Maritime regulatory authorities : struggling between national and European pressures

Abstract

Malta is surrounded by ‘The Great Sea’ that makes for a public good on which lucrative industries may thrive. Moreover the sea also serves other purposes, including cost-effective transportation and resource extraction, thereby creating competing economic activities. These activities and the markets emanating from them need to be regulated to ensure the avoidance of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ and the attainment of the common good. The benefits associated with this industry led the Maltese Government to value this sector as a core function on which Malta’s economy thrives. To this effect, over the decades, a number of proposals were set in motion to boost the maritime economic sector. In view of the importance of this industry, this paper analyses the development of regulation of Malta’s maritime sector initially through scholarly literature and then through fieldwork carried out in this area.