Indonesian First Experiences in Delineating Extended Continental Shelf Submission to The UNCLOS

Abstract In 2014 Japan’s Cabinet Order No. 302 declared the outer limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (OL) to the west and north of Oki-no-Tori Shima (Area 302). Oki-no-Tori Shima consists of two small, barren, and uninhabitable rocks in the West Pacific. The northern part of Area 302 is broader than what the 2012 recommendations of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) specify. A question arises whether Order No. 302 violates Article 76(8) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides that the OL established by a coastal state ‘on the basis of’ the CLCS recommendations shall be final and binding. Another question is the role played by the CLCS in ‘assisting’ the coastal states to delimit their national jurisdiction so as to know where the Area (i.e., the Common Heritage of Mankind under UNCLOS Articles 1(1)(1) and 136) begins. The essential questions arising from Area 302 concern how well the UNCLOS mechanism can perform to safeguard the Common Heritage of Mankind through preventing encroachment thereupon by individual coastal states. This article looks at the context and explores the obligations implied by Article 76(8) for coastal states to ‘follow’ the recommendations in establishing the OL, with special reference to the northern part of Area 302. The article also examines legal consequences arising from a breach of these obligations.

Download Full-text

Prospects for Cooperation over Shared Natural Resources in the Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles and Implications of Article 82 of the unclos for Land-Locked, Developing States in Semi-Enclosed Seas

Maritime Cooperation in Semi-Enclosed Seas ◽

10.1163/9789004396630_008 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 106-128

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Continental Shelf ◽

The Unclos

Download Full-text

Refining Maritime Boundary Delimitation Methodology: The Search for Predictability and Certainty

IIUM Law Journal ◽

10.31436/iiumlj.v27i1.457 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 35-61

Author(s):

Abdul Ghafur Hamid

Keyword(s):

Continental Shelf ◽

Law Of The Sea ◽

International Courts ◽

The North ◽

Maritime Boundary ◽

History Of ◽

The North Sea ◽

United Nations Convention ◽

Maritime Boundary Delimitation ◽

The Unclos

For decades, the maritime boundary delimitation methodology remains uncertain and confusing. This is as a result of the sole reliance on equitable principles, total disregard of the equidistance method in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases and vague provisions of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 in particular on the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. The main objective of the present article is to investigate how the delimitation methodology could be refined to be more predictable and certain through the flexible interpretation of the conventional law by the decisions of international courts and tribunals. The article first of all traces the codification history of the UNCLOS 1982 in order to ascertain the view of States expressed during the drafting process, which reflected the bitter rivalry between the two camps of equidistance and equitable principles. The article then makes a painstaking analysis of the decisions of international courts and tribunals since 1990s to the most recent one and finds that the equidistance principle has been reinstated as a basic methodology in maritime boundary delimitation, supplemented by relevant circumstances, in order to achieve an equitable solution. The article concludes that the search for predictability and certainty in maritime boundary delimitation has, to some extent, been achieved in the form of the recent three-stage approach, although there are still grey areas where significant uncertainty remains.

Download Full-text

Vietnam geographical exploitation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 (UNCLOS 1982)

Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Biển ◽

10.15625/1859-3097/19/3b/14514 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (3B) ◽

pp. 31-42

Author(s):

Phung Van Phach ◽

Huynh Minh Chinh ◽

Do Chien Thang ◽

Tran Anh Tuan ◽

Phan Tuan Nam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Continental Shelf ◽

Law Of The Sea ◽

Active Member ◽

United Nations Convention ◽

The United Nations ◽

The Law ◽

The Unclos

As an active member of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - UNCLOS, Vietnam has completed 3 Reports on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and has submitted two of them to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf - CLCS, before the deadline 13-5-2009. Those are: (1) Outer Limits of the Vietnam’s Extended Continental Shelf: North Area (VNM-N); (2) Outer Limits of the Vietnam’s Extended Continental Shelf: Middle Area (VNM-M) and (3) Vietnam - Malaysia Joint Continental Shelf Submission. The VNM-M has not yet been submitted but it was mentioned to the CLCS and will be submitted in the appropriate time.Vietnam’s submissions were highly appreciated by CLCS; although the CLCS has not yet organized a special sub-committee to look at our reports, the secretariat of CLCS has already posted the executive reports of our submissions, with our principle claims on the continental shelf, on the website of the CLCS since May 2009. This paper presents shortly the UNCLOS and its application in Vietnam case.

Download Full-text

UNCLOS TRIBUNALS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF REGIME

International and Comparative Law Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0020589317000549 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 67 (2) ◽

pp. 425-454 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lan Ngoc Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Continental Shelf ◽

Dispute Settlement ◽

The Novel ◽

Outer Continental Shelf ◽

Legal Regime ◽

International Court ◽

United Nations Convention ◽

The Law ◽

Law And Science ◽

The Unclos

AbstractArticle 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) sets out the legal regime governing the novel ‘continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles’ or ‘the outer continental shelf’. As Article 76 contains a complex interface between law and science, its interpretation and application raises intricate issues, with which no international court or tribunal had dealt with substantively before 2012. The UNCLOS dispute settlement bodies were the first international tribunals to provide answers to long-standing questions surrounding the meaning and application of several important, but ambiguous or controversial, legal terms employed under Article 76. As such, the decisions rendered by the UNCLOS tribunals have been seen as playing an important role in elucidating the legal regime of the outer continental shelf. This article queries this assessment by critically examining whether and to what extent the relevant pronouncements made by UNCLOS tribunals have contributed to clarifying and developing the law governing the outer continental shelf regime under UNCLOS.

Download Full-text

Biology of an active methane seep on the Oregon continental shelf

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps095287 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 95 ◽

pp. 287-294

Author(s):

AR Juhl ◽

GL Taghon

Keyword(s):

Continental Shelf ◽

Methane Seep

Download Full-text

Isotopic characterization of lifetime movement by two demersal fishes from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13525 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 657 ◽

pp. 161-172

Author(s):

JL Vecchio ◽

JL Ostroff ◽

EB Peebles

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Continental Shelf ◽

Life Histories ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Trophic Position ◽

Eye Lens ◽

Outer Continental Shelf ◽

Red Grouper ◽

Lens Diameter ◽

Isotopic Characterization

An understanding of lifetime trophic changes and ontogenetic habitat shifts is essential to the preservation of marine fish species. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values (δ13C and δ15N) recorded within the laminar structure of fish eye lenses, reflecting both diet and location over time, to compare the lifetime trends of 2 demersal mesopredators. Tilefish Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps inhabit burrows on the outer continental shelf, which results in exceptional site fidelity. Red grouper Epinephelus morio are spawned on the middle to outer continental shelf, move to the inner shelf for the juvenile period, and return offshore upon sexual maturity. Both species inhabit the eastern Gulf of Mexico, a region with a distinctive offshore-inshore gradient in background δ13C values. Within individual tilefish (n = 36), sequences of δ13C values and δ15N values had strong, positive correlations with eye-lens diameter, and strong correlations between the 2 isotopes (mean Spearman r = 0.86), reflecting an increase in trophic position with growth and little lifetime movement. In red grouper (n = 30), δ15N values positively correlated with eye-lens diameter, but correlations between δ15N and δ13C were weak (mean Spearman r = 0.29), suggesting cross-shelf ontogenetic movements. Linear mixed model results indicated strong relationships between δ15N and δ13C values in tilefish eye lenses but no convergence in the red grouper model. Collectively, these results are consistent with previously established differences in the life histories of the 2 species, demonstrating the potential utility of eye-lens isotope records, particularly for investigating the life histories of lesser-known species.

Download Full-text