Territorial Waters Post-World War II Disputes
Introduction to Territorial Waters Post-World War II Disputes
After World War II various countries unilaterally extended their territorial waters, thus provoking a series of international disputes. In 1952 Chile, Peru, and Ecuador claimed jurisdiction in waters up to 200 nautical mi (370.4 km) off their shores to protect their fish stocks. In the same year, Iceland began a series of extensions until in 1975 it also was claiming a 200-nautical-mi limit. In 1977, after several meetings of the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference had failed to establish international procedures for the exploitation of resources, the U.S. also set 200-mi fishing limits in its waters. Other major coastal countries soon followed.
The final act of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, completed in 1982, sought to resolve the problem by allowing coastal nations to claim a territorial sea of up to 12 nautical mi and an exclusive economic zone of up to 200 nautical mi. The U.S. has refused to sign the accord.
The concept of jurisdiction by a nation over its territorial waters implies that no other nation can exercise any rights there, as of fishing, except by permission. A nation has the right to refuse access to armed vessels of other nations; merchant vessels of belligerent nations entering such territorial waters become subject to the jurisdiction of that nation. As a general rule, all nations possess a common right of navigation, known as innocent passage, in territorial waters. The regulation of navigation over territorial waters that serve as means of communication between two portions of the high seas, including such straits as the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and such passages as the Suez and Panama canals, is fixed by international treaties.” (1)
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