Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / It is only in recent decades that marine scientific research has begun to reveal the true physical characteristics and resource potential of the open ocean and deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction. A combination of factors such as the depletion of inshore fish stocks and an increase in global maritime trade has led to greater usage of the vast maritime area beyond the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone limits of the coastal states. Human activities in this area of the ocean, which covers approximately 50% of the world’s surface, have expanded to include bioprospecting, exploration for deep seabed minerals, more sophisticated marine scientific research and deep sea tourism. This rise in human activities beyond the offshore zones of coastal states poses actual and potential threats to the physical characteristics and biodiversity of the open ocean and deep sea environments. Arbitrary human intrusions into this largely unexplored marine domain have the potential to harm the intricate links between complex marine ecosystems and to erode components of marine biodiversity. This thesis examines the global and regional provisions which have been put in place to regulate the environmental impacts of human activities that occur beyond national jurisdiction. An analysis of these instruments and their implementation reveals that the current international law framework provides only minimal levels of protection for the marine environment beyond national jurisdiction. It explores several options based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to establish a cohesive environmental protection system for the marine environment beyond national jurisdiction.

The allocation of fishing opportunities is one of the most difficult challenges for high seas fisheries management. There is an ongoing search for equitable and transparent allocation frameworks. This thesis explores whether, under what conditions, and with what shortcomings, a legal concept of equity can provide assistance in the development of such a framework. To this end, it reviews the historical origins of allocation of quotas in international fisheries, and summarizes the current global and regional legal frameworks for allocation and regional practices. It then analyzes whether intergenerational and intra-generational equity is considered in the international legal framework for high seas fisheries, and what the legal and practical implications of their inclusion are. It provides some suggestions on how to integrate intergenerational and intra-generational equity more effectively into allocation decisions. It concludes by highlighting the contribution of law in the search for allocation frameworks.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / It is only in recent decades that marine scientific research has begun to reveal the true physical characteristics and resource potential of the open ocean and deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction. A combination of factors such as the depletion of inshore fish stocks and an increase in global maritime trade has led to greater usage of the vast maritime area beyond the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone limits of the coastal states. Human activities in this area of the ocean, which covers approximately 50% of the world’s surface, have expanded to include bioprospecting, exploration for deep seabed minerals, more sophisticated marine scientific research and deep sea tourism. This rise in human activities beyond the offshore zones of coastal states poses actual and potential threats to the physical characteristics and biodiversity of the open ocean and deep sea environments. Arbitrary human intrusions into this largely unexplored marine domain have the potential to harm the intricate links between complex marine ecosystems and to erode components of marine biodiversity. This thesis examines the global and regional provisions which have been put in place to regulate the environmental impacts of human activities that occur beyond national jurisdiction. An analysis of these instruments and their implementation reveals that the current international law framework provides only minimal levels of protection for the marine environment beyond national jurisdiction. It explores several options based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to establish a cohesive environmental protection system for the marine environment beyond national jurisdiction.

The High Seas, the areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction, are experiencing a starkincrease in industrial activities, ranging from fishing to deep sea mining to offshore oil and gasextraction. Marine resources are exploited unsustainably and the benefits of this exploitationare shared unequally. This suggests the need for a transformation, a shift in the deeper structuresof the system, such as underlying paradigms and mind-sets. Engaging with alternative futuresby employing imaginative scenarios can help to question current unsustainable trajectories,uncover alternate possibilities as well as offer aspirational visions of the future. In this thesis, Iargue that depictions of the future that are mere extrapolations of the present do not account fornon-linear changes and surprise, do not explore how current trajectories can be changed andconstrain the capacity to imagine possible futures. Instead, I use a method to address this gapby combining computational text analysis with a structured yet creative scenario buildingapproach. This process results in four science fiction scenario stories, which account for thecomplexity of the system, embrace future uncertainty and engage the imagination, thusdescribing truly novel, transformed futures. The scenario stories are then related back to currentrealities, using the concept of imaginaries, demonstrating that radically futuristic stories can betraced back to the scientific evidence they were based upon. In reference to these results, I arguethat engaging with creative scenario stories can open up transformative spaces to reimagine therelationships between humans and the oceans they depend upon. Further, the scenario storiespresented in this thesis emphasize the vastness of future option space, the plurality of possiblefutures and the subsequent need to continuously explore these uncertain futures from a diversityof perspectives, employing a diversity of methods.

