Issues regarding oceans and opportunities: an introduction to the topic - Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century - page 18

and regulations of the coastal state concerning design, construction, manning or equipment
of foreign ships exercising innocent passage, and international rules and standards setting
minimum requirements with which domestic laws and regulations must comply, such as
national laws, regulations, and measures concerning dumping.
The LOS Convention has brought the law of the sea under the jurisdiction of inter-
national courts and tribunals, with the notable exception of disputes related to fisheries,
marine scientific research, delimitation, military activities, and enforcement activity in the
exclusive economic zone. The settlement of disputes is entrusted to a plurality of adjudic-
ating bodies: the ITLOS, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and arbitration tribunals.
Treves ( 2010 ) refers to the 'deterrence' effect of compulsory settlement, in that the various
disputes have not appeared before courts and tribunals, but have rather been settled by the
parties. Agreements concerning the law of the sea such as the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agree-
mentand the 2007 Wrecks Removal Convention also adopt the dispute-settlement provi-
sions of the LOS Convention.
Treves ( 2010 ) explains the difficulties involved in amending and revising the LOS
Convention because the Convention was set up to ensure the stability of its rules more
than their adaptability . This makes it difficult to adapt to new problems of the oceans.
Tools for change do exist outside the LOS Convention's framework. The 1995 Fish Stocks
Agreement mentions the purpose of implementing certain provisions of the LOS Conven-
tion, while others such as the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater
Cultural Heritage (CPUCH) of 2001 do not. However, all of the agreements that fall out-
side the framework of the LOS Convention contain provisions which recognize the par-
ticular role of the LOS Convention, notably for the settlement of disputes. Other forums
are relied upon to discuss issues emerging and unresolved issues related to the oceans,
namely the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the
Sea (UNICPOLOS), the negotiations leading to the adoption of the yearly resolutions on
the oceans and on fisheries under the UN General Assembly and, more recently, the Ad
Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and