Oceans Acts and the false dichotomy between defence and environment

Abstract

The last decade has seen a number of Coastal States seek to enact 'Oceans Act' type legislation, to regulate the broad and burgeoning range of maritime activities in the waters under their jurisdiction. For the purpose of this paper, Oceans Act legislation is a generic term for all new or existing Coastal State sponsored legislation seeking to regulate activity in their waters. A recent example of this was in 2006, when the United Kingdom (UK) Government indicated its intent to develop an all-encompassing piece of legislation, by issuing a consultation document outlining the plans for the introduction of a UK Marine Bill. Oceans Act type legislation, both enacted and in preparation, has arisen primarily in response to the problem that most national and international legal regimes of import to a Coastal States waters are complex, legally unwieldy and confusing to both maritime users and those tasked with enforcing the laws. The proposed UK Marine Bill structure will be used as an example to explain the potential generic consequences of this type of legal framework on maritime powers along with the challenges faced in balancing the needs of defence with other stakeholders. A review of how one Coastal State has successfully merged the introduction of an Oceans Act with the maintenance of the full range of its required defence activities is illustrated. The example presented is the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) and the use by the Australian defence force. Australia has successfully allowed the Australian Defence Force to use the GBRWHA for a range of operations and, with suitable mitigation measures, without incidences of damage to the area. The GBRWHA is presented as a comparable example to proposed UK Marine Protected Areas and the reasons for not necessarily excluding defence activates from using such areas are presented. The paper concludes by showing how, in certain situations, defence is more than capable to act as a suitable environmental steward.