quately addressed, despite VanderZ- waag’s excellent analysis. Also the single scientific paper seems more like tokenism than a real attempt to in- volve the other great oceans sector, the physical sciences, in some real interdisciplinary work.

The important last section is prob- ably the most disappointing part of the book. On the other hand, is it really fair to expect senior government offi- cials to be anything but accommodat- ing to the policies, whatever these may be, they are charged to implement? Ambassador Beesley sounds almost nostalgic when he attempts to urge Canada to take this whole subject just a little more seriously. After all he was the architect of this most important treaty ever conceived by humankind. Yet even Beesley cannot become an outright critic of the government he still represents. On the other hand, Edward Lee’s paper has no such pre- tensions. It simply states, using the diplomat’s consummate skill, that Canada is muddling along and waiting for other States, particularly the USA,

to make a move. The final paper, by two very senior Fisheries and Oceans bureaucrats also presents a new strategy which, unfortunately, has so far not advanced very much since it was presented and since the book was published.

This criticism should not in any way detract from what is an important addition to the international literature on ocean policy development. In Canadian terms it is quite unique, as there is so far no other work which at least attempts to come to grips with some of the complex ocean policy issues faced by major developed coas- tal States. Perhaps the book is a little mistitled. It may have been better to entitle it ‘A Search for Canadian Oceans Policy’. That search is far from over. However, this book at least pro- vides very considerable guidance on where to look.

Edgar Gold Oceans lnsfitute of Canada

Halifax, NS, Canada

Carving up the world’s oceans

RIGHTS TO OCEANIC RESOURCES: Deciding and Drawing Maritime Boundaries

edited by Dorinda G. Dallmeyer and Louis de Vorsey

Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1989,207 pp, US$67.5O/f 39

Rghts to Oceanic Resources is the outcome of a conference convened at the University of Georgia in May 1987 jointly by the Dean Rusk Center for International and Comparative Law and the Department of Geography. The organizers brought together an interdisciplinary group of experts with practical experience of maritime boundary delimitation and the papers presented provided a wide-ranging and balanced discussion of the topic. Those included here are organized into four parts: Part 1 - maritime boundary delimitations (largely geog-

MARINE POLICY January 1991

raphical and technical aspects), Part 2 _ litigation; Part 3 - special problems in delimitation; Part 4 - dispute settle- ment. There are two invaluable appendices by Bill Blagg. One summarizes the chief features of 105 maritime boundary agreements and the other is a bibliography of some 250 key publications on maritime bound- aries. There are 21 illustrations.

Altogether, this volume represents a very fine addition to Martinus Nijhoff’s distinguished series on ocean development. The chief disappoint- ment is the brevity of some of the papers, but one the other hand the veteran geographer Lewis Alexander conveys the most potent message of any of the contributors in just four pages, that boundary dispute settle- ment has become unnecessarily com- plex and full of uncertainties gener- ated in part by repeated analyses of court decisions. One of the longest papers, by Jonathan Charney, tries to

Book reviews

make sense of some recent decisions, concluding, however, that so much uncertainty remains in the law that disputes between States may actually be encouraged.

Keith Highet’s stimulating contribu- tion ‘Whatever became of natural pro- longation?’ is rather more encourag- ing. He believes that dispute settle- ments will accelerate in future and court proceedings are likely to be more limited: ‘. . . we have probably seen the last of the big continental shelf cases . . . like dinosaurs; huge, mysterious, and hard to understand . . the large cases have as myster- iously as the dinosaurs themselves, vanished . . leaving only their huge bones and footprints behind for scho- lars and international lawyers to re- construct and tell about around the fireside’ (p 99). Whether or not this view proves to be justified, it is a recurrent theme of the papers that the complexity of dispute resolution is an increasing problem for developing States who have neither the expertise nor the resources to pursue litigation in the international arena.

Many topical themes are addressed in this collection, some of which are often overlooked when maritime boundaries are discussed. One is the delimitation of the three nautical mile limit which defines jurisdiction be- tween coastal States and the federal government of the USA. Less than 20% of such limits have been agreed to date. The issues involved are dis- cussed in chapters by Michael Reed and Patricia Barmeyer. In many ways the most valuable chapters are those which deal with practical aspects of international maritime boundary de- limitation. Robert Smith touches on a variety of geographical issues includ- ing State location. coastal configura- tion, use of terms, scale, spheroids and geodatums. Sandra Shaw and Daniel Dzurek give cautionary advice on the use of charts developed pri- marily for navigation which may not be wholly suitable for use as legal evidence. John Brisco tackles the diffi- cult question of the use of islands in maritime boundary delimitation in a clear and well-documented guide to the principles involved. Gerard Man- gone similarly gives an admirable sum-

71

mary of the problems of delimitation in international straits. He concludes

that the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention will require a long period of time for interpretation and effective application. This is perhaps the abid- ing message of the book; that the principles of maritime boundary de- limitation remain profoundly uncer- tain and will continue to evolve, poss-

ibly quite radically, over the coming decades.

