The meaning and scope of the concept of security in extenso, as well as its special type, i.e. maritime safety and security, has been the subject of many considerations and discussions for decades, and perhaps for centuries. Security is most often understood as one of the basic functions of the State implying counteracting all threats. In axiological terms, as a risk-free state, maritime safety is a value, and in functional terms, as a desirable state, it is expressed in the protective function of law. The law must be structured in such a way as to constantly realize this function. Achieving maritime safety can therefore be seen as the capacity of law and institutions, for example, to protect a ship against loss, protect health and life of people employed on a ship, and protect the environment from pollution.
The common and ecologically important cyanobacterial form-genus Leptolyngbya is widely distributed in numerous ecosystems over the Earth's biosphere. Several morphospecies dominate microbial communities in polar habitats, but their diversity and local ecological significance are little known. Several articles characterising strains isolated from Antarctic coastal habitats by molecular methods were published, but knowledge of their phenotype and ecological characters are indispensable for future detailed environmental studies. Distinct morpho- and ecotypes (ecologically important morphospecies) from maritime Antarctica are characterised in this article. Eight dominant Leptolyngbya types from subaerophytic and freshwater habitats were recognised, and four of them (L. borchgrevinkii, L. fritschiana, L. nigrescens and L. vincentii) are described as new distinct species.
Maritime spatial planning is quite a new field that emerged as an idea only after 2000, with the first practical implementation after 2010. In Polish legislation, the first entries regarding the possibilities of this type of planning appeared in 2003. For the next ten years resources of necessary knowledge and human competences had been created. In this way, a considerable amount of knowledge in the field of maritime spatial planning was accumulated in Poland, and our country has become one of the leaders in scientific research in this field. Poland has enriched the MSP methodology and has proposed many new and pioneering solutions. In 2016, the Directors of Maritime Offices began developing a coherent draft of maritime spatial plan for Polish maritime areas in the part relating to the exclusive economic zone, the territorial sea and parts of internal sea waters (including the Gulf of Gdańsk) on a scale of 1: 200,000. The work on the preparation of this draft plan was coordinated on behalf of all offices by the Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia, and the work was assigned to a Consortium consisting of the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk and the Maritime Fisheries Institute – National Research Institute in Gdynia. The Polish plan is included in the top ten plans in the world and is one of the first to have a decision-making and not indicative character. The Polish planning process has resulted in the development of many innovative solutions that are worth wider dissemination. The presented study aims to identify key problems and formulate conclusions regarding spatial planning of Polish maritime areas, as well as to propose the most important directions for further planning work. The analytical material that is the subject of the study are experience and solutions adopted in our country for maritime spatial planning.
The concept of ecosystem services becomes more and more popular in regulation of the environmental protection. One of the premises of that concept is treatment of a human and human activity as an integral part of an ecosystem. Interrelations between human activity and ecosystem can be described through the concept of ecosystem services. A certain degree of commodification of natural environment which is immanently connected with the concept of ecosystem services can become useful as a tool of assessing the impact of human activities on ecosystem as well as regulating that impact. Marine protection law is a good example of attempts to introduce the interrelated concepts of ecosystem approach and ecosystem services into functioning of the regulatory schemes.
The high and rapidly increasing demand for maritime space for various purposes, such as: shipping and fishing, production of energy from renewable sources, oil and gas exploitation, environmental conservation, tourism and aquaculture, as well as the multiple pressures on coastal resources, require integrated planning and management approach. In the law of the European Union, maritime governance has been developed in the Integrated Maritime Policy. The aim of this article is to show maritime spatial planning as a tool that enables public authorities to apply an integrated and trans-boundary approach.
The main aim of the maritime spatial planning is to promote sustainable development and growth in the maritime sector, applying an ecosystem-based approach, and to achieve the coexistence of relevant activities and uses. In order to achieve that purpose, Member States should ensure that the planning process results in a comprehensive planning taking into consideration inter alia long-term changes due to climate change.
This article deals with the influence of the maritime pilot on safety of navigation. The role of the pilot is somewhat marginalized, although his activity is directly related to ensuring the safety of navigation in sea ports, protection of the marine environment and minimizing the risk of collision with ships and port infrastructure. Pilot services have been entrusted to private entrepreneurs who meet certain legal requirements and are subject to supervision by the maritime administration. The article contains a reference to the decisions of the Maritime Chamber in Gdańsk in a case, in which the maritime pilot contributed to an accident in the port of Gdańsk and the analysis of these decisions in the context of the role of the pilot in the safety of navigation in port.
The article discusses the rules for judicial proceedings in cases for the establishment and distribution of a fund for limiting liability for maritime claims as they are set out in the Maritime Code and the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC 1996). The author presented the basic convention principles regarding the constitution of the fund and related effects as well as the issue of their interpretation and application in national law of selected countries parties of the convention. The article discusses the regulation of the main stages of the fund proceeding in the Polish civil procedure.
In its history, Poland was usually more oriented to land than to the sea. For many centuries we have not been able to see the opportunities and potential created by the coastal location of our country. In the current strategic documents in Poland, there are also no proper references to the maritime security of the state, although we are a member of both NATO and the European Union. The article presents the creation process in 2015–2017 and the content of a unique document devoted to this issue: Poland’s Strategic Concept for Maritime Security, which was born thanks to the efforts of “enthusiasts” of maritime affairs from the Naval Academy, Shipbuilding Council and the Institute of General Józef Haller under the leadership of the National Security Bureau. In the authors opinion, the document is to form the basis for work on the future maritime security strategy of our country, and also become the “engine” of public discussion in Poland on maritime security issues and the effective use of the coastal position of the state for economic development.
