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Ocean Governance in the 21st Century: A “New Package-Deal”
Hasin, Gershon
Hasin, Gershon
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Abstract
This Article demonstrates how technological innovation and climate
change, specifically the introduction of unmanned vessels, artificial islands, and
rising sea levels, undermine the balance between exclusive and inclusive rights
under current ocean governance, thus triggering a process of regime evolution.
Through the application of policy-oriented jurisprudence, this Article proposes
to shift ocean governance from its outdated reliance upon the natural land as a
source of rights and obligations to a more nuanced approach that facilitates a
more optimal global order. First, having demonstrated that the natural land is no
longer a stable and predictable source of title, this Article proposes that the “Land
Dominates the Sea” principle should evolve to a model premised on an alternate
conceptualization: “Population Dominates the Sea.” This proposal challenges
the foundation of the law of the sea and suggests that legal responses to artificial
islands and submerging land should be treated together to facilitate a
compromise solution detached from the outdated reliance on natural land.
Second, this Article argues that the exclusive economic zone should evolve from
a regime of enumerated rights in the spatial area to include rights to the spatial
area in order to augment environmental protection and national security while
promoting the benefits of unmanned vessels. While there are many possible
arrangements that may be pursued by the participants involved, the changes to
the law of the sea must balance their goals and interests in a “new package-deal.”