| ISea is a storehouse of resources and also an indispensable part of natural environment. According to the difference of legal status, sea can be divided into inter waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, archipelagic water, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf, high seas, international seabed and international straits. On the view of geographic distribution, the paper divides natural resources of earth into land resources and marine resources. Marine resources include all resources existing in the sea and belong to composite resources system. The term is a collective concept. Marine resources are characteristic of nature, scarcity or limitation, integrity, multi-purposes or multi-adoptability and rationality. Marine resources can be divided in different ways.In light of geographical position of storage, marine resources generally include two types, sea water resources and sea island resources. Natural resources storing in inter waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf are sea water resources. Coastal line and offshore resources also mostly belong to sea water resources. And in general, high seas and international seabed are"sea waters"and resources storing in them should not be ruled by any sovereign state in term of"freedom of high seas"principle. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea regularizes the exploitation, usage and protection of resources in these areas. This issue is intersection of research in the paper and international law of sea and not the focus of author. So the study scope of the paper is the protection of sea waters and sea island resources in view of marine resources mainly distributing in sea waters and Sea Islands geographically. But considering the importance, the paper emphasizes on study on sea water resources. The sea waters are not only the carriers of natural resources, but also the resources per se, related to land resources. Islands and sea are interdependent and indivisible, but have resources and ecological particularity respectively. Island resources are different from land resources, either sea water resources, and possess the two and have characteristics of land and sea integration.It is very necessary to protect marine resources. For one thing, it is an inevitable choice deriving from the historical lessons of resources having been severely destroyed and ecological environment hardly recovered. For another, the current situation of marine resources explosion makes it a need to reassess current protection and management system of marine resources and attach importance to the protection of marine resources.The legal system of marine resources protection is a combination of legal regulations that rule social relationships generating from the course of marine resources protection. It systematizes the regulations on reasonable explosion and protection of marine resources. Theories closely related to legal system of marine resources include real right theory; resources value theory, ecological security theory, administrative power theory, etc. The formation of a perfect legal system of marine resources protection must be aided by these theories and viewpoints. A legal system of marine resources protection is made up of some legal systems which include marine resources property right, marine resources security, sustainable use of marine resources and integrated marine management.IIThe legal system of marine resources property right is the crucial issue connected with marine resources use and protection. Unclear property right and dislocated right owner primarily give rise to destructive explosion and use of marine resources. Making clear property right of marine resources is a major issue for protecting and sustainable using of marine resources. Understanding historical sources and related theories of property right of marine resources is very helpful for expounding right sources of marine resources, understanding development stages of a marine legal system and then improving the legal system of marine resources protection.Marine resources are among important natural resources. Knowing about commonness and general provisions of legal system of property right of natural resources will help us further discuss property right of marine resources. Use right of natural resources, real right and quasi real right are not of inter-containing relations. Use right and real right are of crossing relations. The cross section is part of usufruct right and must be real-rightized. Traditional private law's legal system of real right can not theoretically explain legal system of property right of natural resources. The legal system of real right of sea waters is tightly related to that of natural resources. Real right of sea waters establishes only when sea waters are regarded as natural resources themselves and as objects of real right. If sea waters are regarded as a carrier of other marine resources and usage of sea waters is to excavate nature resources storing there, the use of sea waters doesn't establish real right of civil law.National ownership of marine resources includes ownership of sea waters and ownership of sea islands. Ownership of sea waters is a mother right of use right of sea waters. Making clear the ownership of sea waters is the first step to creating a legal system of use of sea waters. It is an exclusive right enjoyed by the nation to occupy, use, harvest and dispose sea waters of certain range. Acknowledgment on property right of sea waters and sea islands are ambiguous because there are no explicit literal expressions in our constitutional statutes. To analyze from history and reality, sea waters resources and non-resident islands resources must be classified among"other nature resources", which is not defined in constitutional law but owned by the state. Resident islands resources are multiple. Some of them are owned by the state, some of them are owned by the collectives.The use right of sea waters refers to the exclusive right of user of certain sea waters lawfully acquired by the companies or individuals. It is of derivativeness, object particularity, exclusiveness, domination, public notification, usufruct, reparability and time limit. The right of sea water possesses the basic characters of usufruct rights, and it is a typical type of usufruct right. The newly enacted Real Law has fully supported the nature of use right of sea waters. Nevertheless, according to the preference application principle of special law, the concrete content of this right should still be regulated by the Management Law of Sea Waters, which is more of a public law.Except for the use right of sea waters, there are still other types of rights concerning marine resources utilization, including the rights of using the sea waters and exploiting natural resources, e.g., marine mining right and fishery right, the right of using the islands, and the ownership of sea shores, etc. Other rights include the ownership of the"land"that is filled on the seas, the buildings constructed on seas, the use right of seabed, the use right of marine energy, the multi-level utilization in the right of sea waters, etc.The island ownership system covers the ownership and the use right of islands. The latter is indeed a particular type of use right of land which is divided into right of depopulated islands and right of populated islands. These two are distinctly different. The registry system of the use right of island