US DEPARTMENT OF STATE

OFFICE OF OCEAN AND POLAR AFFAIRS

This series, issued by the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the Department of State, aims to examine coastal States’ maritime claims and/or boundaries, and assess their consistency with international law.  The studies represent the views of the United States Government only on the specific matters discussed therein and do not necessarily reflect an acceptance of the limits claimed.

Michael K. Orbach, Professor of Marine Affairs & Policy
Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
(Paper presented at “Good Governance for Sustainable Marine Development”,
Cascais, Portugal, June 3 to 5, 2013

BACKGROUND

Since the early 1600s, ocean policy has been defined by the concept of the “freedom of the seas”, crafted basically because no single maritime power was powerful enough to control ocean space.

The first incursion on total freedom of the seas came in the 1790s with the establishment of the 3-mile Territorial Sea, initiated by the new United States to ward off their old rulers the British, but soon adopted universally by coastal nations. Tiếp tục đọc “MANAGING THE WORLD’S OCEANS – A BRIEF HISTORY OF OCEAN POLICY AND MANAGEMENT” →

These primers are for those who are not very familiar with UNCLOS and do not want to read the 202-page UNCLOS itself with all the crazy legalese that many law-of-the-sea lawyers are not even sure that they really mean 🙂

– Primer 1 (unknown author from Scribbs) >> 

– Primer 2 (Fletcher Graduate School of International Affairs, Tufts University) >>