(NEWS) Emerging Technology and the Law of the Sea Workshop

June

2024

Emerging Technology and the Law of the Sea Workshop

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From 4-5 June, the World Maritime University (WMU), hosted a workshop entitled Emerging Technology and the Law of the Sea. Delivered to students in the Maritime Law & Policy specialization, the workshop was co-organized with the Stockton Center for International law (SCIL), represented by Professor James Kraska, with generous support from the Transport General Authority (TGA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In welcome remarks, Professor Maximo Q. Mejia, Jr., WMU President, highlighted the importance of the collaborative workshop saying, “The law of the sea plays a crucial role in providing a framework for the governance, management, and conservation of our oceans. As new technologies emerge, it is essential that our legal systems adapt and evolve to address the unique challenges they pose.”

Eng. Essam Al Ammari, Acting Deputy for Maritime Transport at TGA and WMU Governor highlighted the change that technology is making in shipping saying, “While these innovations offer tremendous opportunities to enhance our understanding, increase trade and protection of the oceans, they also bring about new challenges that require us to adapt our legal and administrative frameworks to ensure regulatory governance and seafarer safety can be maintained.”

Drawing on the expertise of a wide range of esteemed guest speakers, the workshop focused on emerging technologies that are revolutionizing many aspects of the maritime industry, marine science, efforts to protect the marine environment, and naval operations. Examples include autonomous vessels, artificial intelligence, and alternative fuels that are changing the way we operate at sea. The workshop addressed the opportunities these advancements bring as well as the challenges they pose to ocean governance and the law of the sea, which is evolving to adapt to the accelerating rates of global changes.

Relationships between technology and ocean governance and the law of the sea were considered, including the human element and their interaction with Artificial intelligence at sea, the regime of marine genetic resources in the High Seas Treaty, deep seabed technologies for the exploitation of seabed minerals, decarbonization of shipping, and secure communications for autonomous ships and the threat of spoofing and jamming of AIS and GPS signals. These issues are related directly to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Overall, the workshop provided a platform for the speakers and attendees to discuss and provide feedback on the papers presented. The extended presentations will be published as chapters in a volume edited by Professor James Kraska of SCIL and WMU Associate Professor Khanssa Lagdami as a second edition of the book on emerging technologies and the law of the sea, edited by Professor James Kraska and Dr. Young Kil Park. The first edition of the book, can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009042178

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