In 1983 Professor Donat Pharand spent a six-month study leave with Dalhousie Ocean Studies Programme in Halifax, Nova Scotia. For many of us at D.O.S.P., and also at Dalhousie Law School, this was a period of reunion and reacquaintance with an old friend and fellow alumnus. For students it was an introduction to one of Canada's most dynamic law teachers. For me it is a special pleasure to be asked to supply the foreword to the product of these years of labour.

There must be few readers indeed who are unaware of Professor Pharand's work and reputation in the specialized area of Arctic Ocean law and policy. His earlier book The Law of the Sea of the Arctic (University of Ottawa Press, 1973) is, of course, still one of the standard reference works in the area, but the general law of the sea has undergone major surgery in recent years, and the policy issues associated with the Arctic Ocean have assumed a more critical significance as a result of more pressing resource and industrial demands on this remote and unique environment.