includes the managerial system of island ownership, the registration system of island right, the repayable utilization system of islands.The use right of sea waters is an important issue needed to be solved in legislation of real right. Before China's Real Law was enacted, there had been enthusiastic debates and discussions in the academic field on whether the use right of sea waters should be defined in the Draft Real Law and how to make rules on the right of fishery. The newly enacted Real Law make provision in principle on sea waters, and make provision on right of mine-detecting, mine-digging, right of water-taking and right of fishing, which is of great significance.IIIEcological security and natural resources security are both distinguishable and connected. Natural resources security is the central and non-separable part of ecological security. Geographically speaking, natural resources security is divided into land resources security and marine resources security. Marine resources security shares the same level of importance with land resources security. It is an important part of ecological security as well as nation security. Marine resources security and marine resources protection are two concepts that complement each other. The ideal status of marine resources protection is marine resources security. The marine resources could be secured only when they are efficiently protected. The marine resources security system constitutes an importance element in constructing the legal system of marine resources protection.The marine resources security problems caused by exhaustion, pollution and destruction of the marine resources have attracted popular attention. The marine resources security means a status when a nation or a region could sustainably, stably, sufficiently and economically obtain the marine resources and could keep the resources free from irrevocable destruction. This status is not merely a balance between supply and demand; it is also a favorable and recyclable use of marine resources so that the resources could constantly and stably meet the needs of national economy and social development.Geopolitically speaking, marine resources security has been in the frontier of security strategy of one nation, as it involves national sovereignty marine rights when referring to nation defense and diplomatic affairs. In the nature, marine resources security indeed is a sort of national economy security. Marine resources are a key element that confines economy development of a nation or a region. In a philosophical status, marine resources security is dynamic. The change of any element or level could result in the chain reaction. Marine resources security could be categorized in different ways. Marine resources security occupies a tremendous importance position in the national security system. It plays an increasing role in the development of politics, environment, economy and society.The main elements that damage marine resources security of our nation cover the destruction and pollution of marine resources, the invasion of the exotic halo bios, the strikes for the marine rights among nations, etc. We must perfect the following legal systems to protect the marine resources security of our nation: the system of dividing the marine function zones, the system of marine nature reserve, the system of prevention of exotic halo bios, the solution and system of reconciliation of marine dissensions among nations, the alarm system of marine disasters, the evaluation system of marine biography security, the inspection system of marine resources, the dealing system of pollution-eliminating system, the administration system of marine construction projects, the evaluation system of environmental affections, etc.IVTo study sustainable use of marine resources, we should start from the theory of sustainable development. The sustainable use of marine resources means the marine resources could be used in a sustainable way. On one hand, for renewable marine resources, sustainable use refers to the use of marine resources in the precondition that it keeps the best ability to recycle. On the other hand, for nonrenewable resources, sustainable use refers to the preservation of marine resources and the way of using them without exhausting the resources. As for nonrenewable marine resources, we must preserve it for the interest of our descendants when we want it to meet the need of the contemporary generation.Sustainable use of marine resources is of sustainability, moderation, fairness, effectiveness, strategy, etc. The basic elements that could influence sustainable use of marine resource include the richness of resources, the capacity of environment, population, culture, economical development and the levels of science and technology. Sustainable use of marine resources is of realistic significance in China, and it is in accordance with our social and economic development.To establish the system of sustainable use of marine resources, we must prove that free and unstrained use of them is wrong. Thus we must demonstrate the thesis"marine resources are valuable". The answer could be found from exploiting the theory of natural resources value. The labor value theory, the utility value theory and the scarcity value theory on natural resources could be used to explain the value of natural resources to some extent. But there are still deficiencies. The theory of natural resources value could be revealed when the above-mentioned theories could be used complementarily with the considering of economic, ecological and social value of natural resources.The focus of the theory of marine resources value should be on the demonstration of the value of marine resources that naturally exist. It must be proved that marine resources have its existence value, and that they could demonstrate their value as a unity without being devaluated when they enter the market after they are exploited. The method that proves natural resources having their value could be also used to prove that of marine resources. And we can't simply use traditional value theory to demonstrate the value of marine resources which means that theories of the utility value, labor value and scarcity value could be comprehensively used. The value of marine resources can also be explored from the aspects of economic value, ecological value and social value.China's free use system has been sustained in the exploitation of marine resources. The damage and waste made by this was widespread. It is imperative to practice a system of use of resources with compensation. This has been applied in the legislations of most nations in sea water utilization.There exist three basic interest requirements for marine resources: exploiting, utilizing and protecting. The concept of"exploiting"should be abandoned or conservatively used. The concepts of"utilizing"and"protecting", on the contrary, should be promoted. When explaining the concept of"utilizing"marine resources, the best answer is to"reasonably use". The"protecting"of marine resources is the general concept when human society undertakes to ensure reasonable exploitation and sustainable use of marine resources. The main task of"protecting"marine resources is to ensure the resources could be reasonably used and is to prevent it from being destroyed or wasted. In this sense,"protection"and"reasonable use"are not in conflict with each other. They are the two sides of one coin.The strategy of exploiting marine resources