Magister Legum - LLM / The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS) is ineffective in ensuring the conservation and long-term sustainability of marine fisheries in Areas beyond national Jurisdiction (ABNJ). This is a result of the lacuna in Part VII of the 1982 UNCLOS containing the framework provisions governing the conservation and management of marine living resources in ABNJ. The lacuna relates to the fact that the 1982 UNCLOS fails to address the threats posed by high seas fisheries to the long-term sustainability of the marine environment and the marine biological diversity found therein. The lacuna has not gone unnoticed by the international community as international laws and policies have been developed to address the issues plaguing the fisheries regime in ABNJ.

The act of piracy on the high seas and in territorial waters has become a very real and serious problem for many littoral states throughout the world. The practice of piracy has plagued littoral states for centuries, yet throughout both past and contemporary literature on the subject, there is no standard test that can viably estimate and predict the amount to which piracy rates would rise or fall in regards to a standard variable. This thesis examines three distinct regions throughout the world where piracy has been a notable problem, and where a substantial number of reported cases have occurred These cases have occurred due to a geographic chokepoint of traffic. The Gulf of Aden, the Caribbean Sea, and the Malacca Strait will serve as the three primary locations within which this thesis will adapt three independent variables in an attempt to establish a trend. The three independent variables that will be applied to the latter three regions are the amount of regional enforcement of anti-piracy strategies, the amount of international cooperation and enforcement of codified international laws, and the extent to which local economies, specifically coastal economies, are experiencing problems. Literature from both the past and present, including individual case studies have been used to determine the extent to which the previously mentioned independent variables relate to the amount of piracy in three distinct regions of the world. This study has established that there is a negative, coinciding relationship to each one of the independent variables and the rate to which piracy occurs, and the dependency of one variable on the other in any particular case.

Les organisations et arrangements régionaux de gestion des pêches, qui composent les régimes régionaux de gestion des pêches, se sont progressivement imposés au cours des dernières décennies comme les mécanismes clés de la gouvernance des ressources halieutiques de la haute mer. Leur rôle est d'assurer, notamment à travers l'allocation de quotas de pêche à leurs parties contractantes, mais également à travers l'adoption de mesures techniques, de contrôle et de mise en oeuvre, l'exploitation durable et la conservation des ressources halieutiques de la haute mer. Or pour que les règlementations adoptées dans le cadre de ces régimes régionaux de gestion des pêches soient le plus efficaces possible, il est souhaitable qu'elles ne soient pas remises en cause par des activités de pêche contraires, comme celles que peuvent mener les tiers à ces régimes. L'objectif principal de cette recherche est alors d'analyser la portée et le cadre juridique de l'opposabilité des régimes régionaux de gestion des pêches à l'égard de ces tiers. Différents aspects de l'opposabilité des régimes régionaux de gestion des pêches à l'égard des tiers sont analysés, tout comme sa compatibilité avec le droit international, et notamment avec le principe de pacta tertiis. Pour ce faire, cette recherche s'intéresse entre autres, à l'évolution des mécanismes de gestion des ressources halieutiques de la haute mer, au rôle joué par les instruments universels contraignants et non contraignants, à l'opposabilité des dispositions relatives aux tiers contenues dans les conventions régionales de gestion des pêches, à l'opposabilité des organisations régionales de gestion des pêches et de leur droit dérivé ou encore au comportement des tiers en réaction aux mesures de dissuasion et de contrôle adoptées à leur encontre suite aux activités de pêche des navires battant leur pavillon, qui sont désormais considérées comme une forme de pêche illicite, non déclarée et non réglementée (INN). Enfin, il est également question de tenter d'identifier, si au regard des récentes pratiques des tiers concernés, de nouvelles règles coutumières semblent émerger en ce qui concerne le devoir de coopération à la conservation et à la gestion des ressources halieutiques hauturières. / Over the past decades, regional fisheries management organisations and arrangements, which constitute regional fisheries management regimes, have gradually emerged as key mechanisms to the governance of high seas fishery resources. Their role