The PCA’s decision refusing historic rights concerning the 9-DL cannot be enforced because the decision advantaging the Philippines has already been rejected by China. It, however, may be as a reference for some states to negotiate, since an optimistic atmosphere emerges among the disputing parties. The readiness for negotiation among them clearly requires that parties should not have rigid attitudes but should show flexibility based on the reciprocity principle. On one side, the PRC should set aside its typical intention to dominate most parts of the South China Sea as its traditional fishing ground based on historic rights concerning the 9-DL. On the other side, the Philippines should guarantee the regional stability and peace without questioning the real sovereignty of the PRC over several natural features, possibly related to the 9-DL claimed as its historic rights. The 9-DL is incompatible with the UNCLOS.

The Spratly Islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei, concerning territorial sovereignty over the Spratly Islands. This conflicting territorial claim between these coastal parties is raising tensions in Asia, so the settlement of this dispute is of key importance for a peaceful atmosphere in the area. The dispute is also significant in respect of being an international geo-strategic, economic, political and legal matter. After a 1988 armed conflict between Vietnamese and Chinese forces, the claimants have looked for approaches to solve the conflict peacefully through different informal endeavors, but due to the complexity of the dispute there are a number of barriers to reaching a permanent settlement. This study puts forward some potential approaches for resolving the dispute, considering its complex nature, by evaluating the six parties’ competing claims and analyzing the legal soundness of their claims.

We examined the characteristics of egg and larval distributions and catch changes of anchovy in relation to abnormally high sea temperature in the South Sea of Korea in summer 2015 and 2016. The densities of anchovy eggs and larvae in the southern coastal region were lower in July-August 2016 than in July-August 2015. In particular, anchovy eggs and larvae (approximately 5 mm TL) were rarely observed in the coastal region in August 2016 due to the abnormally high SST (up to 28°C), which was above the optimum spawning temperature of anchovy. The catch of non-swimming stage (< 2 cm TL) larval anchovy was lower in July-August 2016 than in July-August 2015. The decreased catch of larval anchovy in July-August 2016 could be attributed to decreased spawning density in June-July 2016. In contrast, the catch of swimming stage (> 2 cm TL) anchovy was increased in July-August 2016. In the summer of 2016, prominent sea temperature near the southern coast of Korea and sea temperature higher than 30°C in the offshore region of the South Sea of Korea could greatly enhance the retention of swimming anchovies in the coastal fishing grounds.

The status of maritime features is one of the core issues in the South China Sea Arbitration. The essence of this issue is territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation disputes between China and the Philippines. Based on the interception of certain facts and evidence, the Tribunal did not interpret the China’s diplomatic position as it wanted, and it had an intensely subjective interpretation of Article 121(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. Combined with the Chinese government’s positions before and after the publicity surrounding the Award, this paper, which takes the logical approaches of the Award as the main line, focuses on chapter 6 of the Award, raising questions about disputes on the status of maritime features, analyzing the treaty interpretations related to the status of maritime features, and clarifying the defections.

In the South China Sea Arbitration, the Chinese term-“li shi xing quan li” was mistranslated into “historic rights short of title,” regardless of the official English translation provided by Chinese government and preserved by international organizations. ‘quan li’ connotes a categorical meaning covering sovereignty and non-sovereignty rights, while “li shi xing” relates to claims and conduct historically before 1982. China’s “li shi xing quan li” in the SCS developed with the history of the general category of historic rights-an umbrella concept connoting both exclusive historic title and non-exclusive historic sovereign rights. It included China’s exclusive sovereignty over nansha qundao in the SCS and its non-exclusive sovereign rights in part of SCS. The Arbitral Tribunal’s negligence of the conceptual difference led to uncertainty in China’s maximum maritime entitlements in the SCS and reasonable doubt about its decision on the Philippines’ Submissions 1 and 2.

