MARTIN, Tara – 2002

Integrated Maritime Compliance and Enforcement on the Wide Open Sea: Does Geography Limit Integrated Initiatives?

The Integrated Maritime Compliance and Enforcement (IMCE) study began in 1992 as a project of the Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies. The initial phase of the project (1992-1998) focussed primarily on enforcement – particularly on creating a framework whereby a coastal state’s monitoring, surveillance and enforcement capabilities can be identified and evaluated. The second stage began in 1999 and consisted of a series of case studies carried out on each of Canada’s three coastlines – Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. The objectives of these case studies were to identify and evaluate the monitoring, surveillance and enforcement capabilities of the area and examine the similarities and differences of different geographical areas. This thesis presents the results of an IMCE Case study conducted on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and provides a comparison to three other similar studies in Atlantic Canada – Placentia Bay, the Bay of Fundy and Eastern Scotian Shelf. The comparison has revealed a difference in the amount of spatial overlap found in open ocean and coastal areas versus enclosed coastal areas. The implications of geographical limitations on the implementation of Integrated Maritime Compliance and Enforcement are discussed.