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A Dual Approach to Ocean Governance: The Cases of Zonal and Integrated Management in the International Law of the Sea.

Article Excerpt
A DUAL APPROACH TO OCEAN GOVERNANCE: THE CASES OF ZONAL AND INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA BY YOSHIFUMI TANAKA (SURREY, UK: ASHGATE PUBLISHING, 2008) 310 PAGES. PRICE 65.00 [POUNDS STERLING] (HARDBACK) ISBN 978075467170.

The limitations inherent in the traditional zonal approach to ocean governance are well understood by managers, regulators, international lawyers, regional fisheries bodies, non-governmental organisations and fishers alike. As Yoshifumi Tanaka notes, 'the ocean is a dynamic natural system, it is logical that international law of the sea must take the dynamics of nature into account'. (1)

However, the division of the world's oceans, internal waters, territorial seas, contiguous zones, continental shelves and high seas does not sit comfortably with the fluid nature of the oceans, for it underpins a management regime based upon zones. Living marine resources do not respect these zonal boundaries, nor, for that matter, do contaminants such as crude oil. The marine environment is not conducive to marine species being corralled and managed like terrestrial species. Tensions inevitably arise over the management of and access to resources.

Tanaka acknowledges that the problems with a zonal management approach have been noted by authors in the past. He quotes several of them in his opening chapter (2) which sets the context for this book. The author's stated focus is to examine the interaction between zonal and integrated management approaches to ocean governance. (3) The author does not restrict himself to marine living resources (Chapters 2 and 3); he also examines the management of marine biological diversity (Chapters 4 and 5) and the role of marine scientific research in ocean governance (Chapter 6). These latter two issues have had less attention than international fisheries, yet the point is made at the outset of Chapter 3 that maintaining marine biological diversity 'is a prerequisite to maintain[ing] the biosphere in a condition supporting human and other life'. (4) The attention paid to marine biodiversity and the obligation to cooperate in marine scientific research makes this book much more than just another fisheries book. Although acknowledging the...

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