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Reefs and the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea

Reefs and the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea 281 Reefs and the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea P.B. Beazley* Before 1973 special consideration was not generally given to the status of drying coral reefs as baselines for the territorial sea, and they were not usually distin- guished from other natural features which uncovered at low-tide, although there are isolated examples of State practice where that was not so. Even before the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) atolls were perceived as being particular geographical features the importance of which was inadequately reflected by such an approach. With the purpose of remedying this an article specifically referring to (coral) reefs was proposed. With minor mcdifications it became Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention). There are also references to reefs in Article 47 which concerns archipelagic straight baselines. The relevant provisions read as follows: "Art. 6 Reef In the case of islands situated on atolls or of islands having fringing reefs, the baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the seaward low-water line of the reef, as shown by the appropriate symbol on charts officially recognized by http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Estuarine and Coastal Law (in 1993 continued as The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law) Brill

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1991 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0268-0106
eISSN
1875-2993
DOI
10.1163/187529991X00162
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

281 Reefs and the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea P.B. Beazley* Before 1973 special consideration was not generally given to the status of drying coral reefs as baselines for the territorial sea, and they were not usually distin- guished from other natural features which uncovered at low-tide, although there are isolated examples of State practice where that was not so. Even before the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) atolls were perceived as being particular geographical features the importance of which was inadequately reflected by such an approach. With the purpose of remedying this an article specifically referring to (coral) reefs was proposed. With minor mcdifications it became Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention). There are also references to reefs in Article 47 which concerns archipelagic straight baselines. The relevant provisions read as follows: "Art. 6 Reef In the case of islands situated on atolls or of islands having fringing reefs, the baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the seaward low-water line of the reef, as shown by the appropriate symbol on charts officially recognized by

Journal

International Journal of Estuarine and Coastal Law (in 1993 continued as The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law)Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1991

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