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A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
's water surface areas using
physiographic Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...
or
geopolitical Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...
criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase
General info
retrieved 19 Nov 2010
encompassing maritime features, limits and zones.Geoscience Australia
Maritime definitions
retrieved 19 Nov 2010
Generally, a maritime boundary is delineated at a particular distance from a jurisdiction's coastline. Although in some countries the term ''maritime boundary'' represents
border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
s of a maritime nation that are recognized by the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...
, maritime borders usually serve to identify the edge of
international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
. Maritime boundaries exist in the context of
territorial waters The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...
,
contiguous zone The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...
s, and exclusive economic zones; however, the terminology does not encompass
lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
or
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
boundaries, which are considered within the context of land boundaries. Some maritime boundaries have remained indeterminate despite efforts to clarify them. This is explained by an array of factors, some of which involve regional problems. The delineation of maritime boundaries has strategic, economic and environmental implications.


Terminology

The terms
boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment *Boundaries (2016 film), ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film *Boundaries (2018 film), ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip ...
,
frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...
and
border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
are often used as if they were interchangeable, but they are also terms with precise meanings. A boundary is a line. The terms "frontier", "borderland" and "border" are zones of indeterminate width. Such areas form the outermost part of a country. Borders are bounded on one side by a national boundary. There are variations in the specific terminology of maritime boundary agreements which have been concluded since the 1970s. Such differences are less important than what is being delimited.


Features

Features that affect maritime boundaries include
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
s and the submerged seabed of the
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
. The process of
boundary delimitation Boundary delimitation (or simply delimitation) is the drawing of boundaries, particularly of electoral precincts, Federated state, states, counties or other municipalities.
in the
ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
encompasses the
natural prolongation The natural prolongation principle or principle of natural prolongation is a legal concept introduced in maritime claims submitted to the United Nations. The phrase denotes a concept of political geography and international law that a nation's mar ...
of
geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
features and outlying territory. The process of establishing "positional" borders encompasses the distinction between previously resolved and never-resolved controversies.


Limits

The limits of maritime boundaries are expressed in
polyline In geometry, a polygonal chain is a connected series of line segments. More formally, a polygonal chain is a curve specified by a sequence of points (A_1, A_2, \dots, A_n) called its vertices. The curve itself consists of the line segments co ...
s and in
polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
layers of sovereignty and control, calculated from the declaration of a baseline. The conditions under which a state may establish such baseline are described in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). A baseline of a country can be the low water line, a straight baseline (a line that encloses bays, estuaries, inland waters,...) or a combination of the two.


Classification

Maritime spaces can be divided into the following groups based on their legal status: * Maritime spaces under the sovereignty and authority (exercising power) of a coastal State: internal waters, territorial sea, and archipelagic waters, * Maritime spaces with mixed legal regime, which fall under both the jurisdiction of the coastal State and under the international law: contiguous zone, the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone, and * Maritime spaces that can be used by all States (including land-locked ones) on an equal basis: high seas.  While many maritime spaces can be classified as belonging to the same group, this does not imply that they all have the same legal regime. International straits and canals have their own legal status as well.


