Türkçe ansiklopedi, sözlük, genel başvuru ve bilgi sitesi   
  		  Yardım
  Rastgele    

Territorial Sea

Enlarge picture
Map of Sealand and the United Kingdom, with territorial water claims of 3 NM and 12 NM shown.


Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles (but possibly less, at the coastal country's discretion) from the mean low water mark of a littoral state that is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, except that foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it.[1]

A sovereign state has complete jurisdiction over internal waters, where not even innocent passage is allowed. Territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles (22.224 km) from the mean low water mark adjacent to land, or from internal waters, as per the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The mean low water mark may be an unlimited distance from permanently exposed land, provided that some portion of elevations exposed at low tide but covered at high tide (like mud flats) is within 12 nautical miles of permanently exposed land. Completely enclosed seas, lakes, and rivers are considered internal waters, as are waters landward of lines connecting fringing islands along a coast or landward of lines across the mouths of rivers that flow into the sea. Bays are defined as indentations between headlands having an area greater than that of a semicircle. If they do not exceed 24 nautical miles (44.4 km) between headlands then they are internal waters; if their entrance is wider, then that portion landward of a 24 nautical miles straight line that touches opposite low-water marks across the bay positioned to contain the greatest water area are internal waters. All archipelagic waters within the outermost islands of an archipelagic state like Indonesia or the Philippines are also considered internal waters.

Control over a contiguous zone, up to an additional 24−N nautical miles beyond the territorial sea, where the territorial sea is N nautical miles wide, N≤12, is permitted by a coastal nation to "prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations". The United States invoked a contiguous zone on 24 September 1999.[2]

Conflicts still occur whenever a coastal nation claims an entire gulf as its territorial waters while other nations only recognize the more restrictive definitions of the UN convention. Two recent conflicts occurred in the Gulf of Sidra where Libya has claimed the entire gulf as its territorial waters and the U.S. has twice violently enforced freedom of navigation rights (Gulf of Sidra incident (1981), Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)).

An exclusive economic zone extends for 200 nautical miles (370 km) beyond the baselines of the territorial sea, thus it includes the territorial sea and its contiguous zone.[3] A coastal nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources. However, it cannot regulate or prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or under the surface of the sea, whether innocent or belligerent, within that portion of its exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea. Before 1982, coastal nations arbitrarily extended their territorial waters in an effort to control activities which are now regulated by the exclusive economic zone, such as offshore oil exploration or fishing rights (see Cod War). Indeed, the exclusive economic zone is still popularly, though erroneously, called a coastal nation's territorial waters.

The continental shelf of a coastal nation extends out to its continental margin, but at least 200 nautical miles from the baselines of its territorial sea. The continental margin is defined by a series of points not more than 60 nautical miles (111 km) apart where the thickness of sedimentary rocks is at least one per cent of the height of the continental shelf above the foot of the continental slope, but not more than 60 nautical miles inshore from it. The foot of the continental slope is where the maximum change in the gradient of the seabed occurs. The continental margin cannot exceed 350 nautical miles (648 km) beyond the baselines of the territorial sea or 100 nautical miles (185 km) beyond the 2,500-metre depth, unless "natural components of the continental margin, such as its plateaux, rises, caps, banks and spurs" but not submarine ridges are farther out. The coastal nation has control of all resources on or under its continental shelf, living or not, but no control over any living organisms above the shelf that are beyond its exclusive economic zone.[4] Ireland has become one of the first countries to define its continental shelf in accordance with the UN convention.[5]

Pirate radio broadcasting from artificial marine fixtures or anchored ships can be controlled by the affected coastal nation or other nations wherever that broadcast may originate, whether in the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf or even on the high seas.[6]

Thus a coastal nation has total control over its internal waters, slightly less control over territorial waters, and ostensibly even less control over waters within the contiguous zones. However, it has total control of economic resources within its exclusive economic zone as well as those on or under its continental shelf.

From the eighteenth century until the mid twentieth century, the territorial waters of the British Empire, the United States, France and many other nations were three nautical miles (6 km) wide. Originally, this was the length of a cannon shot, hence the portion of an ocean that a sovereign state could defend from shore. However, Iceland claimed two nautical miles (3.7 km), Norway claimed four nautical miles (7.4 km), and Spain claimed six nautical miles (11.1 km) during this period. During incidents such as nuclear weapons testing and fisheries disputes some nations arbitrarily extended their maritime claims to as much as fifty or even two hundred nautical miles. Since the late 20th century the "12 mile limit" has become almost universally accepted. The United Kingdom extended its territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles in 1987.