could be as follows: resources in the medium and long term can be exploited firstly; and in medium and long term the resources in the controversial sea waters should be exploited firstly; and then the exploitation actions could be taken in the sea waters which are wholly controlled by our nation. It is imperative to protect resources in the coastal zones and off shores. The renewable resources off shores should be reasonably used; the exploiting of the nonrenewable resources off shores should be restrained.VMarine management is a comprehensive concept, and the core content is marine resources management, whose aim is to protect and reasonably and sustainably use marine resources.The comprehensive marine management has been gradually developed from marine management, and is the basic tendency of the evolution of marine management. Comprehensive marine management could be seen as an advanced modality of marine management. The comprehensive marine management could be defined as the comprehensive collaboration and management of the space, resources and interest of the sea waters within the sovereignty of one nation. Aiming at the realization of the comprehensive interest of sea waters of a nation, sea waters should be managed through certain strategies, policies, programs, area-division, legislations and justice. This comprehensive management shall be undertaken in the system of the combination of unified management and the management by separate governmental departments at different levels. The final goals are to advance systematic efficacy of the use of marine resources, to collaborate the development of marine economy and to protect marine resources and the environment.Many coastal states have reevaluated their marine policies and have set up new marine developing strategies so as to strengthen comprehensive marine management. They have established comprehensive marine management organs and departments as well as powerful, effective and energetic judicial teams. These systems and the superior management experiences deserve our attention to learn.Currently China carries out a marine management mode of a combination of unified management and the management by separate governmental departments at different levels. This mode is an extension of the powers of the inland resources exploitation management organs. Different governmental departments have exploited and planned marine resources in accordance with their own interests. China's marine managerial organs involve departments of marine administration, environmental protection, marine transportation, fishery administration, customs and frontier defense, marine courts, navy, etc. And the marine judicial administration is executed by many governmental departments. These different organs involved in these managerial affairs result in ambiguity of administrative responsibilities. The long existence of buck-passing among these organs has directly harmed our general efficacy of the management and exploitation of our marine resources. Carrying out comprehensive marine management is inevitable.To realize the general goals of comprehensive marine management, we should adhere to the principles of planning as a whole, comprehensive exploitation, reasonable use, assigning managerial responsibilities into designated areas, reforming and innovating, making decisions in line with scientific theories. China's undertaking comprehensive marine resources needs general orientations and right strategy.Marine justice refers to the actions taken by administrative organs in accordance with legal authority and processes against the administrative counterparts, which shall directly affect the rights and obligations of the counterparts, or actions to inspect the counterparts on whether they have properly exercised their power or redeem their obligations. China's marine justice is characterized of validity, multi-administrative organs, reasonability and efficiency. Marine justice, as the special type of environmental justice, is an important content and means of comprehensive marine management. China's marine justice covers all sea waters within sovereignty, with its content involving marine environmental protection, marine resources management, sea area utilization, marine transport security and marine power. Increasing deep-rooted deficiencies in enforcing-laws by multi-organs in China have been accumulative for long time and have restrained further advancement of marine managerial quality. Such negative effect shall go severer day by day if not adjusted in time. Thus, it is of utmost necessity to build a modernized, unified, and centralized marine judicial team.VIThe legal system of marine resources protection refers to the system that is constituted by the connected, complementary and balanced laws, regulations, rules and other regulatory rules that aim at regulating social relationships that are formed when use, protect and perfect the marine resources. China has enacted a series of laws and regulations on marine resources protection and administration and has basically established the legal system of marine resources protection. Seeing from the legislative perspective, this paper holds the opinion that the system should be constituted by the following parts: constitution, laws, administrative regulation and other regulatory rules, local laws and regulations, governmental rules and other regulatory rules, international practice, etc. These regulatory rules with different legal status and effects constitute systematic instruments of the legal system of China's marine resources protection, and they are currently the main parts of the legal sources of marine resources protection system.The main laws and regulations that are directly connected with marine resources protection in China are Marine Environment Protection Law, Sea Waters Utilization Management Law, Rules on the Management of Protection and Utilization of Depopulated Islands, Rules on the Usufruct of Sea waters, and rules on the Registration of usufruct of Sea waters. There are numerous deficiencies in the system of China's marine resources protection. For instance, China's marine legislation"attaches importance to pollution prevention and cure, but ignores the resources protection", attaches importance to the exploitation and utilization, but ignores the protection or preservation of the resources". Separate laws and regulations on marine resources don't collaborate well with each other; there are still many legislative blanks, etc.The marine resources protection presses for the overall establishment and perfection of marine resources. Perfected legal system of marine resources could ensure the"managing seas"and"using seas"according to laws, so as to prevent"free, disordered and unstrained"exploitation of marine resources and to make the process in order. Thus, the overall establishment and perfection of the marine resources system should be based on protection and sustainable use of marine resources. Currently the emphasis is on the establishment and perfection of the laws and regulations on preservation of marine rights, management of using sea waters and their ownership, utilization and protection of island resources, management of coastal zones, the preservation of marine ecological security, prevention and management of the invasion of exterior halo bios, protection of the diversity of halo bios, and the marine natural preservation zones.
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