Marine Technology, Oceanic Research Activities and Their Integration into the General Framework of International Law

Abstract

Marine technology is a fundamental component in the conduct of oceanic research activities. This article focuses on three oceanic research activities—ocean exploration, outer continental shelf delimitation and operational oceanography—that provide important benefits to all societies and yet are not well known by the general public. It is suggested that the peripheral status of these activities, by contrast with research impinging on marine mammals, is due to the absence of international disputes since the end of WWII involving oceanic research. This positive development, however, is offset by the development of the law governing oceanic research activities away from a body of legal experts in international law. The marginal regulation of ocean exploration, outer continental shelf delimitation and operational oceanography suffers from definitional, fragmentation and complementarity defects, as well as from the absence of a case law in the field that could assist the international judicial and legal professions, as well as policymakers, oceanographers, and law enforcement agencies in ensuring a greater degree of legal certainty, predictability, and security in the face of important new expansionary claims and new technologies.