Marine scientific research as a new area of tension between states

Abstract

Advances in marine scientific research (MSR) have created a deceptive illusion on the part of many coastal States of the availability of the ocean's wealth and have caused, in the recent past, an accelerating trend in asserting claims to national maritime jurisdiction over vast areas considered for thousands of years as the high seas. Marine science, having pointed out the resource potential of the world ocean to mankind, now finds itself in a paradoxical situation whereby many phenomena within its scope have now become virtually alienated from it as a result of the drastic curtailment of the freedom of MSR in marginal sea/ocean areas. What concerns marine scientists even more is that the process of adopting decisions on MSR is increasingly politicized and marine science itself sometimes becomes an instrument for achieving political results. This is exemplified by a case history of the thwarted plans of the USSR Academy of Sciences to conduct MSR in the South-West Pacific. A special role can and must be played by international organizations. Not only is their coordinating and organizational assistance important in this connection, but their action as a political buffer and possible moderator of conflicting national interests acquires particular prominence.