Regional Seas

The aim of the article is to offer an overview on the major regional organizations and institution dealing with maritime affaires, such as The Arctic Council working group on the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME), the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), Intergovernmental Meeting of the Coordinating Body of the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) and the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention) and its protocols. In particular, in the case of the CCAMLR most interesting aspects analysed were the updates on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the convention area; the CCAMLR fisheries regulatory framework; the system of inspection; the scheme of international scientific observation; and compliance with conservation measures in force, including the implementation of the CCAMLR Compliance Evaluation Procedure. In addition, in regard to the establishment of a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the convention area, the commission illustrated the developments in this field with special reference to the intentions of Argentina and Chile to prepare further MPA planning documents to aid the MPA development process in the Western Antarctic Peninsula-South Scotia Arc as well as to Germany's proposal, supported by the EU, for a Weddell Sea MPA.