Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Fuel for thought
Petroleum and natural gas underlie some areas of the ocean bottom, just as they are located under
some areas of dry land. In the oceanic setting, these resources are found exclusively under continental
shelves because they alone in the marine environment are composed of the geological features in
which oil and gas are found. So when you see photos of offshore oil rigs, you are looking at an im-
portant economic activity that coincides with a continental shelf. Again, that's where the action is.
Claiming ocean ownership
The existence of all the marine goodies leads to the rather important issue of ocean ownership. That
is, who owns them? How far offshore does a nation's sovereign territory extend — if at all? For coun-
tries that have coastlines — and for ships at sea — having an answer is important for the following
reasons.
National security:
Countries have the right to defend themselves from attack or intrusion.
It's crucial to be able to determine, therefore, the point at which a ship “crosses the line.”
Police power:
Criminal activities can take place on water as well as land. Drug smuggling
is a key example. Legally, however, the police and Coast Guard can only board vessels at sea
within their jurisdictions. Thus, it is of some importance to clearly define how far out to sea
those jurisdictions extend.
Trade and commerce:
Thousands of freighters and tankers ply the ocean. The captains
and navigators who set ships' courses need to know where they can “sail as they please” and
where they need permission by virtue of having entered a foreign country's territorial waters.
Only by defining the extent of ocean ownership can that be determined.
Resource ownership:
Disagreement between countries concerning ownership of or access
to resources can lead to conflict. “Marine goodies” mentioned earlier are potential sources of
contention. Therefore, clear definition of the extent of ocean ownership may prevent conflict
over oceanic resources.
Dire straits:
The oceans contain several
straits
— narrow waterways that separate land
bodies. About a dozen of them are major bottlenecks as far as international shipping is con-
cerned. It is important to determine whether these are international waterways through which
ships of all nations may freely pass, or if they belong to the countries that border them — and
which would therefore have the right to deny passage or charge tolls.
So a tragedy occurs. And indeed it is a double tragedy, because it didn't have to happen. If one or
more coastal countries had had jurisdiction over the fishery — the commons — then, ideally, they
