OCEANS/SEAS-AUSTRALIA: Big Worries Over Bigger Territory (1)

SYDNEY, Nov 19 (IPS) - How to share marine resources took much of the time of delegates at the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) meeting in Kingston this week, but half a world away, Australians were alternately marvelling and worrying over the size of a new exclusive economic zone they got due to the treaty.

The treaty provides for economic exclusive zones in territorial waters, along with a tribunal to resolve disputes over access to marine resources and measures to regulate seabed mining activities.

It came into force Nov. 16, and one result was that Australia's territory almost trebled in size.

Added to Australia's of 7.6 million square kilometres were 14.8 million square kilometres of ocean, seabed and all the resources therein, thus making Australia's marine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) the second largest in the world.

The EEZ extends in a 200 nautical-mile radius from every piece of coastline including remote possessions such as Heard and Macquarie Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory. The claim sanctioned by the U.N. convention gives Australia sovereign rights over all resources in its EEZ.

"This a once in a millennium point in our history," crows Australian Minister Pete Cook. "Our marine-based industries have a current economic value of (12 billion dollars), and now the potential for expansion is unlimited."

"The adoption of the EEZ marks a turning point for the nation, breaking down the barriers between land and sea," says Peter Young, director of the fisheries division of the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

He adds, "It heralds new opportunities, particularly in expanding the aquaculture industry and the development of marine pharmaceuticals."

But the challenge for Australia's marine scientific community is immense. The country's coastal waters have yet to be fully mapped, and Young estimates that the country will have to spend more than 70 million dollars a year for as long as a decade for a serious study of the scientific and economic potential of the seabed.

Cook says only seven percent of Australia's research and development funding is currently spent on marine science, but hinted that a funding increase was "inevitable".

He points out that those who want to exploit the deep seabed minerals in Australia's EEZ will have to pay for the right to do so.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service