The reproduction characteristics of hagfish Eptatretus burgeri were examined using individuals caught in the South Sea of Korea. The spawning season and size at minimum sexual maturity of this species were characterized based on a gonad-somatic index (GSI) and monthly variation egg size (long axis). From monthly variation of GSI, the spawning season was estimated to be from August to September. Developing eggs larger than 10 mm were found in March, and the largest egg size was found in July. The first spawning length was 34.2 cm TL. Batch fecundity ranged from 13 to 117 eggs for hagfish sized from 34.2 cm TL to 77.0 cm TL, respectively, and increased linearly with total length.

Acoustic surveys were conducted in the seas surround the South Korea (South Sea A, South Sea B (waters around the Jeju Island), West Sea and East Sea) in spring and autumn in 2016. First, the vertical and horizontal distributions of fisheries resources animals were examined. In most cases vertical acoustic biomass was high in surface water and mid-water layers other than South Sea A in autumn and West Sea. The highest vertical acoustic biomass showed at the depth of 70-80 m in the South Sea A in spring (274.4 m2/nmi2) and the lowest one was 10-20 m in the West Sea in autumn (0.4 m2/nmi2). With regard to the horizontal distributions of fisheries resources animals, in the South Sea A, the acoustic biomass was high in eastern and central part of the South Sea and the northeast of Jeju Island (505.4-4099.1 m2/nmi2) in spring while it was high in eastern South Sea and the coastal water of Yeosu in autumn (1046.9-2958.3 m2/nmi2). In the South Sea B, the acoustic biomass was occurred high in the southern and western seas of Jeju Island in spring (201.0-1444.9 m2/nmi2) and in the southern of Jeju Island in autumn (203.7-1440.9 m2/nmi2). On the other hand, the West Sea showed very low acoustic biomass in spring (average NASC of 1.1 m2/nmi2), yet high acoustic biomass in the vicinity of 37 N in autumn (562.6-3764.2 m2/nmi2). The East Sea had high acoustic biomass in the coastal seas of Busan, Ulsan and Pohang in spring (258.7~976.4 m2/nmi2) and of Goseong, Gangneung, Donghae, Pohang and Busan in autumn (267.3-1196.3 m2/nmi2). During survey periods, fish schools were observed only in the South Sea A and the East Sea in spring and the West Sea in autumn. Fish schools in the South Sea A in spring were small size (333.2 ± 763.2 m2) but had a strong SV (–49.5 ± 5.3 dB). In the East Sea, fish schools in spring had low SV (–60.5 ± 14.5 dB) yet had large sizes (537.9 ± 1111.5 m2) and were distributed in the deep water depth (83.5 ± 33.5 m). Fish schools in the West Sea in autumn had strong SV (–49.6 ± 7.4 dB) and large sizes (507.1 ± 941.8 m2). It was the first time for three seas surrounded South Korea to be conducted by acoustic surveys to understand the distribution and aggregation characteristics of fisheries resources animals. The results of this study would be beneficially used for planning a future survey combined acoustic method and mid-water trawling, particularly deciding a survey location, a time period, and a targeting water depth.

근래 남중국해는 중국과 필리핀, 베트남, 미국 등 주변 연안국과 기타 여러 관련 국가들의 이해관계가 첨예하게 대립되는 소위 ‘갈등의 바다’가 되었다. 2016년 7월 12일 국제상설중재재판소의 판결에도 불구하고 중국은 남중국해의 도서 영유권과 구단선(九段線)내의 해역에 대한 관할권 주장을 고수하면서 인 공섬과 군사기지 건설을 통하여 실효적 지배를 강화하고 있다. 미국은 남중국해에서 군함에 의한 ‘항행의 자유 작전’을 수행하면서 중국의 영유권 주장을 인정하지 않고 있으나, 중국은 지난 2017년 2월 현행 「해상교통 안전법」의 전면 개정을 시도하면서 남중국해 수역을 포함하여 과도한 해양관 할권 주장의 근거가 될 수 있는 또 하나의 국내적 법제를 마련하고 있다. 그렇지만 해상교통안전법 개정(안)에는 몇가지 외교적 분쟁을 야기할 수 있는 국제법적 쟁점사항을 내포하고 있다. 즉, 적용범위에서 규정하고 있는 중국이 관할하는 기타 수역이 구체적으로 어디인지 모호하고, 남중국해에서 영해의 범위도 불명확하다. 그리고 해양법협약의 무해통항권을 저해할 수 있는 조항이 일부 신설되었으며, 또한 추적권을 행사할 수 있는 위법행위의 내용이 모호하고 무리한 내용도 포함되어 있다. 이 논문은 이러한 현행법의 개정(안)과 해양법협약의 관련 조항들을 비교·분석하여 개정(안)에 포함된 국제법적 쟁점사항을 고찰하였다.

