High Seas

Article 111
Right of hot pursuit

1. The hot pursuit of a foreign ship may be undertaken when the competent
authorities of the coastal State have good reason to believe that the ship
has violated the laws and regulations of that State. Such pursuit must be
commenced when the foreign ship or one of its boats is within the internal
waters, the archipelagic waters, the territorial sea or the contiguous zone
of the pursuing State, and may only be continued outside the territorial
sea or the contiguous zone if the pursuit has not been interrupted. It is
not necessary that, at the time when the foreign ship within the
territorial sea or the contiguous zone receives the order to stop, the ship
giving the order should likewise be within the territorial sea or the
contiguous zone. If the foreign ship is within a contiguous zone, as
defined in article 33, the pursuit may only be undertaken if there has been
a violation of the rights for the protection of which the zone was
established.

2. The right of hot pursuit shall apply mutatis mutandis to violations in
the Exclusive Economic Zone or on the Continental Shelf , including safety
zones around Continental Shelf installations, of the laws and regulations
of the coastal State applicable in accordance with this Convention to the
Exclusive Economic Zone or the continental shelf, including such safety
zones.

3. The right of hot pursuit ceases as soon as the ship pursued enters the
territorial sea of its own State or of a third State.

4. Hot pursuit is not deemed to have begun unless the pursuing ship has
satisfied itself by such practicable means as may be available that the
ship pursued or one of its boats or other craft working as a team and using
the ship pursued as a mother ship is within the limits of the territorial
sea, or, as the case may be, within the contiguous zone or the exclusive
economic zone or above the continental shelf. The pursuit may only be
commenced after a visual or auditory signal to stop has been given at a
distance which enables it to be seen or heard by the foreign ship.

5. The right of hot pursuit may be exercised only by warships or military
aircraft, or other ships or aircraft clearly marked and identifiable as
being on government service and authorized to that effect.

6. Where hot pursuit is effected by an aircraft:

(a) the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 4 shall apply mutatis mutandis,
(b) the aircraft giving the order to stop must itself actively pursue the
ship until a ship or another aircraft of the coastal State, summoned
by the aircraft, arrives to take over the pursuit, unless the
aircraft is itself able to arrest the ship. It does not suffice to
justify an arrest outside the territorial sea that the ship was
merely sighted by the aircraft as an offender or suspected offender,
if it was not both ordered to stop and pursued by the aircraft itself
or other aircraft or ships which continue the pursuit without
interruption.

7. The release of a ship arrested within the jurisdiction of a State and
escorted to a port of that State for the purposes of an inquiry before the
competent authorities may not be claimed solely on the ground that the
ship, in the course of its voyage, was escorted across a portion of the
exclusive economic zone or the High Seas , if the circumstances rendered
this necessary.

8. Where a ship has been stopped or arrested outside the territorial sea in
circumstances which do not justify the exercise of the right of hot
pursuit, it shall be compensated for any loss or damage that may have been
thereby sustained.

Article 112
Right to lay submarine cables and pipelines

1. All States are entitled to lay submarine cables and pipelines on the bed
of the high seas beyond the continental shelf.

2. Article 79, paragraph 5, applies to such cables and pipelines.

Article 113
Breaking or injury of a submarine cable or pipeline

Every State shall adopt the laws and regulations necessary to provide that
the breaking or injury by a ship flying its flag or by a person subject to
its jurisdiction of a submarine cable beneath the high seas done wilfully
or through culpable negligence, in such a manner as to be liable to
interrupt or obstruct telegraphic or telephonic communications, and
similarly the breaking or injury of a submarine pipeline or high-voltage
power cable, shall be a punishable offence. This provision shall apply also
to conduct calculated or likely to result in such breaking or injury.
However, it shall not apply to any break or injury caused by persons who
acted merely with the legitimate object of saving their lives or their
ships, after having taken all necessary precautions to avoid such break or
injury .

Article 114
Breaking or injury by owners of a submarine cable or
pipeline of another submarine cable or pipeline

Every State shall adopt the laws and regulations necessary to provide
that, if persons subject to its jurisdiction who are the owners of a
submarine cable or pipeline beneath the high seas, in laying or repairing
that cable or pipeline, cause a break in or injury to another cable or
pipeline, they shall bear the cost of the repairs.

Article 115
Indemnity for loss incurred in avoiding injury to a
submarine cable or pipeline

Every State shall adopt the laws and regulations necessary to ensure that
the owners of ships who can prove that they have sacrificed an anchor, a
net or any other fishing gear, in order to avoid injuring a submarine cable
or pipeline, shall be indemnified by the owner of the cable or pipeline,
provided that the owner of the ship has taken all reasonable precautionary
measures beforehand.

SECTION 2. CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF
THE LIVING RESOURCES OF THE HIGH SEAS

Article 116
Right to fish on the high seas

All States have the right for their nationals to engage in fishing on the
high seas subject to:

(a) their treaty obligations;
(b) the rights and duties as well as the interests of coastal States
provided for, inter alia, in article 63, paragraph 2, and articles 64
to 67; and
(c) the provisions of this section.

Article 117
Duty of States to adopt with respect to their nationals measures
for the conservation of the living resources of the high seas

All States have the duty to take, or to co-operate with other States in
taking, such measures for their respective nationals as may be necessary
for the conservation of the living resources of the high seas.

Article 118
Co-operation of States in the conservation and management of
living resources

States shall co-operate with each other in the conservation and management
of living resources in the areas of the high seas. States whose nationals
exploit identical living resources, or different living resources in the
same area, shall enter into negotiations with a view to taking the measures
necessary for the conservation of the living resources concerned. They
shall, as appropriate, cooperate to establish subregional or regional
fisheries organizations to this end.

Article 119
Conservation of the living resources of the high seas

1. In determining the allowable catch and establishing other conservation
measures for the living resources in the high seas, States shall:

(a) take measures which are designed, on the best scientific evidence
available to the States concerned, to maintain or restore populations
of harvested species at levels which can produce the maximum
sustainable yield, as qualified by relevant environmental and
economic factors, including the special requirements of developing
States, and taking into account fishing patterns, the interdependence
of stocks and any generally recommended international minimum
standards, whether subregional, regional or global;
(b) take into consideration the effects on species associated with or
dependent upon harvested species with a view to maintaining or
restoring populations of such associated or dependent species above
levels at which their reproduction may become seriously threatened.

2. Available scientific information, catch and fishing effort statistics,
and other data relevant to the conservation of fish stocks shall be
contributed and exchanged on a regular basis through competent
International Organizations , whether subregional, regional or global, where
appropriate and with participation by all States concerned.

3. States concerned shall ensure that conservation measures and their
implementation do not discriminate in form or in fact against the fishermen
of any State.

Article 120
Marine mammals

Article 65 also applies to the conservation and management of marine
mammals in the high seas.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone, High Seas, International Organizations.