At a policy level the limits of coastal areas have been defined in four possible ways:
• fixed distance definitions;
• variable distance definitions;
• definition according to use; or
• hybrid definitions.
Current or proposed examples of each of the above definitions are given in Appendix A.
Fixed distance definitions, as the name implies, specify a fixed distance away from the coast which is considered ‘coastal’. Usually this distance is calculated from some measure of the boundary between land and water at the coast, usually the high water mark. Fixed distances defined for the ocean component of a coastal area usually apply to the limit of governmental jurisdiction, for example the limits of Territorial Seas. An example of a fixed definition coastal