PhD Defense: The Regulation of “Modern” Ocean Data Collection Activities under UNCLOS

With a Focus on the Marine Scientific Research Regime

to
Academiegebouw Universiteit Utrecht

Chuxiao Yu will defend her dissertation on the regulation of modern ocean data collection, online at Utrecht University on 9 February 2021.The full title of her thesis is: The Regulation of “Modern” Ocean Data Collection Activities under UNCLOS, with a Focus on the Marine Scientific Research Regime.

At Utrecht University, Chuxiao is a member of the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law (UCWOSL) and the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS). 

Scientific advances and technological developments drive transformative changes in how, where and by whom, ocean data collection activities can be conducted. These advances present opportunities to enhance knowledge and deliver benefits. However, they also bring new challenges for the applicable legal regime, particularly where the legal classification of the activities concerned is unclear.

As “a constitution for the oceans”, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) aims at settling “all issues relating to the law of the sea”, including those concerning ocean data collection activities. Nevertheless, in several instances, UNCLOS provisions do not provide sufficient indications as to the legal classification of certain ocean data collection activities. A prominent example is provided by marine scientific research. Although the Convention includes a whole part on marine scientific research, it does not contain a definition of this term. As a result, the scope of activities covered by the term “marine scientific research”, and hence the scope of regulation of the UNCLOS marine scientific research regime, remain unclear or controversial.

This has led to different opinions on the relationship between some specific ocean data collection activities and marine scientific research. The problem of legal classification of ocean data collection activities becomes even more complicated along with the technological advances in ocean data collection methods and means.

This dissertation therefore seeks to identify the appropriate legal framework(s) for “modern” ocean data collection activities. The main research question of this research is formulated as: To what extent do UNCLOS and its marine scientific research regime regulate “modern” ocean data collection activities, and through which regulatory arrangements might any gaps for regulation in the Convention be filled?

Start date and time
End date and time
Location
Online
PhD candidate
Chuxiao Yu
Dissertation
The Regulation of “Modern” Ocean Data Collection Activities under UNCLOS
PhD supervisor(s)
prof. dr. A.G. Oude Elferink
Co-supervisor(s)
Dr. Lan Nguyen LLM
More information
Online (link)