Throughout this article, distances measured in nautical miles are exact legal definitions, while those in kilometres are approximate conversions that are not stated in any law or treaty.

Territorial sea claims

Special cases

Contiguous zone claims

Notes

1. ^ UN Convention on the Law or the Sea: Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone
2. ^ U.S. Vice President announces contiguous zone
3. ^ UN Convention on the Law or the Sea: Exclusive Economic Zone
4. ^ UN Convention on the Law or the Sea: Continental Shelf
5. ^ Ireland's continental shelf
6. ^ UN Convention on the Law or the Sea: High Seas (Article 109)

See also

External link

1 nautical mile =
SI units
0 m 0 km
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 mi
A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length.
..... Click the link for more information.
Littoral refers to the coast of an ocean or sea, or to the banks of a river, lake or estuary. It is usually used as an adjective, but may also be used as a noun. The littoral zone is defined as the area between the high water and low water marks.
..... Click the link for more information.
Innocent passage is a concept in Admiralty law which allows for a vessel to pass through the territorial waters of another state subject to certain restrictions. The United States Department of Defense defines innocent passage as:
..... Click the link for more information.
Sovereignty is the exclusive right to complete political (e.g. legislative, judicial, and/or executive) control over an area of governance, people, or oneself. A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority, subject to no other.
..... Click the link for more information.
jurisdiction (from the Latin ius, iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak") is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to
..... Click the link for more information.
A nation's internal waters covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline from which a nation's territorial waters is defined. It includes watersways such as rivers and canals, and sometimes the water within small bays.
..... Click the link for more information.
United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention and the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Convention [Conference] on the Law of the Sea, which took
..... Click the link for more information.
headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. A bay is the reverse, rather an area of water bordered by land on three sides. A large headland may also be called a peninsula. Long, narrow and high headlands may be called promontories.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"Bhinneka Tunggal Ika"   (Old Javanese)
"Unity in Diversity"
National ideology: Pancasila[1]
Anthem
Indonesia Raya
..... Click the link for more information.
Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
September 24 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events


..... Click the link for more information.
20th century - 21st century
1960s  1970s  1980s  - 1990s -  2000s  2010s  2020s
1996 1997 1998 - 1999 - 2000 2001 2002

Year 1999 (MCMXCIX
..... Click the link for more information.
Gulf of Sidra is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya; it is also known as Gulf of Sirte. It is located by the city of Sirte.

Tuna fishing is of economical importance in the Gulf.
..... Click the link for more information.
The United States' Freedom of Navigation program challenges territorial claims on the world's oceans and airspace that are considered excessive by the United States, using diplomatic protests and/or by interference.
..... Click the link for more information.
Gulf of Sidra incident, August 19 1981, was an incident in which two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter fighter jets engaged and were shot down by two US F-14 Tomcats off of the Libyan coast.
..... Click the link for more information.
Gulf of Sidra incident, January 4, 1989, occurred when two US F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger Es that appeared to be attempting to engage them, as had happened previously in the first Gulf of Sidra incident (1981).
..... Click the link for more information.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources.

Definition

Generally a state's EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coast.
..... Click the link for more information.
A belligerent is an individual, group, country or other entity which acts in an aggressive or hostile manner, such as engaging in combat.

In times of war, belligerent countries can be contrasted with neutral countries and non-belligerents.
..... Click the link for more information.
Oil exploration is the search by petroleum geologists for hydrocarbon deposits beneath the Earth's surface. Oil and gas exploration are grouped under the science of petroleum geology.
..... Click the link for more information.
Cod Wars (also called the Iceland Cod Wars) were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights near the coast of Iceland.
..... Click the link for more information.
continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs.
..... Click the link for more information.
The term Pirate Radio usually refers to illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcast for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation.
..... Click the link for more information.
The terms international waters or trans-boundary 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 regional seas and estuaries, rivers,
..... Click the link for more information.
British Empire was the largest empire in history and for a substantial time was the foremost global power. It was a product of the European age of discovery, which began with the maritime explorations of the 15th century, that sparked the era of the European colonial empires.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"


..... Click the link for more information.
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 reach of cannons fired from land.
..... Click the link for more information.
cannon is any large tubular firearm designed to fire a heavy projectile over a long distance. They were first used in China, and were the archetypal form of artillery. The first cannon in Europe probably appeared in Islamic and Christian Spain.
..... Click the link for more information.
Anthem
Lofsöngur

Location of  Iceland

..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.