It is reported that the pollution of Asian seas is getting worse by contamination, which reduces the biodiversity in marine ecological systems in the region. This is caused mostly by land-source pollution. As the coastal states in the region become more industrialized and the use of chemicals in agriculture increases, the pollution of coastal sea areas has become a seriously problem. The GEF (Global Environment Facilities) has taken up projects for monitoring the effects of pollution on the coral reef ecosystem in the coastal area of the Southeast Asian seas. However serious the effects of land-source pollution may be, it remains most difficult to make its prevention obligatory, as it inevitably touches upon issues of restructuring the living systems of local communities and the development policy of the country, which has been left so far to the sovereign discretion of each state. Therefore, an effective system for the reduction of land-source pollution has never been established, even for the Mediterranean, North, or Baltic Seas. In Asia, the development policy of each coastal state differs considerably due to their respective domestic economy's stage of development, and it is much more difficult to control internationally the land-source pollution.

 We acknowledge that environmental problems cannot be resolved in isolation from other functions of society. To cope with land-source pollution, initiatives of the local community are of paramount importance. To enhance such initiatives, it is necessary to raise people's awareness in coastal states about how their lives on land are dependent upon the riches of the coastal seas and about how the environmental and ecological systems of the semi-enclosed sea are vulnerable to land-source pollution. Scientific research must contribute in raising this awareness, and in such an endeavor, we must seek approaches that can overcome traditional barriers between academic disciplines, administrative sectors and other established dividing lines. The Integrated Information Cooperation Scheme is proposed as the first step to restructure our experience. Its key concept should be cross-sectoral innovations in our knowledge, experience, and the institutional arrangements of our modern system. And for that purpose, the scientific community in Asia should provide all the people, as stakeholders, not merely their expertise on data and information, but the real story of what is happening in the region in a manner understandable by those people.

　

 As there exist territorial problems in the Asian sea area, delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ remains unsettled in many areas. It makes it difficult to establish a cooperative system for conservation and optimum use of fishing resources. No regional fishery commission has ever been established in the region. For resource management, Japan has concluded new fishery agreements with China and the Republic of Korea without delimiting boundaries between the contracting parties, by introducing the regime of provisional waters, where joint commissions take the responsibility to set conservation measures by agreement. However, outside of the provisional waters, coastal fishing in the region is left to the fishing policy of the coastal states. It is said that, in semi-enclosed seas, surface fish stocks swim about widely along with ocean currents, and that if conservation policy is not coordinated the fishing industries of coastal states will go down together in the long run, thus realizing the so-called "tragedy of commons."

 In October 2003, it was agreed in a Joint Declaration between Japan, China and the Republic of Korea that "the three nations cooperate, bilaterally or among three nations, through efficient fishery management, to enhance the sustainable use and conservation of fishing resources." Following this declaration, in June 2004, Japan and the Republic of Korea agreed to continue discussions further on measures to implement it, but no concrete step has yet been proposed, except that both nations undertake joint research on the mechanism of birth, in the Japan Sea, of giant jellyfish on a massive scale, which damages the fishing industry of both nations. In the seas around Japan, the catch of sardine has decreased dramatically in recent years, and similar joint research covering this and all areas of Asian seas should be undertaken. Accumulation of such kind of objective scientific data, brought about as a result of joint research activities, should help create a new shared perception that Asian seas constitute one unitary ecological system. It is only with this common understanding that agreement can be reached on the need to establish an Integrated Ocean Management System.

 As for non-recoverable seabed resources, it may be very difficult to agree on provisional measures, but coastal states cannot stop and wait until the delimitation issue is solved. Rather, they expect that the discovery and exploitation of undersea oil fields may lead them to an advantageous position in the delimitation talks. For example, China has started exploitation of a natural gas field in the East China Sea, on the western side of median line between Japan and China, within the 200 mile zone from Japan. Whether the exploitation undergone by China constitutes acts obstructing the agreement on delimitation, which is prohibited by UNCLOS, Article 83(3), is not the problem here. What is important is that the exploitation of undersea oil fields always contains the risk of large-scale pollution by accidental blowouts. In a semi-enclosed sea, such an oil well accident would inevitably damage other coastal states and cause devastating effects to the marine environment and the ecological balance of the sea. Therefore, an emergency plan should be arranged in advance with other coastal states in the region, as in the case of the arrangement between UK and Norway in the North Sea region.

　

 For the protection of biodiversity and world's natural heritage, coastal states have begun to propose setting up MPAs in larger parts of the coastal sea area. The preservation of wetlands and sanctuaries in land territory or in a shore area should be an important step for preservation of environmental and ecological systems in the region. An MPA in territorial waters, or even beyond them, however, may cause conflict with other lawful uses of the sea by other states. If an MPA is established unilaterally and the navigational rights of other States are restricted, conflicts may arise. If an MPA is set up within the EEZ unilaterally, it may be contrary to the obligations of a coastal state as to the optimum use of EEZ fishery resources. An MPA, therefore, if it is arbitrarily proposed, may be an excuse for extending seawards the creeping jurisdiction of a coastal state. UNCLOS makes it the obligation of coastal States of EEZ to utilize the best scientific evidence for optimum use of fishery resources. To avoid conflicts with regard to MPAs, it is necessary to set objective standards for them and to establish a mechanism to judge whether a proposed MPA is in accord with those standards. Only such MPAs should be permitted that are proved to be linked to the environment and ecological systems of the entire semi-enclosed sea area. And for that purpose, the integrated information cooperation scheme is indispensable for coastal states and other users of the sea area as well. The GEF has started to grant financial aid to some proposed MPAs, but only when they are proved on the best scientific evidence to have links to the global environment and eco-diversity.

　

 In this paper, I have emphasized the importance, for the purpose of improving ocean governance of Asian seas, of cultivating shared understanding, expectations, and knowledge about facts concerning the seas in the region. As PEMSEA has rightly suggested in the proposal for IIMS, information necessary for ocean governance is now difficult to access, time-consuming, costly, and also difficult to interpret. Such information is collected sector by sector, whether by governmental sectors or academic sector, and not integrated. Information that is necessary for improving ocean governance of semi-enclosed seas should be cross-sectoral, because the whole of the sea areas in the Asian region constitutes a unitary whole as a single environmental and ecological system. Therefore, so far as such information is accessible and understandable only by experts or policy-makers in each sector, the goal of improving ocean governance may not be effectively achieved. All the collected data and information must be accessible and easily usable by all stakeholders of the coastal states.

　

 The Ocean Information Technology Project set up jointly by WMO (World Meteorological Organization) and UNESCO for integrating and coordinating information on the ocean environment is one such cross-sector attempt at the global level. It tries to set standards, formats, and modes for technical information, thereby making such information easily accessible to experts of different specializations in the scientific community. This idea is unique but the technique applied is of a kind which has been used in many functional international organizations for enhancing coordination among sovereign states. This mechanism is usually called a "reporting system." It works to standardize the domestic administration of each government, not only by way of making public the reports submitted by the government, but by surveying governments using questionnaires, that specify the format, index and kind of data and information to be provided. States, once they become a member of an international organization, are gradually enmeshed in a regime and compliance to regime rules is enhanced.

　

 To improve ocean governance in the Asian region however, integrated information management among experts is not enough. Such information must be interrelated, edited, and collected as materials for educational purposes, so that people in the local community can easily access, understand, and use it. Setting up a regional film library may be a good idea for such purposes.