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Bergin, Anthony --- "Book Review: Maritime Affairs Integrated Management for India" [2005] MarStudies 21; (2005) 143 Maritime Studies 22

• BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

India’s approach to ocean issues and its place in the Indian Ocean should be of interest to all those interested in maritime affairs. The importance of the Indian Ocean (IO) cannot be over-emphasised. Over 55,000 ships are known to transit through the IO every year transporting oil, consumer goods and food, reflecting the dependence of nations of the region and beyond on this ocean. The IO is the third largest of the world’s oceans after the Pacific and Atlantic. Around 40 per cent of world oil and gas comes from the IO: safeguarding this trade should be the responsibility of all users. The IO is vulnerable to maritime hazards, storms and tsunamis. The Boxing Day tsunami disaster showed the importance of early warning systems for these events.

The book under review, written by a recently retired Indian naval officer, focuses on the challenges for India in developing an integrated oceans policy that incorporates economic development, environmental protection and maritime security. The book explores very well the emergence of the integrated management paradigm for ocean development to meet the needs of all stakeholders across all maritime sectors. Much of the book is taken up with exploring concepts of integration and sustainable development, with a strong plea for Indian policy makers to develop a maritime vision that would transform India’s maritime sector into one of the most sustainable in the world by 2025. The book has some very useful suggestions for Indian policy makers on organisational structures for oceans management, many of which have parallels in the arrangements under the Australian oceans policy of national advisory boards for the oceans and a formal Cabinet committee for oceans. Like Australia India is a federal system and the author points to the need to strengthen state structures into the overall ocean management arrangements in India.

Australian readers will note that the range of maritime issues facing India, as noted by Commander Gupta, are ones in which Australia too has a common interest when it comes to our Indian ocean interests. Such matters include piracy, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, marine safety including search and rescue, salvage, accidents at sea, disaster management in the form of tsunamis, cyclones, floods and earthquakes, environmental degradation from oil spills, waste disposal and pollution by ships. protection of shipping, trade and keeping sea-lines of communication open at all times, offshore territorial conflicts generated by a need to control energy resources, fisheries, minerals and proliferation management.

While the author does not directly take up the issue of India’s maritime cooperation activities, it is clear from this book that Australia and India have much to offer each other as India develops its own maritime capabilities and improves its ocean management efforts. For example, it would be useful for India and Australia to press for greater coverage of port state control in the IO. Australia and India can also work together on maritime capacity building on the IMO’s International Shipping and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. This is something the two countries could pursue together in the Indian Ocean through IMO.

It may be possible to build on the Milan East naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal; a gathering of naval personnel from navies around the Bay of Bengal. This could be extended to other parts of the IO. India has already organised a Milan series with ASEAN countries. India and Australia could sponsor a regional forum on oceans management issues, and work together to raise issues such as illegal fishing and high seas ocean governance.

Australia and India could work to promote integrated oceans management, especially in areas such as coral reef management, integrated coastal zone management, post-harvest fisheries handling and high seas biodiversity issues. Our navies could assist in developing an ocean governance regime through their capabilities in surveillance and enforcement.

It is clear from Manoj Gupta’s study that India, like Australia, is heavily dependent on the oceans for economic growth. We both have close interpretations of the law of the sea and our naval forces are effective and not in competition with each other. Australia and India could discuss agreed understandings of law of the sea, ship reporting systems, reporting carriage of dangerous cargo and surveillance measures. Both states could formulate disaster management plans, including operational aspects, between designated coordinating authorities, and improve coordination of civil and military maritime research as a tool for better understanding of the oceans for good governance. Increased naval cooperation including surveillance, monitoring and control of the marine environment could be on the agenda, perhaps with capacity building in the IO island states (Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles in particular).

There is some scope for India and Australia to work with Iran and Oman and Kenya on IO fisheries. Australia, while probably being the largest coastal state in the IO, takes only 0.01 per cent of its catch from the IO, so we are not going to be big players in IO fisheries.

There maybe scope for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the new Australian Joint Offshore Protection Command to cooperate on long range identification and tracking of ships (LRIT) systems based on existing SAR regions in the IO. This could also involve India and Australia working together to look at the technological and legal aspects of LRIT. Some sort of LRIT system for the IO could be based on existing SAR regions. The ICG has comprehensive law enforcement and SAR functions.

The book is well indexed and has a useful range of maps, tables and figures. It provides an excellent overview of the current state of maritime affairs in India, and should be of great interest to students of oceans policy, as well as providing many ideas for those interested in fostering greater maritime cooperation between India and Australia.

Anthony Bergin

Associate Professor of Politics

University College, UNSW

Australian Defence Force Academy