The Maritime and Ocean Affairs Center (MOAC) of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will jointly sponsor a Regional Workshop on Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) of the Southeast Asian Region on 21-23 October 2003 at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

The Workshop will be formally opened by a keynote address from Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Sonia Cataumber Brady.

Participating in said Workshop are representatives of government agencies dealing with environmental and maritime concerns from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Republic of Korea (ROK), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The concept of a PSSA was adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the conservation and protection of sensitive marine areas recognized for their ecological, socio-economic, or scientific significance that may be vulnerable to damage by international shipping activities and therefore, deserves special protection.

To date, there are only six PSSAs around the world.  They are the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Archipelago of Sabana-Camaguey in Cuba, Malpelo Island in Colombia, the Florida Keys in the United States, the Wadden Sea straddling Denmark, Germany and Netherlands, and the Paracas National Reserve in Peru.

The PSSA concept is considered appropriate for application in Southeast Asia because of the region’s abundant marine resources and rich bio-diversity.  The Workshop is intended to raise PSSA awareness in the region, through educating the concerned government agencies on procedures for PSSA establishment and enhancing the capacity of participating countries in the identification and establishment of new PSSAs.  END.