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Ecology, Law, and the 'Marine Revolution' 



Carleton Ray, Ph.D. (Columbia) 



Departments of Pathobiology and Biology, The Johns Hopkins University, 

 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 2X205, USA 



ABSTRACT 



The attainment of a world-wide high standard of living 

 depends upon vastly increased resource exploitation, 

 including the seas. Man's exploitive activities heretofore 

 have simplified environments, reducing their stability and 

 leading to ecosystem collapse {Fig. 1). Ecosystem ecology 

 is rarely definitive; however, laws by which Man regulates 

 his activities should be subject to change according to 

 ecosystem reality. Many historically-developed modes of 

 human activity make little sense ecologically. What we may 

 call the 'Marine Revolution' follows the Agricultural and 

 Industrial Revolutions as a significant change in Man's 

 relationship with his environment. Advanced technology for 

 ocean research and development are becoming available, but 

 cultural and legal frameworks for regulation have not 

 matured. A major problem in the development of a marine 



tradition whereby Man will not destroy marine ecosystems 

 lies in the application of ecological 'laws' to our activities at 

 sea. The uses of the seas are for fisheries, minerals, and 

 mining, for furthering military interests, and for recreation. 

 Science and technology are advanced for all of these, while 

 conservation attempts to integrate them wisely. Legal 

 regimes for regulation stem mainly from the four Geneva 

 Conventions which formalize a three-and-a-half-centuries- 

 old history of marine law. These Conventions themselves 

 emphasize that marine law needs modification along new 

 lines. Debate intensifies over regimes of res nullius {belong- 

 ing to no one) versus res communis {property of the com- 

 munity) for ocean exploitation. This paper concludes that 

 exploitive 'conquest' can no longer serve as a guide for Man's 

 use of the sea. An emphasis must be given to marine eco- 

 systems and to the role of the marine ecologist in the 

 oceanological debate. In the past, provincialism and 

 tradition have stood in the way of international control of 

 ocean-resource use. Should an over-riding consideration be 

 given to ecology and to internationalism, the Marine 

 Revolution will affect Man's future life far more beneficially 

 than a mere evaluation of resources alone would indicate. 



INTRODUCTION 



Man has not yet solved the age-old paradox upon 

 which his civilizations have many times foundered; 

 namely, that high population numbers with high cultu- 

 ral levels demand high environmental productivity, yet 

 exploitation of Nature produces environmental des- 

 truction and ecological collapse. When the numbers of 

 humans will come to exceed the total carrying capacity 

 on Earth, as is already the case in many nations, 

 no one can say; but if Man does not learn the lessons 

 of history, there is no doubt that this catastrophic 

 situation will occur relatively soon. The survival of 

 Man, or anyway of civilization as we now know it, will 

 surely depend upon how he handles this challenge. 



There are two dominant features of the marine part 

 of this challenge : first, the development of international 

 law with enforcement for exploitation of the sea, and, 

 second, the development of ecosystem-based conserva- 

 tion practices. The latter includes the cessation of 



