metals sewage and radioactive wastes as to the composition and their effects on the marine environment. The answers are given in a language that can be understood by the nonspecialist. Thus being part of the target group is a sufficient justification to review the book. In addition to a prologue the book contains three main parts. Part one deals with the seas and humanity, part two deals with marine pollutants and finally, part three looks at the future
of the sea and evaluates legislative response and attempts a diagnosis of the underlying causes of the threats to the marine environment. Futhermore the book contains a foreword by Stanley Clinton Davies (EC) and an epilogue describing the Sandoz disaster. The manuscript of the book was closed in May 1987, which did not prevent the author taking into account developments occurring after that date like the Chicago judgment in the Amoco Cadiz case. In the prologue, the author describes in detail four major acci-
171
Book reviews
dents or incidents which have marked and will continue to mark perceptions of the marine environment: The accident with the Torrey Canyon, the disaster of the Minamata Fishermen, the incident with the Stella Maris and finally the problems with the Sellafield nuclear reactor. These descriptions are accurate and useful to remind the reader what the book is about. They illustrate the pathway by which polluting materials enter the marine environment and the effects of these materials on a given ecosystem. The first two chapters give factual descriptions of the marine ecosystem taking as points of departure a geographical, a chemist’s and marine biologist’s view. In the second chapter the benefits for humanity of these seas are described looking at the exploitation of living and non-living resources of the sea, thereby including aggregates and manganese nodules. The author discusses questions like the use of the sea for energy extraction (OTECs, tides etc) and the question as to who uses the seas for which purposes. Part two is a mirror of the prologue in that the polluting materials, oil (‘the black dead’), chemicals (‘toxic technology’), radioactivity (‘the future in danger’) are objects of separate chapters. The author rightly adds to this list of polluting materials, destruction of the marine environment by what promises to be one of the great threats to the marine ecosystem: sewage (‘in the shit’). He did not use this pollutant in his description of incidents, probably due to production time delay, but he could have used the disaster of the algae bloom in the North Sea of Spring 1988, killing the entire ecosystem on the spot of the bloom, but other bloom disasters are known and have been described in this chapter of the book. Part three gives an adequate description of the applicable legal frameworks in respect of vessel source pollution, dumping and points at the important issues of the future: greenhouse effect resulting in sea level rise and atmospheric deposition in general. It should be made clear that the author has made a very strong case in favour of the marine environment. He
172
has a ‘parti pris’ which one will not often find among the writers on marine environment problems. This is not to say of course that other writers are not in favour of a clean marine environment. I am inclined to think that their scientific methods and maybe the limits of their knowledge prevent them from saying what they think. The author shows clearly how scientists use words in order not to say things or to leave sufficient ambiguity on the signification of words. He rightly points out at the ambiguous character of GESAMP’s definition of marine pollution and at other cases in which words are used to conceal the real meaning of what should be made clear, Another point of criticism is what the author calls ‘ a GESAMP favourite’ viz the use of the word ‘local’. He convincingly demonstrates that according to GESAMP almost everything has ‘local’ effects. I cannot but agree with this outcry ‘must human beings affected, the fishes poisoned and birds killed, the contaminated beaches, ruined mangrove swamps and coastal reefs, and estuaries made unihabitable through industrial effluent be ignored because the entire world has not yet suffered their fate?‘. From the outline given supra it is clear that the book is not only about words but it is useful to underline the author’s philosophy that trying to translate the environmental problems in an understandable language may contribute considerably to increase public awareness (the ‘non-specialist’ of the back cover) in respect of the threat to the marine environment. I think the book is most useful not
Environmental
Saetevik
Belhaven
Press, London,
Netherlands
Ton IJlstra, for the Law of the Sea Utrecht, Netherlands
institute
cooperation
ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION BETWEEN THE NORTH SEA STATES
Sunneva
only to the public at large, but also for all scientists working in the field of the marine environment because it enables them to look beyond the limits of their own field. Lawyers, like the present reviewer, can learn from the explanations on chemical and technical issues: eg what is BOD and what does it mean, what are PAHs and what are their effects etc. Natural scientists may learn from the descriptions of the legal frameworks, the role of the legal instruments and their shortcomings. For students of the marine environment of all disciplines this book should be compulsory reading material. Appreciating the book as it is and its aims as they have been expressed there may be room for a critic of this or that aspect. The author rightly emphasizes the fact that landbased pollution in all its forms is the danger of the present and the future, but this justified evaluation is not paralelled by proportionate attention for the legal framework in the field of land-based pollution, which would certainly have shown that his framework is largely deficient. The author’s sources, although always accessible, do not always seem to be the most authoritive sources. He is often relying on newspapers etc which are not the most reliable sources imaginable. But these are minor points of criticism which do not ‘contaminate’ the overall conclusion that this is a book which deserves to be read.
1988
The subject matter of this book is most timely and insights of significance are cautiously presented con-
cerning both the sustainable exploitation of the North Sea cooperation between the states participating under the Oslo and Paris Conventions for the prevention of marine pollution. This was set up in 1972 (for marine dumping) and 1974 (for land-based sources) and obliges Denmark, the UK, FR Germany, Norway, France, and Sweden to Portugal Spain, prevent marine pollution, with the
MARINE
POLICY
April 1989