Who Rules the Seven Seas?

What organizations control the oceans?

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was signed on December 10, 1982 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  There is no office here, although there are various conventions taking place here such as the Second Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections (GLOC-2) which took place October 2-4, 2013.  The US is not a member but is an observer state.

The International Seabed Authority (website: isa.org.jm)  is based in Kingston, Jamaica and controls mineral rights on the international seabeds.  It has an Assembly of all 160 member states, but apparently it has never formally met.  There are annual conferences in Jamaica.  It has a budget of about $6 million per year and a staff of about 35.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (website: itlos.org) is based in Hamburg, Germany and it has the power to settle disputes between party states that arise under the UNCLOS.  It has 21 judges and an additional 36 staff members.  It has a budget of about 21 million euros that is set by the Meeting of States Parties annually in New York.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration, located in the Hague, Netherlands arbitrates disputes between countries including maritime boundaries.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (website) was established under the Law of the Sea Convention and is a small secretive body that meets at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to rule on extended seabed authority.

The International Maritime Organization (website: imo.org) is a United Nations agency headquartered in London, UK.  It maintains a regulatory framework for shipping. It has an Assembly which meets every two years and is headed by a Secretary-General. The affiliated World Maritime University is located in Malmo, Sweden.  The International Maritime Law Institute is headquartered in Malta, on the campus of the University of Malta.  The Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) came into force in 1977.

The Seabed Arms Control Treaty (formally the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil thereof) entered into force in 1972 and currently has 94 member states.  It has review conferences held every five years in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR)  (website: ospar.org) was concluded in Paris in 1992 and updates the 1972 Oslo Dumping Convention on dumping waste at sea.  It has 15 signatory states, most of which are EU members, but it also has Iceland and Switzerland as signatories.  The OSPAR Commission Secretariat is located in London.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (website: ices.dk) is an intergovernmental science organization headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark with a staff of 51.

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is the world governing body for yacht racing and is headquartered in Southampton, UK.

The World Shipping Council is an industry trade group representing container shipping lines.  It is hedquartered in Washington, DC, US.

The Panama Maritime Authority (website: segumar.com) registers more than 20% of the world's ships by tonnage.  So, as a practical matter, most of the world's ships are regulated by Panamanian law.

Greece has the largest merchant marine fleet, owning about 16% of all the world's ships.

The largest navy is of course the US Navy, which is larger than the next 13 navies combined.  There is your answer.