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Military activities and law of the sea
Publications/Letter protected shallow areas with less circulation, spilled oil is incorporated into sediments, and much of it remains unaltered for many years. Photooxidation, dissolution, emulsification, adsorption to particles, biodegradation, and uptake by marine animals are not processes that act independently, but the interactions of all of these determine the fate of oil in watdr. The involvement of microbes and animals in hydrocarbon degradation in marine sediments may be like their symbiotic association in recycling organic material in terrestrial sediments.
Ocean Law, Volume 2, 1977--October, 1978 (A Bibliography with Abstracts) by Robena J. Brown (NTIS, Springfield, VA, 1978,122 pp, NTIS PS-78/1083/1WO) The bibliography cites national and international laws on fishing, undersea mining, territorial shipping, dredging, waters, navigation regulations, seafloor minerals, offshore drilling, boat regulations, sea ice, government policies, and water pollution. It has been updated and contains 116 abstracts, 55 of which are new entries to the previous edition.
Guide to Information Services in Marine Technology by Arnold Myers (Institute of Offshore Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Ricarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, 1979,3 edn, 136 pp, f3.00) This guide has been updated and rewritten for its third edition. It provides a full list of those bodies having information services government departments and laboratories, university research centres, independent consultants, research, trade and professional associations and organizations; there is a new section dealing with computerized data bases as a source of information. Although the guide is aimed primarily at the UK user, the more important overseas information services are described.
Ocean Yearbook I edited by Elisabeth Mann Borgese and Norton Ginsburg (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1978,908 pp, $25.00) This inaugural volume is launched under the
Improved Arrangements to Combat Pollution at Sea (Department of Trade, London, February 1979,64 pp) This publication contains three major reports: that of the Group on Command, Control and Communications; that of the Group on Resources and Research and Development; and that of the Group on Salvage. These examine, from their respective viewpoints, all the contingency plans for dealing with a major oil spillage and for the combat of pollution at sea.
Liability and Compensalion for Marine Oil Pollution Damage, Report of an Interdepartmental Group (Department of Trade, London, February 1979, 25 pp) The report discusses the existing situation regarding liability and compensation for oil pollution, and summarizes the extent of coverage of existing arrangements. It lists possible procedural improvements in the settlement of claims, and summarizes the group’s recommendations.
Methods for the Assessment and Prediction of Mineral Mining Impacts on Aquatic Communilies: A Review and Analysis. Workshop Proceedings He!d al Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on December 6-7, 1977 by William T. Mason, Jr (Fish and Wildlife Service, Eastern Energy and Land Use Group, Harpers Ferry, W VA, 1978, 161 pp, FWS/OBS-78/30, NTIS PB-285 422/2WO) The proceedings are intended to promote uniformity and quality assurance for environmental impact studies related to eastern US minerals development.
MARINE
POLICY July 1979
to the editor
auspices of the International Ocean Institute, and is intended to study in depth the issues underlying the establishment of a new international order in the oceans, to propose new approaches and solutions, and to widen the scope of discussion on ocean affairs. The volume is a reference source for many of the issues involved, and provides a comprehensive survey of the field. It seeks to information on collect and interpret scientific and technical progress, advances in international law and commercial regulation, changes in naval organizations and interpower configurations, the national significance of economic and ecological events, and other events affecting the future of oceans. The contributors are drawn from the whole field of marine policy, and the articles are supplemented with excellent documentation in appendix form.
Letter to the editor Military activities and law of the sea
Sir, I read David L. Larson’s article on ‘Security, disarmament and the law of the sea” with interest. One important question arises, which Professor Larson did not deal with. When Arvid Pardo, and then others, in the UN and elsewhere, started thinking about an international legal regime for the oceans, they did not, I think, intend to exclude from regulation all military activities. It was in no one’s mind that the use of the phrase ‘peaceful uses’ was restrictive, or meant to allow unpeaceful uses to proliferate. They were concerned that the new development and use, particularly of the seabed, should be entirely peaceful - as the Pardo resolution put it: ‘the reservation exclusively for peaceful purposes of the sea bed and of the ocean floor . . . and the use of their resources in the interests of mankind’. This has not been what the Law of the Sea Conference has turned out to be about, and it would have been interesting if Professor Larson could have documented the turnaround. It is not that the struggle for military convenience has been overt, or probably, in the case of the USA, intentional; yet the most wholly curious relationship at UNCLOS has
surely been that between the USA and the USSR two formally and theoretically antagonistic states operating in the Conference, and being allowed by the international community to operate, so as to secure the greatest possible freedom for their respective navies. In the case of the USA this has been in substantial disregard of their allies’ interests. Professor Larson mentions the continuous Soviet harassment of north Norway and the British oilfields in reference 42. He could have added Denmark and Holland to his list (and might perhaps have mentioned the curious Soviet claims to ‘internal seas’ in the high seas of the Arctic). Having begun as a search for international orderliness in hydrospace, UNCLOS has allowed itself to be used to write a licence for big power bullying. I do not believe that this is what the world needs or wants. How on earth has it happened? Elizabeth 100 Bayswater London
Young, Road,
WZ 3HJ,
UK
’ David L. Larson, ‘Security, disarmament and the law of the sea’, Marine Policy, Vol 3, No 1, 1979, pp 40-58.
