Abstract
The legal framework that regulates the mechanism of the law of the sea is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The scope of the UNCLOS has gone well beyond defining states’ national coastal territories, and has included the protection of trade, the environment, and maritime zones in its contents. This continued legal evolution faces emerging challenges of legal issues in sea territories, such as defining maritime zones. More particularly, it faces difficulties in numerating the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the unclear low-water marks (which are normally the baseline), and national jurisdictions along disparate coastal lines. Baselines are the starting points from where all seaward territories and maritime zones are calculated. Any landward waters before the baseline, toward land, are called internal waters and are considered within the national territories of a coastal state. To enjoy sovereignty over these waters, and to maintain historical fishing and other rights, nations mark their boundaries as baselines over these waters. Unsurprisingly, these baselines customarily use natural low-water marks over coastal regions as dividing lines between internal waters and seaward waters. These lines have been traditionally marked in geometrical patterns in accordance with the general direction of the coasts, which have been customarily drawn in straight lines—contrary to the general rule of low-water marks—to denote national boundaries. To enjoy the economic benefits of internal waters and increase their national territories, coastal states have started to generously mark straight baselines along their coasts. Consequently, countries with known or unknown parallel interests over internal waters and maritime zones contest these demarcations. For these reasons, this paper will set out the legal mechanisms and the complex issues regarding the demarcation of baselines, and will more particularly explore excessive demarcation of straight baselines in state practices.
Recommended Citation
Waseem A. Qureshi,
State Practices of Straight Baselines Institute Excessive Maritime Claims,
42
S. Ill. U. L.J.
421
(2018).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol42/iss3/2