In the last few years, the quantity of books and papers on the
political, economic and legal problems of the exploration and use of the
sea and marine resources has considerably increased. But the status and
activities of intern a- tional organizations related to maritime
shipping, fisheries, scientific research in the World Ocean and the
protection of the marine environment have not yet, as a whole, been
represented in the scientific and reference literature. It would be
fair, though, to mention that some general information on marine
international organizations may be found in the Yearbook of
International Organizations, Brussels, 1979; in Annotated Acronyms and
Abbreviations of Marine Science Related International Organizations, U.
S. Department of Commerce, 1976; and in the UN Annotated Directory
ofIntergovernmental Organizations Concerned with Ocean Affairs, 1976.
Voluminous informa- tion on organizations engaged in problems of the
exploration and use ofthe sea is given in International Marine
Organizations by the well-known Polish scientists Lopuski and Symonides,
1978. Meanwhile the increasing volume of practical work related to the
participa- tion of governmental and scientific bodies as well as
individual scientists and specialists in these organizations, the
necessity of long-term planning in this field, and the perspectives of
the development of these organizations, make necessary a special
publication depicting the structure and many-sided activi- ties of such
international bodies. This book is the first one in which the most
complete information on the main marine international organizations is
presented.