is to ensure, through the allocation of fishing quotas to their contracting parties, as well as the adoption of technical, control and enforcement measures, the sustainable exploitation and conservation of high seas fishery resources. However, in order to ensure the effectiveness of these regulations, fishing activities, such as third party activities, shall not undermine them. The main objective of this research is therefore to analyse the scope and the legal framework of the opposability of regional fisheries management regimes to third parties. Different aspects of the opposability of regional fisheries management regimes to third parties will be analysed, as well as its compatibility with international law, such as the pacta tertiis principle. This research therefore explores, inter alia, the evolution of high seas fisheries management mechanisms, the role of binding and non-binding universal instruments, the opposability of provisions relating to third party contained in regional fisheries management conventions, the opposability of regional fisheries management organisations and their normative power; as well as third party behaviour in reaction to measures implemented against them to deter and control the activities of vessels flying their flag, which can be considered as a form of illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing (IUU). Finally this research also seeks to identify, if in the light of recent third party practices, we can identify the emergence of new customary rules concerning the duty to cooperate in the conservation and management of high seas fishery resources.

A presente tese pretende analisar uma possível proibição de utilização de métodos letais em pesquisas científicas com baleias em alto-mar, no sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar, inserida em um contexto marcado por uma binariedade ou dualidade normativa entre Estados pró e contra a pesca internacional da baleia. A fim de responder esse problema de pesquisa estabelecido, a tese desenvolve, em um primeiro momento, a noção inovadora do Direito Internacional do Mar como sistema. Para tanto, partiu-se da noção do Direito Internacional como um sistema social de validação normativa, onde as noções de técnica positiva de resolução de controvérsias internacionais, função, processo, comunicação social e tempo, tornamse a sua gramática comum. Em tal perspectiva sistêmica e social do Direito Internacional, são demonstradas as comunicações normativas e institucionais para caracterizar o Direito Internacional do Mar como um sistema funcional de regulação global dos oceanos. Tal compreensão, desenvolvida na primeira Parte da tese, levará a um segundo momento de análise em torno da proteção jurídica das baleias no sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar. Baseada na observação do regime tradicional de proteção jurídica das baleias, enquanto fenômeno de produção de sentido normativo, a tese desenvolve as principais controvérsias estabelecidas antes e após a Segunda Guerra Mundial – entre estabilidade e transformação –, bem como o regime jurídico da Convenção Internacional para a Regulamentação da Pesca da Baleia de 1946. Em uma leitura da proteção jurídica das baleias vinculada ao sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar, serão reveladas as (in)suficiências normativas do Artigo VIII, parágrafo 1º, da Convenção de 1946 e as suas relações com o julgamento do Whaling in the Antarctic pela Corte Internacional de Justiça (ICJ), em 2014. Por fim, a partir de uma metodologia sistêmico-pragmática de análise, será desenvolvida a tese da proibição de utilização de métodos letais em pesquisas científicas com baleias em alto-mar, vinculada ao sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar e, mais especificamente, com base na Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre o Direito do Mar (UNCLOS). / This thesis analyses the possibility of prohibition against the use of lethal methods in scientific whaling on the high seas under the current International Law of the Sea system, which is marked by a normative binarity or duality between states both for and against international whaling. In order to answer the research question proposed, this thesis develops, at first, the innovative notion of the International Law of the Sea as a system. For such purpose, this thesis initiates with the notion of International Law as a social system for normative validity, whereby the elements of positive technique for international settlement of disputes, function, process, social communication and time become its common syntax. In such a systemic and social perspective of International Law, this thesis demonstrates the normative and the institutional conveyance for characterizing International Law of the Sea as a functional system for the global regulation of the oceans. Such understanding, developed within the first part of this thesis, will lead to the analysis of the