In April 2002, the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs at the University of Hamburg started its work. It was established through the cooperation of various disciplines including ecology, meteorology, economics, and law. The twelve scholars at this school represent many institutions: the University of Hamburg Institutes for Oceanography, for Maritime Law and the Law of the Sea, and for Foreign and International Private Law, and the Max Planck Institutes for Meteorology, for International Law, and for Comparative and International Private Law. Anyone familiar with the peculiarities of research knows that such interdisciplinary research is rather uncommon. Indeed, there does not appear to be another Max Planck Research School that involves such a wide range of disciplines. Lawyers may well consider interdisciplinary research simply to be a private lawyer and a public lawyer discussing the same subject. In recent years, interdisciplinary research in law and economics or law and social and political science has become more common; but cooperation between lawyers and scientists remains exceptional. What has been the reason for this willingness to cooperate? It is a common observation that the increased use of maritime space for various potentially conflicting purposes requires intensified research into marine affairs. Scientists who have dealt with the ecological aspects of the increased use of the seas have deplored that their warnings of a long-term deterioration of the marine environment have had little effect in political and legal arenas. Economists have started to consider the marine environment a scarce resource, and as a consequence, economic theories on the efficient use of scarce resources are becoming relevant to the exploitation of the seas. The legal regulations pertaining to specific aspects of maritime law have been the concern of lawyers for many years. In fact, maritime law conventions focusing on single issues such as collisions at sea were already being negotiated more than 100 years ago. However, during the last twenty years a new phenomenon has aroused the interest of legal scholars, namely, the increasing