Book excerpt: The number of global instruments affecting the law of marine environmental protection--both `soft' and `hard' law--grows constantly. Regional organizations have become increasingly concerned with matters affecting traditional freedoms of the seas. As a result, the law in this area has rapidly expanded, often creating competing or conflicting rules. Competing Norms in the Law of Marine Environmental Protection contains edited versions of the papers presented at a conference in the andÅland Islands, Finland, in August 1996, convened by the Department of Law of andÅbo Akademi University, Finland. It provides a detailed examination of current legal issues relating to the variety of rules and rule-makers in the field of marine environmental protection. It then goes further, relating the recent developments to international law in a wider context. The legal regime regulating ship safety and pollution prevention provides an excellent illustration of contemporary trends of international law in general and of the law of the sea and international environmental law in particular.