Foreign policy and governance in the South African maritime domain

Abstract

In the 2000s, when Somali piracy threatened important international trade routes, the global community came together to fight the scourge of piracy and secure sea lines of communication. More recently, irregular migration by sea has become a particularly hot topic for European nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea, while issues around fishing resources and how these are threatened by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has also garnered much interest. Indeed, these issues are of critical importance to the many countries that are now looking to the seas for economic opportunities, and in so doing, are concerned for the myriad of often interconnected activities that may threaten the sovereign rights and interests of states.