South  China  Sea  International  ConferenceNovember  13-­‐15,  2016,  NhaTrang,  Vietnam  

The  past  and  present  of  marinescience  in  the  South  China  Sea  Gerard  SasgesDepartment  of  Southeast  Asian  StudiesNational  University  of  Singapore

The  SCS  under  threat,  2015

Jay  Batongbacal,  “Environmental  Aggression  in  the  South  China  Sea”  

https://amti.csis.org/environmental-­‐aggression-­‐in-­‐the-­‐south-­‐china-­‐sea/

“The  impact  zone  of  China’s  activities  thus  extend  well  beyond  the  South  China  Sea:  reefs  directly  destroyed,  surrounding  areas  damaged,  fish  stocks  of  connected  waters  deprived  of  precious  breeding  grounds  and  habitats.  The  island-­‐building  spree  and  fishing  fleet  mobilization  result  not  only  in  the  deliberate  destruction  of  vital  and  productive  commons– they  also  impair  the  long-­‐term  sustainability  of  the  marine  environment  of  all  the  littoral  States  around  the  South  China  Sea.”

The  SCS  under  threat,  1932

Pierre  Chevey,  Rapport  sur  le  fonctionnementde  l’InstitutOcéanographique de  l’Indochine pendant  l’année 1931-­‐1932.  

� “Effectively,  the  government  of  the  Straits  Settlements  has  allowed  the  number  of  Japanese  fishing  enterprises  working  the  waters  around  Singapore  and  the  Federated  Malay  States  to  multiply  in  the  last  two  or  three  years……because  of  the  brutal  methods  they  employ,  such  as  dynamite  fishing,  these  Japanese  fishermen  have  been  compelled  to  travel  ever  farther  from  the  Malay  coast,  already  practically  depopulated  by  their  unregulated  activity.  It  would  be  fatal  if  the  close  proximity  of  the  coasts  of  French  Indochina  were  to  make  them  an  easy  target.”

Where  I’m  coming  from

� Political  science,  international  law,  and  science  all  matter.  � But  so  does  history.

� My  approach  is  shaped  by  insights  coming  from  the  study  of  Science,  Technology,  and  Society  (STS)

� One  key  insight  is  to  see  science  and  technology  as  coming  out  of  particular  social,  economic,  cultural,  and  political  contexts  in  particular  times  and  places.  

� In  this  paper  I’m  going  to  take  this  a  step  further  and  think  about  how  science  in  turn  informs  the  political.  

� To  do  that  I’m  going  to  focus  on  the  Indochinese  Institute  of  Oceanography  – the  forerunner  of  the  Vietnamese  Institute  of  Oceanography  located  here  in  NhaTrang  – in  the  1920s  and  30s.

� In  particular  I’ll  look  at  an  evolving  language  of  marine  protection  and  how  it  interacted  with  government  policy.

� And  then  I’ll  attempt  to  apply  some  of  the  insights  that  emerge  to  the  present  day.  

R/V  BiểnĐôngof  the  Vietnamese  Institute  of  Oceanographyc.  2000

http://www.vnio.org.vn/Home/tabid/107/ctl/Details/mid/579/ItemID/798/language/en-­‐US/Default.aspx

Multilateral  science:

JOMSRE-­‐SCS  Cruise  Track  May-­‐June  2000

(Philippines-­‐Vietnam  Joint  Oceanographic  and  Marine  Scientific  Research  Expedition   in  the  South  China  Sea)

R/V  de  Lanessan,  of  the  Indochinese  Institute  of  Oceanography,  c.  1925

Imperial  science:

Extract  of  corrected  bathymetric  chart  of  Spratly  group  resulting  from  the  1932  cruise.

Territorial  waters:  the  Institute  and  the  twelve  mile  limit

Modern  schematic  of  major  fisheries  in  the  waters  off  the  Vietnamese  coast.  

Watery  territories:  the  Institute  and  the  archipelagos

A  schematic  of  a  “phosphate   islet”   in  the  Paracels group  drawn  after  the  1931  research  cruise.

Environmental  threats:the  destructive  Japanese

Japanese  trawlers  at  anchor.

https://library.osu.edu/projects/bennett-­‐in-­‐japan/images/full/13/4.jpg

Imperial  science  +  Japanese   threat  =  slow  sovereignty:

The  French  sloop  Marne  anchored  off  Pattle Island  in  1938  as  part  of  the  mission  to  build  an  automatic  lighthouse.

Multilateral   Science

Fig.  1.  Animated  satellite  image  showing  a  sample  of  chlorophyll  concentrations  (representing  plankton)  flowing  through  the  SCS  over  a  period  of  12  months.

https://amti.csis.org/environmental-­‐aggression-­‐in-­‐the-­‐south-­‐china-­‐sea/

Nationalist   Science

Fig.  2.  Gene  flows  between  the  SCS  and  Sulu  Sea  for  certain  fish  (blue),  clams  (orange),  and  starfish  (yellow)  determined  by  marine  biologists  of  the  Marine  Science  Institute   of  the  University  of  the  Philippines.

https://amti.csis.org/environmental-­‐aggression-­‐in-­‐the-­‐south-­‐china-­‐sea/

Today,  marine  science  reflects  an  understanding  of  interdependent  ecologies  and  is  channeled  through  multilateral   initiatives   like  the  UNEP/GEF   South  China  Sea  Project  and  the  JOMSRE-­‐SCS.

Much  like  marine  science  in  the  colonial  period,  it  both  shapes  and  drives  policy  in  important  ways.  

Caught  between  orientations  of  planet  and  nation  (or  empire),  protection  and  exploitation,   its  impact  on  policy  are  ambiguous.

