Territorial waters
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles (but possibly less, at the coastal country's discretion) from the shore of a littoral state that is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, except that foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it.
A sovereign state has complete jurisdiction over internal waters, where not even innocent passage is allowed. Territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the mean low water mark adjacent to land, or from internal waters, as per the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The mean low water mark may be an unlimited distance from permanently exposed land, provided that some portion of elevations exposed at low tide but covered at high tide (like mud flats) is within 12 nautical miles of permanently exposed land. Completely enclosed seas, lakes, and rivers are considered internal waters, as are waters landward of lines connecting fringing islands along a coast or landward of lines across the mouths of rivers that flow into the sea. Bays are defined as indentations between headlands having an area greater than that of a semicircle. If they do not exceed 24 nautical miles (44 km) between headlands then they are internal waters; if their entrance is wider, then that portion landward of a 24 nautical mile straight line that touches opposite low-water marks across the bay positioned to contain the greatest water area are internal waters. All archipelagic waters within the outermost islands of an archipelagic state like Indonesia or the Philippines are also considered internal waters.
Control over a contiguous zone, up to an additional 24 - N nautical miles beyond the territorial sea, where the territorial sea is N nautical miles wide, N≤12, is permitted by a coastal nation to "prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations". The United States invoked a contiguous zone on 24 September 1999.[1]
Thus a coastal nation has total control over its internal waters, slightly less control over territorial waters, ostensibly even less control over waters within the contiguous zone, and supposedly no control whatsoever over an ocean beyond them (although it also has some rights concerning resources within its exclusive economic zone).
Territorial waters claimed by one state are often disputed by another state. Territorial waters have often been subject to arbitrary extension in order to encompass activities such as offshore oil exploration or fishing rights (see Cod War) and to prevent pirate radio broadcasting from artificial marine fixtures and anchored ships. Exceptions still occur and are capable of creating conflict such as in the Gulf of Sidra where Libya has claimed the entire gulf as territorial waters and the U.S. has twice violently enforced Freedom of Navigation rights (Gulf of Sidra incident (1981), Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)).
From the eighteenth century until the mid twentieth century, the territorial waters of the British Empire, the United States, France and many other nations were three nautical miles (6 km) wide. Originally, this was the length of a cannon shot, hence the portion of an ocean that a sovereign state could defend from shore. However, Iceland claimed two nautical miles (4 km), Norway claimed four nautical miles (7 km), and Spain claimed six nautical miles (11 km) during this period. During incidents such as nuclear weapons testing and fisheries disputes some nations arbitrairly extended their maritime claims to as much as fifty or even two hundred nautical miles. Since the late 20th century the "12 mile limit" has become almost universally accepted. The United Kingdom extended its territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles in 1987.
Throughout this article, distances measured in nautical miles are exact legal definitions, while those in kilometres are approximate conversions which are not stated in any law or treaty.
Contiguous zone claims
* None: Albania, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Cameroon, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sao Tome and Principe, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Sweden, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania
* 14 miles: Finland
* 15 miles: Venezuela
* 18 miles: Bangladesh, Gambia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan
* 24 miles: Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Gabon, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen
* 50 miles: Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 50 nautical miles military zone. Army Command Announcement of 1 August 1977.
