ABSTRACT
Before looking at possible solutions to the problem of maintaining good order at sea and what they require, we may need to assess the level and seriousness of the threat that 'bad order at sea' generates. Only an all-round maritime approach does justice to the complexity and importance of the sometimes competing linkages between the different values of the sea and its manifold connections with events ashore. Law enforcement at sea faces a variety of special legal constraints, even though the 'universality' of the crime of piracy and such specific dispensations as the UN Convention of 1988 on the Illegal Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances provides a universal legal framework for the activity. The maintenance of good order at sea requires an improved level of awareness, effective policy and integrated governance, all of which need to be thought about at the strategic, operational and tactical levels.
