WE may think of Jamaica as being our tropical “island” paradise; we may consider ourselves to be laid-back “island” people having a hip “island” culture, and that we live our lives to the pulsating beat of “island” music. However you will be interested to know that due to legislation passed some time ago we are no longer an island nation!

The Exclusive Economic Zone Act and the Maritime Areas Act came into force in 1991 and 1996, respectively, bringing relevant provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) into our domestic law.

UNCLOS is the most comprehensive attempt yet at creating a unified regime for governance of the rights of nations with respect to the world’s seas and oceans. The negotiations leading up to the treaty lasted for nine years, saw the participation of 160 nations, and concluded in 1982 with the adoption of the treaty in Montego Bay. UNCLOS then entered into force twelve months later after the deposit of the sixtieth instrument of ratification by Guyana on November 16, 1994. Not only were the treaty negotiations held in Jamaica but, the International Seabed Authority, which functions as the secretariat to the treaty (among several other important functions), is headquartered in downtown Kingston.

UNCLOS is important as it addresses a number of issues, including navigational rights, economic rights, pollution of the seas, conservation of marine life, scientific exploration and piracy. If you wonder how relevant these issues are to Jamaica, you need only consider some of the recent stories in the media relating to the poaching of lobster and conch from our waters by fishing vessels from other countries; our quest for energy security and the licences granted for prospecting for oil and gas off our south coast; the setting of maritime delimitation boundaries with our Caribbean neighbours; and the exploration for the sunken treasure in Spanish galleons, like the Genovesa, which have grounded on our coral reefs.

One of the most powerful features of UNCLOS is that it settled the question of the extent of national sovereignty over the oceans and seabed. Additionally, one of the interesting effects of the Maritime Areas Act is that Jamaica is no longer defined as an island, but rather an archipelagic State.

An “archipelagic State” is one which is constituted wholly by one or more archipelagos and may include other islands. Further, an “archipelago” is defined as a group of islands, including parts of islands, interconnecting waters and other natural features which are so closely interrelated that such islands, waters and other natural features form an intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity, or which historically have been regarded as such. You only need to think of The Bahamas or Indonesia to get the idea of the typical archipelago.

Abandoning our “island” status and becoming an archipelago gave Jamaica an advantage in terms of making a claim for larger maritime space. Rather than measuring our maritime claim from a baseline along the coast of the main island of Jamaica, we now take a measurement from an “archipelagic” baseline which has been drawn further out to sea.

This archipelagic baseline is an imaginary line which circles all the islands and drying reefs that comprise the archipelago of Jamaica. It runs, roughly, all along the north coast from Morant Point to the South Negril Point where it departs the coast to Southwest Rock (some 89 nautical miles due south out to sea), then east past the Pedro Cays (some 44 nautical miles off the coast of Saint Elizabeth) to Blower Rock, then to the Morant Cays (some 33 nautical miles off the coast of Saint Thomas) and then finally back to Morant Point.

Within this baseline are the archipelagic waters, and from the baseline outwards an archipelagic State is able to claim a 12-mile territorial sea, a 24-mile contiguous zone, and (in certain cases) a 200 mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Jamaica has full sovereign rights over the sea, the seabed and subsoil (including the living and non-living resources) of the archipelagic waters and the territorial sea and over the air space directly above.

In the EEZ, Jamaica has sovereign rights in respect of the management of living and non-living natural resources of the sea, and of the seabed and its subsoil, and all other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the EEZ, including the production of energy from water, currents, and winds. Jamaica also has rights and jurisdiction in respect of the regulation of artificial islands, installations and structures, the regulation of scientific research, the recovery of archaeological or historical objects, the protection of the marine environment, and the prevention and control of marine pollution. Consequent upon these rights is the extension of the jurisdiction of the Court and the powers of relevant marine officers over the EEZ.

The effect of this maritime claim is that Jamaica’s EEZ is almost 18 times our land area. Along with the opportunity created by having rights over such a relatively large maritime space, comes a great responsibility for Jamaica to effectively protect, manage, and develop the resources that make up our maritime heritage.

Krishna Desai is an Associate at Myers, Fletcher & Gordon and is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. Krishna may be contacted via krishna.desai@mfg.com.jm or www.myersfletcher.com. This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.