The developments of marine environmental protection obligation in article 192 of UNCLOS and the operational impact on China's marine policy – A south China sea fisheries perspective

Abstract

States have the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment under Article 192 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), however, the wording in Article 192 of UNCLOS is too general to apply in practice. For a quarter of a century since UNCLOS entered into forth in 1994, the marine environmental protection obligation has been interpreted and developed by international courts and tribunals, especially by the South China Sea (SCS) Arbitration. This paper first analyzes the developments of marine environmental protection obligation made by the SCS Arbitration in submission 11 and 12B. Then the paper aims to demonstrate that, even though China repeated its non-compliance policy towards the SCS Arbitration, the developments of marine environmental protection obligation made by the SCS Tribunal still had significant operational impact in China's marine policy, especially in China's SCS fisheries policy.