By
Archie D’Souza
International
trade and the movement of people are as old as civilization itself or perhaps
precede it (or rather what the West perceives it to be). Ancient peoples from India, Polynesia, and a
few other parts of the World, learnt to use the stars to navigate. During that period, though, the concept of
nationhood didn’t exist and sovereignty didn’t extend beyond a very small area. Even where empires existed, kings and lords
still held domain over the areas they controlled and as long as they paid their
tributes to the emperors’ representatives they were allowed to exist. In other words, they controlled the land and
perhaps inland waters. Control and
ownership of seas and oceans was still unknown.
At the most they held sway over coastal areas.
Since
the start of the colonial era and more so after the end of WWII, the control
and ownership of the oceans has long been a controversial topic. The expansion of maritime trade also played
an important part in giving a role to the oceans in controlling resources. Once the Europeans began to sail and trade
over the seas, and colonize the World, command of coastal areas suddenly became
important. Prior to European
expansionism and the looting that went with it, the most prosperous nations
were in the east, with India and China in top place. Neither of these nations saw the need of
powerful navies and control of the sea routes.
While the Romans and Egyptians did have navies, their reach didn’t
extend beyond their coasts. India was
ruled from Delhi by the Mughal emperor.
While, the Marathas and others did have navies, these were not
international. There is a theory and I
concur with it that because the Mughals, who ruled most of pre-colonial India,
neglected the oceans, the vacuum was filled by the British. If India and China had really powerful navies
of their own, the Europeans would never succeed in their colonial ambitions.
The
question today is – who controls the oceans or owns them? Till the twentieth century no one really
bothered. Once the colonial powers began
to lose their grip, countries began to come together to discuss a
standardization of maritime boundaries.
However, till today the situation has yet to be resolved.
While
in ancient times the rulers of kingdoms and empires didn’t bother that much, a
few did unilaterally establish maritime borders. By the 1950s though, all countries
established the limits of their jurisdiction at sea on their own. Most of them established a distance of 3
nautical miles as their borders.
However, some went beyond and claimed more. Once they proclaimed these as their
territorial waters, they considered them to be part of each country’s
jurisdictions. These areas were subject
to all of the laws of the land of that country.
From the third to the fifth decades of the last century governments,
especially the World’s big powers began to realize the value of mineral and oil
resources under the oceans. This led
individual countries to start expanding their claims to the ocean for economic
development. They called this their exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
An EEZ may be defined as UN-granted rights
and responsibilities of coastal states to control, exploit, manage, and
conserve the living and non-living resources of the sea up to 200 nautical
miles (322 Km) off their coasts, while allowing freedom of navigation to other
states beyond 20 nautical miles of their coasts. In other words, it is the maritime zone
adjacent to the territorial sea that may not extend beyond 200 nautical miles
from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is
measured. Within the EEZ, the coastal
State has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving,
and managing natural resources, both living and nonliving, of the seabed,
subsoil, and the subjacent waters and, with regard to other activities, for the
economic exploitation and exploration of the zone (e.g., the production of
energy from the water, currents, and winds).
Within the EEZ, the coastal State has jurisdiction with regard to
establishing and using artificial islands, installations, and structures having
economic purposes as well as for marine scientific research and the protection
and preservation of the marine environment. Other States may, however, exercise
traditional high seas freedoms of navigation, over-flight, and related
freedoms, such as conducting military exercises in the EEZ. Click on the link below for the text of the
UN Convention on the subject.
These applications are not universal, however. The Americans interpret things differently. In 1945, the US President Harry Truman claimed the entire continental shelf off the coasts of the United States. This extends almost 200 nm off the Atlantic coast. Similarly, in 1952, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador claimed a zone 200 nm from their shores. These unilateral announcements made the international community realize that water borders need to be standardized. Therefore the first UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I) was convened and met in 1958. Its main purpose was to discuss these and other oceanic issues. It didn’t result in a treaty. So, UNCLOS II and III were held and in 1960 and 1973 respectively.
UNCLOS III was followed by a treaty. It, among other things, attempted to tackle the boundary issue. The treaty specified that all coastal countries would have a 12 nm territorial sea and a 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Within a country’s territorial waters, the law of the land applies. Each country would control the economic exploitation and environmental quality of their EEZ. In other words, now the exclusive economic zones are the areas in the seas/oceans where other coastal nations have jurisdiction over economic and resource management. Coastal States are responsible for inshore waters out to three nm (five kilometres) of the coast.
Though the treaty has yet to be ratified or signed by some nations, most countries are adhering to its guidelines and have begun to consider themselves as having jurisdiction over a 200 nm domain. According to reports these territorial seas and EEZs occupy approximately one-third of the world ocean. This leaves two-thirds as high-seas or international waters. What happens when two countries lie closer than 400 nm apart? In such a case an EEZ boundary must be drawn between the countries. When countries are closer than 24 nm apart a median line boundary needs to be drawn between each other's territorial waters. UNCLOS protects the right of passage and even flight through and over narrow waterways. These are known as chokepoints.
Many of the old colonial powers like Britain and France still continue to control many small Pacific and Atlantic islands, especially the former. Britain insists that the Argentinean Falkland Islands is their sovereign territory. So, we have millions of square kilometres in potentially profitable ocean area under their control. Another issue in this regard is determining what constitutes enough of an area for an island to have its own EEZ. UNCLOS says that an island must remain above the water line during high tide and may not just be rocks. It must also be habitable for humans. Several issues need to be sorted out regarding the political geography of the oceans. However, it seems that most countries are following the recommendations of the 1982 treaty.
This should limit, if not eliminate, most arguments over control of the sea.
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