With the explosion of national, international, and multinational actors becoming involved in ocean exploitation, concern has arisen over how this common resource is to be managed. One focus of these concerns has been with those international organizations already involved in ocean issues. The subject of this book is one of those international organizations, the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) and how it operates. The tasks and functioning of IMCO have not only been neglected by observers of international organization, but are unknown to many of those individuals specifically concerned with the operation of the1Specialized Agencies of the United Nations system.