Marcus Haward: Coordination and Capacity in Ocean Governance

The last decade has seen increasing attention to institutional arrangements and policy outcomes (governance) affecting the management of seas and oceans at national, regional and international levels. At the international level Australia has made important contributions to, inter alia, the moratorium on commercial whaling, ballast water management and related problems of introduced marine pests, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and (through APEC) regional support for ‘integrated ocean management’. Australia’s international actions have been matched by the development of national oceans governance initiatives including a national Oceans Policy framework. Governance is clearly linked to policy capacity. While policy capacity can be conceptualised in different ways, two key elements are first the ability to make decisions–a process or procedural dimension and second the quality of policy decisions–the substance of policy. Both elements of policy capacity are linked to developing effective ocean governance. Key agencies need to be able to maintain and extend their own capacity, and be able to display leadership in this area, but they also need to be able to work effectively with the range of other actors engaged in work that will contribute such responses. This paper examines coordination and capacity as significant variables in ocean governance