Zones

The zones of maritime boundaries are expressed in concentric limits surrounding coastal and feature baselines. * Inland waters—the zone inside the baseline. * Territorial sea—the zone extending 12 nm. from the baseline. * Contiguous zone—the area extending 24 nm. from the baseline. * Exclusive Economic Zone—the area extending 200 nm. from the baseline except when the space between two countries is less than 400 nm. In the case of overlapping zones, the boundary is presumed to conform to the
equidistance principle The equidistance principle, or principle of equidistance, is a legal concept in maritime boundary claims that a nation's maritime boundaries should conform to a median line that is equidistant from the shores of neighboring nations. The concept was ...
or it is explicitly described in a multilateral treaty. Contemporary negotiations have produced
tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...
and
quadripoint A quadripoint is a point on Earth where four distinct territories meet. The territories can be of different types, such as national and provincial. In North America, several such places are commonly known as Four Corners. Several examples exist ...
determinations. For example, in the 1982
Australia–France Marine Delimitation Agreement The Australia–France Marine Delimitation Agreement is a 1982 treaty between Australia and France which establishes ocean borders between Australian territories and French territories.Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). ; Charney, Jonathan I. ''et al.'' ...
, for the purposes of drawing the treaty's equidistant lines it was assumed that France has sovereignty over
Matthew and Hunter Islands Hunter Island and Matthew Island are two small and uninhabited high islands in the South Pacific, located east of New Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu archipelago. Hunter Island and Matthew Island, apart, are claimed by Vanuatu as part o ...
, a territory that is also claimed by
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
. The northernmost point in the boundary is a tripoint with the
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
. The boundary runs in a roughly north–south direction and then turns and runs west–east until it almost reaches the 170th meridian east.Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). ; Charney, Jonathan I. ''et al.'' (1993). ''International Maritime Boundaries,'' Vol. 1, p. 905; Charney, (1998).


History

The concept of maritime boundaries is a relatively new concept. The historical record is a backdrop for evaluating border issues. The evaluation of historic rights are governed by distinct legal regimes in customary international law, including research and analysis based on * acquisition and occupationJagota, S. P. * the existence of rights ''
ipso facto is a Latin phrase, directly translated as "by the fact itself", which means that a specific phenomenon is a ''direct'' consequence, a resultant ''effect'', of the action in question, instead of being brought about by a previous action. It is a ...
'' and ''
ab initio ''Ab initio'' ( ) is a Latin term meaning "from the beginning" and is derived from the Latin ''ab'' ("from") + ''initio'', ablative singular of ''initium'' ("beginning"). Etymology Circa 1600, from Latin, literally "from the beginning", from ab ...
''. The study of treaties on maritime boundaries is important as (a) as a source of general or particular international law; (b) as evidence of existing customary law; and (c) as evidence of the emerging development of custom. The development of "customary law" affects all nations. The attention accorded this subject has evolved beyond formerly-conventional norms like the
three-mile limit The three-mile limit refers to a traditional and now largely obsolete conception of the international law of the seas which defined a country's territorial waters, for the purposes of trade regulation and exclusivity, as extending as far as the r ...
.


Treaties

Multilateral treaties and documents describing the baselines of countries can be found on the website of the United Nations. For example, the Australia–France Marine Delimitation Agreement establishes ocean boundaries between Australia and New Caledonia in the Coral Sea (including the boundary between Australia's Norfolk Island and New Caledonia). It consists of 21 straight-line maritime segments defined by 22 individual coordinate points forming a modified equidistant line between the two territories.


Disputes

Controversies about territorial waters tend to encompass two dimensions: (a) territorial sovereignty, which are a legacy of history; and (b) relevant jurisdictional rights and interests in maritime boundaries, which are mainly due to differing interpretations of the law of the sea. An example of this may be reviewed in the context of the ongoing Kuwait-Iraq maritime dispute over the Khawr Abd Allah waterway. Many disputes have been resolved through negotiations, but not all of them.


Unresolved maritime boundaries

Among the array of unsettled disputes, the maritime borders of the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea represent a visually stark contrast. A western line of military control between the two Koreas was unilaterally established by the
United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, an ...
in 1953.Elferink, Alex G. Oude. (1994). Kim, Kwang-Tae
"After Exchange of Fire, N. Korea Threatens More Strikes on South,"
''Time'' (US). 23 Nov 2010.
Although the North asserts a differently configured boundary line, there is no dispute that a few small islands close to the North Korean coastline have remained jurisdiction of the United Nations since 1953. The map at the right shows the differing maritime boundary lines of the two Koreas. The ambits of these boundaries encompass overlapping jurisdictional claims. The explicit differences in the way the boundary lines are configured is shown in the map at the right. In a very small area, this represents a unique illustration of differences in mapping and delineation strategies. * On one hand, the boundary line created by the United Nations ("A") reflects the geographic features of the coastal baseline. * On the other hand, while the boundary line declared by North Korea does acknowledge specific non-DPRK island enclaves, its "Military Demarcation Line" in the ocean ("B") is essentially a straight line. Violent clashes in these disputed waters include what are known as the first Yeonpyeong incident, the second Yeonpyeong incident, and the
Bombardment of Yeonpyeong A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects ...
.Kim, Kwang-Tae
"After Exchange of Fire, N. Korea Threatens More Strikes on South,"
''Time'' (US). 23 Nov 2010


