The territorial sea
This is the strip of water closest to the shore. The 1982 Convention recognizes a maximum
width of 12 nautical miles, but in practice countries use many different limits. Three miles is
the smallest limit, 12 miles the most common, while 200 miles is the furthest. Ships have the
right of innocent passage through territorial waters. Coastal states only have the right to
enforce their own laws relating to specific topics listed in Article 21 such as safe navigation
and pollution. They are entitled to enforce international laws.
The contiguous zone
This is a strip of water to the seaward of the territorial sea. It has its origins in the eighteenth
century ‘Hovering Acts’ enacted by Great Britain against foreign smuggling ships hovering
within distances of up to eight leagues (i.e. twenty-four miles) from the shore. Coastal states
have limited powers to enforce customs, fiscal, sanitary and immigration laws.
The exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
The EEZ is a belt of sea extending up to 200 miles from the baseline (i.e. the legally defined
shoreline). It is mainly concerned with the ownership of economic resources such as fisheries
and minerals. Within this zone third parties enjoy freedom of navigation and the laying of
cables and pipelines. From a shipping viewpoint the EEZ is more like the high seas. However,
the exception concerns pollution. Article 56 confers on the coastal state ‘jurisdiction as
provided for in the relevant provisions of this convention with regard to the protection and
preservation of the marine environment’. The ‘relevant provisions’ relate to the dumping of
waste and other forms of pollution from vessels. This gives the coastal state the right to enforce
oil pollution regulations in the EEZ, a matter of major economic importance for shipowners.
The high seas
The high seas are ‘all parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone,
in the territorial sea or the internal waters of a state’. In this area vessels flying a particular
flag may proceed without interference from other vessels. This convention establishes the
basis on which nationality can be granted to a merchant ship and the legal status of that ship.
Article 91 of the 1982 Convention on the High Seas states that:
Each state shall fix the conditions for the grant of its nationality to ships, for the registration
of ships in its territory, and for the right to fly its flag. Ships have the nationality of the
state whose flag they are entitled to fly. There must exist a genuine link between the state
and the ship.
This paragraph was unchanged from the 1958 Convention and was the end-product of a
heated debate about whether countries such as Liberia and Panama had the right to establish
open registries. Since the Convention does not define what constitutes a ‘genuine link’
between state and ship, it was left to each state to define this link for itself.