It is a pity that relatively little atten- tion is given to delimitation problems in Africa, Latin America, and South- east Asia in most of the chapters. These regions contain the majority of the estimated 300 or more maritime boundaries which have yet to be agreed, and seem more likely to be the

scene of serious international stress than the Arctic regions, which are discussed by Louis Rey.

Nevertheless, Rights to Ocean Re- .sources is a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate concerning the principles of maritime boundary de- limitation. Two proposals in the book

deserve repetition. First, that the UN or International Hydrographic Bureau should institute a programme to help developing countries in the delimita- tion process. Second, that an expert panel should prepare a detailed manu- al of boundary dispute settlement.

Gerald Blake International Boundaries

Research Unit University of Durham, UK

Calendar This calendar of events is based on information provided by the respective organizers and from secondary sources. MARINE POLICY welcomes informa- tion on meetings suitable for listing in this section. Copy deadlines are three months ahead of cover dates.

27 January-l February 1991, Ibaraki, Japan International conference on climatic im- pacts on the environment and society (CIES). More details from Professor T. Kawamura, Secretary General of CIES, Institute of Geoscience, University of Tsu- kuba, Ibaraki, 305, Japan (Tel: 0298-53 4400; Fax: 029X-53 4012).

21-24 May 1991, Dunfermline, UK SECOND INTERNATIONAL CON- FERENCE ON ADVANCES IN MARINE STRUCTURES. More details from Marine Structures Conference, Else- vier Seminars, Mayfield House, 256 Ban- bury Road, Oxford OX2 7DH, UK (Tel: 086.5-512242; Fax: 0865-310981).

22-25 May 1991, La RAbida, Huelva, Spain Internatidnal Geographical Union dom- mission on Marine Geography: THE OCEAN CHANGE. MANAGEMENT PATTERNS AND THE ENVIRON- MENT. More details from Professor Juan

L. Suirez de Vivcro, Department0 de Geografia Humana, Facultad de Geografia c Historia, Universidad de Scvilla, c/o Maria de Padilla sin, 41004 Sevilla, Spain (Tel: 95-4222971; Fax: 95-4210151).

27 May-2 June 1991, Honolulu, HI, USA XVII Pacific Science Congress: TO- WARDS THE PACIFIC CENTURY - THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE. More details from the XVII Pacific Science Congress Secretariat. 2424 Maile Way, Fourth Floor, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (Tel: 80%948 7551; Fax: 808-942 9008; Telex: 650 4047720 B ITNET).

May-June 1991, The Hague, The Nether- lands Policy seminar on MANAGING THE EX- CLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE FOR DE- VELOPMENT, organized by the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and The Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, University of Utrecht. Further in- formation from the Academic Registrar.

Institute of Social Studies. PO Box 90733, 2509 LS The Hague, The Netherlands (Tel: 7&SlOlOO; Fax 7c.549851).

2-29 June 1991, Narragansett, RI, USA University of Rhode Island’s Summer In- stitute in Coastal Management. For more information and an application form please contact the Summer Institute Coordinator. Coastal Resources Center, The University of Rhode Island. Narragansett Bay Can- pus. Narragansett, RI 02882, USA. (Tel: 401-792 6224; Fax: 401-789 4670).

11-14 June 1991, Oslo, Norway NOR-SHIPPING 91. More details from Mari Astup Glittenberg, Norweigian Trade Fair Foundation. PO Box 130. Sktrvcn, N-0212, Oslo 2, Norway (Tel: 472 43 86 80; fax: 43 I9 14).

18-20 June 1991, Glasgow, UK INTERNATIONAL OCEAN TECH- NOLOGY CONGRESS. More details from Claire Bowie (Tel: 041-332 0193; Fax: 041-332 0294).

S-12 July 1991, Long Beach, CA, USA COASTAL ZONE 91 with the theme: GLOBAL CONCERNS: MULTI-LEVEL RESPONSIBILITIES. More information from Coastal Zone 91, Orville Magoon or Gail Oakley, PO Box 279, 2100?) Butts Canvon Road. Middletown. CA 95461. USA (Tel: 707-987 0114; Fax: 707-987 935 I ; Telex: 510 600 7055).

3-5 September 1991, Southampton, UK FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFER- ENCE ON WATER POLLUTION (MODELLING. MEASURING AND PREDICTION). More details from Liz Newman, Computational Mechanics Insti- tute. Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge. Ashurst, Southampton SO4 2AA, UK (Tel: 0703 293223: Fax: 0703-292853; Telex: 47388 attn COM- PMECH)

3-6 September 1991, Aberdeen, UK OFFSHORE EUROPE 91. More details from Judith Patten Public Relations, Rowe House, SS/S9 Fife Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KTI ITA, UK (Tel: 01 547 1566; telex 93121 30172 JP G; fax: 01 547 1143).

Late 1991, Florida, USA SECOND TOURIST OCEANOLOGY INTERNATION CONFERENCE. More details from Judith Patten Public Rcla- tions. Rowe House, 55159 Fife Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 ITA, UK (Tel: 081-547 1566; Fax: 0X1-547 1143).

72 MARINE POLICY January 1991