Shrinking the Oceans

The dominion of the land ends where the power of its arms ends.

--Dutch Jurist Cornelius van Bynkershoek, 1703

What was good enough for Jurist Bynkershoek was long good enough for nations and legal scholars. In 1793, the U.S. formally declared a territorial limit of three miles, or as far as a cannon of those days could shoot. Most coastal countries still claim sovereignty over only the merest slivers of sea off their shores, usually three miles (claimed by 25 countries) or twelve miles (claimed by 44). But now a high-seas war of sorts is brewing over a dozen nations, mostly in Latin America, that claim jurisdiction out to 200 miles.

Fortunately the issue is likely to be threshed out by lawyers and diplomats 170 miles from the nearest salt water --at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. There delegates from 86 nations have been meeting for the past two weeks to prepare for a 1973 conference. The forthcoming parley will be the third attempt in 15 years to settle once and for all just who controls what--on, in, under and even over the seas. The International Court at The Hague is of no use in the case; its decisions are binding only if all parties agree in advance to abide by them. Meantime, the dispute has taken on bizarre ideological overtones, with the U.S. and other seafaring nations (including the Soviet Union) cast as big-stick bullies plundering the underdeveloped countries of all sorts of oceanic treasure. Among the recent skirmishes:

ECUADOR, most combative of the Latin American claimants, has seized 26 American-owned fishing vessels this year alone, often using U.S.-supplied patrol boats. Washington counterpunched by halting sales of military equipment to Quito and threatening to place the $25 million U.S. economic-aid program "under review"; Quito counter-counter-punched by expelling the entire 37-man U.S. military mission.

BRAZIL, whose 200-mile claim went into effect last June, promptly dispatched ships and aircraft to run off "poachers." Vessels from Japan, South Korea, Guyana and Surinam scurried off. Not the Americans. The U.S. boats defiantly put out their nets; the U.S. Congress set aside legislation designed to help Brazil and other countries by keeping coffee prices artificially high; Brazilian legislators jumped to their feet in the Chamber of Deputies with fist-shaking warnings of war. Meanwhile, Brazil's admirals are planning to spend $300 million to modernize their navy over the next decade, though Brazil sorely needs the money for other purposes.

Technology is at the root of the struggles. Improvements in weaponry long ago extended the range of cannon far beyond three miles. Meanwhile, postwar advances in techniques for fishing as well as for undersea mining and drilling have given offshore waters considerable economic importance. The U.S. was one of the first countries to make legal claims recognizing that fact; in the Truman Proclamation of 1945, it claimed sole right to the riches of the continental shelf, which ranges from 50 to 150 miles off the East Coast of the U.S. No such shelf exists off the West Coast of South America, but Chile, Ecuador and Peru cited the Truman Proclamation in 1952 when they issued the Declaration of Santiago claiming exclusive fishing rights up to 200 miles offshore. That was just enough to embrace the broad reaches of the Humboldt Current, one of the richest fishing grounds in the world.

In all, ten Latin American countries now claim a 200-mile jurisdiction; some claim only fishing rights, but most insist on full territorial sovereignty. All of them are vigorously lobbying for Third World support elsewhere. Guinea has declared sovereignty over 130 miles of sea off its West African coast, and this year tiny Sierra Leone went the full 200-mile distance.

What difference does it make if countries do stake out such extravagant claims? State Department Legal Adviser

John R. Stevenson, head of the U.S. delegation at Geneva, notes that if the 200-mile limit were established worldwide, more than 25% and possibly as much as 50% of open oceans would cease to be "high seas" and fall under national jurisdictions. Ships might retain their established right of "innocent passage" through territorial seas of any country while en route to distant ports, but airlines have no such legal privilege: they would have to negotiate for rights to fly over vast stretches of ocean that are now open to anyone. The U.S. suggested a universal twelve-mile limit in Geneva last week, but even that poses problems. International guarantees would be necessary to keep open not only man-made passages like the Suez Canal but also more than 100 busy straits and channels that are less than 24 miles wide. Among them are the myriad passages through Indonesia and the Philippines, the Strait of Gibraltar, Bab el Mandeb at the entrance to the Red Sea and even the English Channel.

Weak and Stupid. The dispute has led to some peculiar alliances. The U.S. and the Soviet Union are ardent rivals at sea, but as maritime powers they are united in opposition to the 200-mile advocates. In turn, the 200-milers, which include some rather rich and right-wing regimes, are attempting to embarrass the superpowers by pleading "Third World" status. Though Peking claims a twelve-mile limit, it supports the 200-milers, noisily opposing the U.S.-Soviet "schemes" to "divide up and dominate the oceans."

Washington wants to resolve the issue with a new international oceanic treaty that would supersede all existing claims. In addition to a twelve-mile territorial sea, the U.S. plan provides for local control of wealth in the seabed out to a limit of twelve miles or until the water depth reaches 650 feet, whichever point is farthest offshore. Beyond the limit of seabed rights and up to the edge of the continental shelf, the local government would act as a trustee, licensing and taxing such undersea operations as mining and drilling; a certain share of the proceeds, perhaps 50%, would be distributed to underdeveloped countries. An international tribunal would also consider applications for special fishing rights.

The Latin Americans are unlikely to go along. Said a Peruvian Foreign Ministry official of the U.S. proposal: "What they really want is to split the 200-mile area: twelve miles for us and 188 miles for them! Should we be weak and stupid enough to give in, there would follow an ocean grab by the big powers."

It is somehow fitting that the 200-mile claims are supported by the two powers that were involved in the last successful effort (back in the 15th century) to divide and dominate the world's charted oceans. One is Spain, which claimed control over the western reaches of the Atlantic; the other is Portugal, which made do with the rest.

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