In this study, total mercury (THg) variations of Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) eggs laid on Baengnyeongdo, West Sea of Korea were compared between within- and among clutch in order to ensure statistical representativeness of an egg sampling method. In the ANOVA analysis, the THg variation (59%) among clutches was much higher than within-clutch (27%). This means that the mercury variation of sampled eggs was significantly influenced by the mercury variation among female individuals occupying different nests. In spite of relatively smaller variation of THg in the within-clutch, the THg concentration depending on an egg-laying sequence within a clutch significantly appeared higher in the first-laid eggs rather than the second-laid eggs. Therefore, it is necessary to take one egg from one nest in order to sample more nests in terms of better sampling representativeness. Also, one egg selection from one nest should be consistently applied in order to ensure comparability of mercury concentrations among monitoring sites and monitoring years.

Distribution and composition of the seabed litters in the exclusive economic zone of the West Sea of South Korea including 18 sea-blocks were investigated using a bottom trawl gear of the R/V Tamgtu 20 (National Institute of Fisheries Science) from 24th April 2011 to 4th May 2012. Each trawl shot was conducted for an hour in each sea-block and the total trawl shots was 18. As a result, 325.6 kg of seabed litter in total has been collected.　The quantity of the seabed litter was highest at No. 202 of the sea-block, close to the Heuksan-Do. The highest occupied sea material was plastic (83.1% of entire seabed litters), the second highest material was metal combined with plastic (10.6%), and glass (2.9%), metals (2.3%), vinyl (0.6%), cloth (0.4%) and wood (0.2%) in order. The origin of seabed litters was from fishing gear (89.0% of all seabed litters). Therefore, it could be assumed that most seabed litters were derived from the fishing activity for example fishing nets and ropes.

This study was conducted to understand the relationships between fish and zooplankton of distribution in the coastal waters of the East Sea from May to August 2016 using hydroacoustic. To distinguish between fish and zooplankton, we used the time varied threshold (TVT) method at the frequency of 120 kHz. As a result, the mean nautical area scattering coefficient (NASC) of fish was highest at 913 m2/n.mile2 in June and lowest at 315 m2/n.mile2 in July. The mean NASC of zooplankton was highest at 247 m2/n.mile2 in May and lowest at 70 m2/n.mile2 in July. The mean NASC of fish and zooplankton showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) with high correlation (R2 = 0.84). In addition, there was no significant difference in the mean NASC of fishes and zooplankton by depth (t-test, person correction = -0.17, p > 0.05).

2016년에 1종이 추가로 보고되어, 현재 한국 연안에는 총 4종의 바다뱀이 분포하고 있다. 기후변화 등으로 한국 연안에 바다뱀의 년 중 서식 가능성이 높아지고 있으나 인적, 물적 한계로 인하여 관련연구가 미비한 상태이다. 국내 연안 내 바다뱀 분포에 대한 정보 및 샘플을 시민의 활동을 통해 확보하기 위하여 한반도의 해안지역과 제주도에 제보를 권하는 바다뱀 포스터와 현수막을 게시하고 제보를 접수하였다. 연구수행결과 2013년 3월부터 2016년 12월 사이 45건의 신뢰성 있는 제보가 접수되었다. 바다뱀 제보는 18건으로 주로 제주도와 남해안에서 접수되었으며, 시기적 으로는 8-11월 사이가 많았다. 총 3종 18건의 바다뱀 분포정보와 2종 13개체의 포획이 가능하였다. 바다뱀의 오제보는 27건이었는데, 육지뱀이 7건, 어류가 18건, 무척추동물과 사물이 각 1건이었다. 자료를 바탕으로 시민을 활용한 효율적 바다뱀 조사방법에 대한 제언을 하였다.