See also

*
List of countries and territories by land and maritime borders This is a list of countries and territories by land and maritime borders. For each country or territory, the number and identity of other countries and territories that neighbor it are listed. Land borders and maritime boundaries are included a ...
*
List of political and geographic borders Boundaries Below are separate lists of countries and dependencies with their land boundaries, and lists of which countries and dependencies border oceans and major seas. The first short section describes the borders or edges of continents and ...
* Exclusive Economic Zone * Arctic Cooperation and Politics *
Territorial claims in the Arctic The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and international waters above the Arctic Circle (66 degrees 33 minutes North latitude). All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the ...
*
International Seabed Authority The International Seabed Authority (ISA) (french: Autorité internationale des fonds marins) is a Kingston, Jamaica-based intergovernmental body of 167 member states and the European Union established under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of ...
* Beagle Channel Arbitration *
South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) was an inter-governmental regional organisation dedicated to providing services to promote sustainable development in the countries it serves. In 2010, its functions had been transferred to ...
*
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...
*
Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice has jurisdiction in two types of cases: contentious cases between states in which the court produces binding rulings between states that agree, or have previously agreed, to submit to the ruling of the court; and a ...
*
Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...


Notes


References

* Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). ''International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas.'' Routledge: New York.
OCLC 54061586
* Carleton, Chris; Shelagh Furness and Clive Schofield. (2001). ''Developments in the Technical Determination of Maritime Space: Delimitation, Dispute Resolution, Geographical Information Systems and the Role of the Technical Expert.'' Durham, UK: IBRU.
OCLC 248943759
* Charney, Jonathan I., David A. Colson, Robert W. Smith. (2005). ''International Maritime Boundaries,'' 5 vols. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ; ; ; ;
OCLC 23254092
* Elferink, Alex G. Oude, (1994). ''The Law of Maritime Boundary Delimitation: a Case Study of the Russian Federation.'' Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.
OCLC 123566768
* Jagota, S. P. (1985). ''Maritime Boundary.'' Martinis Nijhoff: Dordrecht. ;
OCLC 1175640
* Koo, Min Gyu. (2010). ''Disputes and Maritime Regime Building in East Asia.'' Dordrecht: Springer.
OCLC 626823444
* Kratochwil, Friedrich V., Paul Rohrlich, Harpreet Mahajan. (1985). ''Peace and Disputed Sovereignty.'' Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. ;
OCLC 12550771
* Prescott, John Robert Victor and Gillian D. Triggs. (2008). ''International Frontiers and Boundaries: Law, Politics and Geography.'' Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff.
OCLC 212375790
* __________. (1985). ''The Maritime Political Boundaries of the World.'' London: Methuen.
OCLC 12582178
* Valencia, Mark J. (2001). ''Maritime Regime Building: Lessons Learned and Their Relevance for Northeast Asia.'' The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
OCLC 174100966


Further reading

* Donaldson, John and Alison Williams. "Understanding Maritime Jurisdictional Disputes: The East China Sea and Beyond," ''
Journal of International Affairs The ''Journal of International Affairs'' is a biannual academic journal covering foreign affairs. It is edited by graduate students at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. It was established in 1947 as a nonprofit ...
,'' Vol. 59, No. 1.


External links

*
US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

Limits in the Seas
*
Flanders Marine Institute The Flanders Marine Institute (Dutch: Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, VLIZ) provides a focal point for marine scientific research in Flanders, northern Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium ...

VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase


by Malcolm Shaw entitled ''Principles of Maritime Delimitation'' in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maritime Boundaries