legal protection of whales within the International Law of the Sea system. Based on the observation of the traditional regime of legal protection of whales as a normative phenomenon, this thesis examines the main controversies that were established both before and after the Second World War – amid stability and transformation – as well as the legal regime of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Within the scope of the legal protection of whales attached to the normative system of the International Law of the Sea, this thesis reveals the normative (in)sufficiency of the paragraph 1 of Article VIII of the 1946 Convention and its relationship to the 2014 Whaling in the Antarctic judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Lastly, within a systemic-pragmatic methodology of analysis, this thesis develops the prohibition theory of the use of lethal methods in scientific whaling on the high seas as established through the International Law of the Sea system and, more specifically, on the basis of the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

A presente tese pretende analisar uma possível proibição de utilização de métodos letais em pesquisas científicas com baleias em alto-mar, no sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar, inserida em um contexto marcado por uma binariedade ou dualidade normativa entre Estados pró e contra a pesca internacional da baleia. A fim de responder esse problema de pesquisa estabelecido, a tese desenvolve, em um primeiro momento, a noção inovadora do Direito Internacional do Mar como sistema. Para tanto, partiu-se da noção do Direito Internacional como um sistema social de validação normativa, onde as noções de técnica positiva de resolução de controvérsias internacionais, função, processo, comunicação social e tempo, tornamse a sua gramática comum. Em tal perspectiva sistêmica e social do Direito Internacional, são demonstradas as comunicações normativas e institucionais para caracterizar o Direito Internacional do Mar como um sistema funcional de regulação global dos oceanos. Tal compreensão, desenvolvida na primeira Parte da tese, levará a um segundo momento de análise em torno da proteção jurídica das baleias no sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar. Baseada na observação do regime tradicional de proteção jurídica das baleias, enquanto fenômeno de produção de sentido normativo, a tese desenvolve as principais controvérsias estabelecidas antes e após a Segunda Guerra Mundial – entre estabilidade e transformação –, bem como o regime jurídico da Convenção Internacional para a Regulamentação da Pesca da Baleia de 1946. Em uma leitura da proteção jurídica das baleias vinculada ao sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar, serão reveladas as (in)suficiências normativas do Artigo VIII, parágrafo 1º, da Convenção de 1946 e as suas relações com o julgamento do Whaling in the Antarctic pela Corte Internacional de Justiça (ICJ), em 2014. Por fim, a partir de uma metodologia sistêmico-pragmática de análise, será desenvolvida a tese da proibição de utilização de métodos letais em pesquisas científicas com baleias em alto-mar, vinculada ao sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar e, mais especificamente, com base na Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre o Direito do Mar (UNCLOS). / This thesis analyses the possibility of prohibition against the use of lethal methods in scientific whaling on the high seas under the current International Law of the Sea system, which is marked by a normative binarity or duality between states both for and against international whaling. In order to answer the research question proposed, this thesis develops, at first, the innovative notion of the International Law of the Sea as a system. For such purpose, this thesis initiates with the notion of International Law as a social system for normative validity, whereby the elements of positive technique for international settlement of disputes, function, process, social communication and time become its common syntax. In such a systemic and social perspective of International Law, this thesis demonstrates the normative and the institutional conveyance for characterizing International Law of the Sea as a functional system for the global regulation of the oceans. Such understanding, developed within the first part of this thesis, will lead to the analysis of the legal protection of whales within the International Law of the Sea system. Based on the observation of the traditional regime of legal protection of whales as a normative phenomenon, this thesis examines the main controversies that were established both before and after the Second World War – amid stability and transformation – as well as the legal regime of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Within the scope of the legal protection of whales attached to the normative system of the International Law of the Sea, this thesis reveals the normative (in)sufficiency of the paragraph 1 of Article VIII of the 1946 Convention and its relationship to the 2014 Whaling in the Antarctic judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Lastly, within a systemic-pragmatic methodology of analysis, this thesis develops the prohibition theory of the use of lethal methods in scientific whaling on the high seas as established through the International Law of the Sea system and, more specifically, on the basis of the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

