Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
10.3 Regulation through interpretation
The instance of the criteria for drawing straight baselines (Art. 7 of the UNCLOS) shows
that sometimes state practice corresponds with rather elastic interpretations of UNCLOS
provisions which could have a different meaning if understood in a literal manner. The word
baseline designates the line from which the territorial sea and the other coastal zones are to
be measured. A system of straight baselines is an exception to the rule according to which
the normal baseline of the territorial sea is the low water mark along the coast. Instead,
straight baselines are drawn in the sea and connect appropriate points on land. The text of
the relevant paragraphs of Art. 7 reads as follows:
1. In localities where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or if there is a
fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity, the method of straight
baselines joining appropriate points may be employed in drawing the baseline from
which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. (…).
3. The drawing of straight baselines must not depart to any appreciable extent
from the general direction of the coast, and the sea areas lying within the lines must
be sufficiently closely linked to the land domain to be subject to the régime of
internal waters.
Some redundancy may be perceived, as a deeply indented coast is necessarily cut into, and
vice versa. But the idea behind the provision seems clear. Nature cannot be remade by chan-
ging in a radical way the shape of a state. What is allowed is to rectify by a geometrical
device a manifestly irregular coastline. To simplify without altering: this is the basis of the
straight baselines method.
However, the reading of Art. 7 leaves a feeling of uncertainty. While based on geo-
graphy, the wording of the provision does not contain any geometrical and mathematical
precision. A number of questions may be asked in this respect. When can a coastline be
considered to be deeply indented and cut into? What should the ratio be between the length
