South East Asia has always had maritime conflicts. In this these disputes have increased in intensity in recent years. A population increase couple a with a lotion material expectations has put greater pressure on the limited resources in the region. Within this context. Damon Bristow discusses in detail the different areas of conflict in the region concluding that unless a climate of greater trust between the nations involved is nurtured, the effectiveness of regional groupings such as ASEAN and the ARF in solving the increasing number of disputes while still important, will be limited.