The article presents reviews of the European Union regulation on reporting formalities for ships entering the EU ports. It also analyses IMO regulation concerning that matter. Finally, the author exposes the differences between both legal systems and weaknesses of the solutions adopted. In the second part of the article the author discusses the Polish way of the reporting formalities system’s implementation. On the basis of a legal analysis as well as practice of the maritime authorities in Poland, the author finds that the Polish regulations seem to be exemplary.
The concept of a general average is the oldest institution of maritime law. Its usefulness in modern shipping relations has long been criticized. Nevertheless, the general average, despite the fact that it is not the subject of any international agreement, occupies a prominent place in the internal legal systems of maritime states, and the international community continues to show great interest in it, regularly changing the principles of accounting established in the second half of the 19th century in York and Antwerp. During the work on the draft of the new Polish Maritime Code, the Maritime Law Codification Commission made some changes in the regulations concerning the general average, adapting the provisions of Polish law to new solutions proposed by participants of international maritime trade and non-governmental organizations, including Comité Maritime International.
Mid-winter rapid rise of temperature in the vicinity of Arctowski Station, King George Island (West Antarctica) was studied in 1991. Depending on circumantarctic migration of cyclones, sudden drop in air pressure and foehn-like phenomenon intensified by local topography occurred. Two such events are described on May 13 and June 28, against meteorological conditions during autumn and winter. Extreme intensification of morphogenetic processes caused degradation of a snow cover, immense meltwater discharge, radical transformation of slopes, effective aeolian activity and dynamic modifications in a sea-shore zone.
Minerals were analysed that had been found in penguin guano and in underlying silicate weathering crust phosphatized by guano leachates. Struvite and hydroxylapatite were found in guano, leucophosphite, minyulite, amorphous aluminum phosphate and taranakite in phosphatized layer, and in some distance from the zone of ornithogenic soils — vivianite. Minerals were identified by the X—ray analysis and results of this identification were confirmed by the microscope studies and the analysis of chemical composition. Results of the thermogravimetric analysis of the selected minerals occurring in monomineral agglomerations (struvite, minyulite, amorphous aluminum phosphate, taranakite) are also presented. Relation between distribution of those minerals in ornithogenic soils and changes in chemical composition of mineral-forming guano leachates during their infiltration through soil, were described.
The aim of the study is to examine the importance of economic argumentation in international maritime disputes. The paper first explains what the international maritime disputes, their sources and types are, what principles they are subjected to. It also established what should be understood by economic arguments, emphasizing their relative nature, as well as showing the potential of the Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 as a basis for formulating economic argumentation. The importance of economic argumentation was considered in relation to international disputes regarding the legal status of maritime territories, delimitation of maritime zones, power over the sea and use of the sea.
Research, carried out, leads to the following conclusions: 1) economic arguments are present in the reasoning of the parties as well as dispute settlement bodies. However, their probative value is limited; 2) in disputes related to the status of maritime features economic reasoning appears in the context of necessity to demonstrate that they can be a basis for delimitation; 3) in delimitation disputes, addressing economic arguments is more complex and contradictory. Economic arguments may be useful in the second phase of delimitation when relevant circumstances are considered. However, the existing practice shows that the range of economic arguments is limited (they cannot serve as a reason for correction of natural inequalities). International jurisprudence denies taking into account arguments based on level of economic development or economic or financial difficulties of a state (except for the catastrophic repercussions for the livelihood and economic wellbeing of the population), the needs of economic development or performance of economic activities (mining, fishing, shipping). An argument associated with assurance of deposit unity is of some importance (when resources are known or readily ascertainable); 4) in disputes concerning the power over the sea some weight is held by an argument associated with the establishment of economic authority, in particular, of a regulatory and control nature; 5) in disputes related to the use of the sea, the importance of economic reasoning is varied. In disputes concerning the prompt release, the role of the economic argument is limited. On the contrary, it is relevant in disputes related to the violation of rights and economic interests of States and people, if they are protected by international law.
The article describes important issues related to obtaining fundamental information used in the maritime spatial planning process. It presents practically aproached selected results of undertaken work, where the quality of spatial information may affect the decisions and final results of study works, therefore geoinformation is extremely important.
The goal of the article is the description and analyze of the exclusions of the maritime carrier’s liability, regulated in international conventions, known as the Hague-Visby Rules and the Hamburg Rules. Their construction is basically different and indicates, that their creators had quite the opposite approach in the way of regulation of the negative scope of maritime carrier’s liability.
In the article it has been compared each exclusion of liability in both conventions, especially with the consideration of the genuine differences with the carrier’s scope of liability. It has been analyzed the examples of the real cases, that have been ruled on the grounds of the maritime carrier’s liability. It has been also take a try to evaluate if the court’s sentence would be the same on the grounds of both conventions, or rather would be different.
The article presents the main elements of the European transport policy and the issues prevailing in the public debate in the last decade, i.e. 2010-2020. In particular, it analyses the challenges for European transport resulting from the need to combat climate change and to ensure a high level of environmental protection and safety, while taking into account the progressing technological revolution. The main assumptions of the European Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by the European Union by 2050, are presented. The example of maritime transport serves to describe how various transport sectors are being brought into line with EU climate targets.