Best left in the sea

What is best left in the sea? The law that regulates it!
In as much as I hate the subject, I must confess that I have grown to appreciate its significance. The UN Convention on the law of the sea is one of the most comprehensive international regime ever established. Its two-way approach in handling the subject - in terms of maritime zones and in terms of uses of the sea - has created an umbrella framework under which all existing and future maritime activities shall be regulated. It sought to achieve, and it has achieved, an equitable balance between the interests of developing and developed States. The creation of the EEZ (exclusive economic zone) regime is an exemplification of this regime. The most innovate feature of the regime is the concept of "common heritage of mankind", which although developed in respect of the international sea bed Area is now spreading its roots to other areas such as environmental law. What interests me more than the actual technicalities involved in the subject is the overt recognition of political will in an international convention. The delusion that international law is above international politics has its room in most conventions, but not in UNCLOS. A careful reading of various provisions regarding the jurisdictional regime would prove this. However, rule of law does stand out in the end, especially in the provisions regarding combating illegal uses of the sea. Creating this mammoth document would have been a nightmare for its drafters and it is not suprising that it took over two decades to make it agreeable to all States involved, another feature which is unique to UNCLOS. Every time I read a provision, I marvel at its drafting and how certain words/phrases have been employed or avoided deliberately. However, I prefer to appreciate this from a practitioner's point of view than an academic. The former will actually use the Convention's drafting for or against an issue which will result in the furtherance of its interpretation/implementation in reality, the exact purpose for which it was drafted in the first place. The latter, on the other hand, would deal with this in an imaginary world with hypothetical situations. It must be accepted that this may, in the long run, contribute to the development of the subject. After all, law of the sea was born only after Grotius' Mare Liberum (written for altogether different reasons) and Selden's Mare Clausum created waves in the ocean. No pun intended!

PS: Whatever! The subject sucks, especially if you have to write a closed-book exam!