Russian Journal of Economics and Law (Dec 2016)
LEGAL REGIME OF THE BERING STRAIT AND SECURITY OF NAVIGATION
Abstract
Objective: to establish the legal regime and security of navigation in the Bering Strait.Methods: formal logical method, systemic method, comparative legal method, statistical method.Results: in the recent years, specialized publications contain numerous publications on the problems of development of Arctic shipping and the future intensification of the use of the Northern Sea Route. Whatever Arctic routes may be chosen by the skippers, the vessels will have to overcome the narrowness of the Bering Strait. If the existing estimates are reasonable, and the navigation of the North-West Sea Passage will increase, it is appropriate to ask whether the legal regime and security means are adapted to the possible increase of commercial shipping and military navigation. In this respect, the author formulates the legal measures aimed at ensuring security in the Bering Strait area with the account of growing cargo traffic. Scientific novelty: for the first time the article proves the necessity to include into the Bering Strait area the territories, bounded from the north by the east and west passages formed by the Diomede Islands and continental coasts of the Russian Federation and the United States and from the south - by the passages between the Cape of Chukotka and Cape Sevuokuk of St. Lawrence Island, Cape Sivuka and the mainland of Alaska, in order to protect the sea natural landscape and to ensure the maritime safety. The opinion is substantiated about the necessity to equip the marine passages, forming the waters of the Bering Strait, with a security system. The proposed legal regime of ensuring the safety of navigation in the Bering Strait, which includes the common navigation rules, establishing the areas of the vessel traffic separation, designation of areas of marine reserves and organizational-legal means for damping the dangerous situations.Practical significance: the findings and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific, educational and law enforcement practice in the con-sideration of the issue of the legal regime of the Bering Strait and the safety of navigation.
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