A presente tese pretende analisar uma possível proibição de utilização de métodos letais em pesquisas científicas com baleias em alto-mar, no sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar, inserida em um contexto marcado por uma binariedade ou dualidade normativa entre Estados pró e contra a pesca internacional da baleia. A fim de responder esse problema de pesquisa estabelecido, a tese desenvolve, em um primeiro momento, a noção inovadora do Direito Internacional do Mar como sistema. Para tanto, partiu-se da noção do Direito Internacional como um sistema social de validação normativa, onde as noções de técnica positiva de resolução de controvérsias internacionais, função, processo, comunicação social e tempo, tornamse a sua gramática comum. Em tal perspectiva sistêmica e social do Direito Internacional, são demonstradas as comunicações normativas e institucionais para caracterizar o Direito Internacional do Mar como um sistema funcional de regulação global dos oceanos. Tal compreensão, desenvolvida na primeira Parte da tese, levará a um segundo momento de análise em torno da proteção jurídica das baleias no sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar. Baseada na observação do regime tradicional de proteção jurídica das baleias, enquanto fenômeno de produção de sentido normativo, a tese desenvolve as principais controvérsias estabelecidas antes e após a Segunda Guerra Mundial – entre estabilidade e transformação –, bem como o regime jurídico da Convenção Internacional para a Regulamentação da Pesca da Baleia de 1946. Em uma leitura da proteção jurídica das baleias vinculada ao sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar, serão reveladas as (in)suficiências normativas do Artigo VIII, parágrafo 1º, da Convenção de 1946 e as suas relações com o julgamento do Whaling in the Antarctic pela Corte Internacional de Justiça (ICJ), em 2014. Por fim, a partir de uma metodologia sistêmico-pragmática de análise, será desenvolvida a tese da proibição de utilização de métodos letais em pesquisas científicas com baleias em alto-mar, vinculada ao sistema de Direito Internacional do Mar e, mais especificamente, com base na Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre o Direito do Mar (UNCLOS). / This thesis analyses the possibility of prohibition against the use of lethal methods in scientific whaling on the high seas under the current International Law of the Sea system, which is marked by a normative binarity or duality between states both for and against international whaling. In order to answer the research question proposed, this thesis develops, at first, the innovative notion of the International Law of the Sea as a system. For such purpose, this thesis initiates with the notion of International Law as a social system for normative validity, whereby the elements of positive technique for international settlement of disputes, function, process, social communication and time become its common syntax. In such a systemic and social perspective of International Law, this thesis demonstrates the normative and the institutional conveyance for characterizing International Law of the Sea as a functional system for the global regulation of the oceans. Such understanding, developed within the first part of this thesis, will lead to the analysis of the legal protection of whales within the International Law of the Sea system. Based on the observation of the traditional regime of legal protection of whales as a normative phenomenon, this thesis examines the main controversies that were established both before and after the Second World War – amid stability and transformation – as well as the legal regime of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Within the scope of the legal protection of whales attached to the normative system of the International Law of the Sea, this thesis reveals the normative (in)sufficiency of the paragraph 1 of Article VIII of the 1946 Convention and its relationship to the 2014 Whaling in the Antarctic judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Lastly, within a systemic-pragmatic methodology of analysis, this thesis develops the prohibition theory of the use of lethal methods in scientific whaling on the high seas as established through the International Law of the Sea system and, more specifically, on the basis of the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).