251
Ocean Law, Volume 2, 1977--October, 1978 (A Bibliography with Abstracts) by Robena J. Brown (NTIS, Springfield, VA, 1978,122 pp, NTIS PS-78/1083/1WO) The bibliography cites national and international laws on fishing, undersea mining, territorial shipping, dredging, waters, navigation regulations, seafloor minerals, offshore drilling, boat regulations, sea ice, government policies, and water pollution. It has been updated and contains 116 abstracts, 55 of which are new entries to the previous edition.
Guide to Information Services in Marine Technology by Arnold Myers (Institute of Offshore Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Ricarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, 1979,3 edn, 136 pp, f3.00) This guide has been updated and rewritten for its third edition. It provides a full list of those bodies having information services government departments and laboratories, university research centres, independent consultants, research, trade and professional associations and organizations; there is a new section dealing with computerized data bases as a source of information. Although the guide is aimed primarily at the UK user, the more important overseas information services are described.
Ocean Yearbook I edited by Elisabeth Mann Borgese and Norton Ginsburg (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1978,908 pp, $25.00) This inaugural volume is launched under the
Improved Arrangements to Combat Pollution at Sea (Department of Trade, London, February 1979,64 pp) This publication contains three major reports: that of the Group on Command, Control and Communications; that of the Group on Resources and Research and Development; and that of the Group on Salvage. These examine, from their respective viewpoints, all the contingency plans for dealing with a major oil spillage and for the combat of pollution at sea.
Liability and Compensalion for Marine Oil Pollution Damage, Report of an Interdepartmental Group (Department of Trade, London, February 1979, 25 pp) The report discusses the existing situation regarding liability and compensation for oil pollution, and summarizes the extent of coverage of existing arrangements. It lists possible procedural improvements in the settlement of claims, and summarizes the group’s recommendations.
Methods for the Assessment and Prediction of Mineral Mining Impacts on Aquatic Communilies: A Review and Analysis. Workshop Proceedings He!d al Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on December 6-7, 1977 by William T. Mason, Jr (Fish and Wildlife Service, Eastern Energy and Land Use Group, Harpers Ferry, W VA, 1978, 161 pp, FWS/OBS-78/30, NTIS PB-285 422/2WO) The proceedings are intended to promote uniformity and quality assurance for environmental impact studies related to eastern US minerals development.
MARINE
POLICY July 1979
to the editor
auspices of the International Ocean Institute, and is intended to study in depth the issues underlying the establishment of a new international order in the oceans, to propose new approaches and solutions, and to widen the scope of discussion on ocean affairs. The volume is a reference source for many of the issues involved, and provides a comprehensive survey of the field. It seeks to information on collect and interpret scientific and technical progress, advances in international law and commercial regulation, changes in naval organizations and interpower configurations, the national significance of economic and ecological events, and other events affecting the future of oceans. The contributors are drawn from the whole field of marine policy, and the articles are supplemented with excellent documentation in appendix form.
Letter to the editor Military activities and law of the sea
Sir, I read David L. Larson’s article on ‘Security, disarmament and the law of the sea” with interest. One important question arises, which Professor Larson did not deal with. When Arvid Pardo, and then others, in the UN and elsewhere, started thinking about an international legal regime for the oceans, they did not, I think, intend to exclude from regulation all military activities. It was in no one’s mind that the use of the phrase ‘peaceful uses’ was restrictive, or meant to allow unpeaceful uses to proliferate. They were concerned that the new development and use, particularly of the seabed, should be entirely peaceful - as the Pardo resolution put it: ‘the reservation exclusively for peaceful purposes of the sea bed and of the ocean floor . . . and the use of their resources in the interests of mankind’. This has not been what the Law of the Sea Conference has turned out to be about, and it would have been interesting if Professor Larson could have documented the turnaround. It is not that the struggle for military convenience has been overt, or probably, in the case of the USA, intentional; yet the most wholly curious relationship at UNCLOS has
surely been that between the USA and the USSR two formally and theoretically antagonistic states operating in the Conference, and being allowed by the international community to operate, so as to secure the greatest possible freedom for their respective navies. In the case of the USA this has been in substantial disregard of their allies’ interests. Professor Larson mentions the continuous Soviet harassment of north Norway and the British oilfields in reference 42. He could have added Denmark and Holland to his list (and might perhaps have mentioned the curious Soviet claims to ‘internal seas’ in the high seas of the Arctic). Having begun as a search for international orderliness in hydrospace, UNCLOS has allowed itself to be used to write a licence for big power bullying. I do not believe that this is what the world needs or wants. How on earth has it happened? Elizabeth 100 Bayswater London
Young, Road,
WZ 3HJ,
UK
’ David L. Larson, ‘Security, disarmament and the law of the sea’, Marine Policy, Vol 3, No 1, 1979, pp 40-58.
251