Book excerpt: West provides the first comprehensive Marine Affairs dictionary. It includes management and policy terms; procedures concepts; court cases; laws; international conventions, protocols and agreements that deal with the four subject areas of Marine Affairs. These subject areas include, in addition to coastal management, fisheries, marine policy, and ports and shipping. Marine Affairs is one of a growing number of interdisciplinary environmental disciplines that include professionals with a wide range of educational backgrounds, encompassing political science, geography, resource economics, planning, sociology, anthropology, and the natural and phsical sciences. As such, this reference dictionary is ideal for students seeking careers in Marine Affairs and a must for professionals already working in the field. The dictionary includes more than 5,000 entries and covers terms and concepts that have evolved within this emerging field. Included are important court cases and laws pertaining to marine resource management and policy. All international agreements, conventions, and protocols dealing with marine related issues have also been summarized. West provides the reader with a quick reference to marine related terms and should be invaluable for any professional responsible for managing or making policy for fisheries, coastal management, shipping, and marine policy.