Page 135 - MDSL Final

LEGAL CONTEXT
govern with the legitimate sovereign rights and interests of Coastal
States blended with the traditional freedom of navigation enjoyed over
what otherwise would have been high seas.

Law of the Sea is not practice alone. States practices continue; especially
in the area of maritime claims, resource managements, maritime
pollutions and maritime security.

Following are some of the key features of the LOSC:
73
• Coastal States exercise sovereignty over their territorial sea
which they have the right to establish its breadth up to a
limit not to exceed 12nm and foreign vessels are allowed for
‘innocent passage’ through those waters.
• Ships and aircraft of all countries are allowed ‘transit passage’
through straits used for international navigation and States
bordering the straits can regulate navigational and other
aspects of passage.
• Archipelagic States, made up of a group or groups of closely
related islands and interconnecting waters, have sovereignty
over a sea area enclosed by straight lines drawn between the
outermost points of the islands and the waters between the
islands are declared Archipelagic Waters where States may
establish sea lanes and air routes in which all other States enjoy
the right of Archipelagic Passage through such designated sea
lanes.
• Coastal States have sovereign rights in a 200nm Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ) with respect to natural resources and
certain economic activities, and exercise jurisdiction over
marine science research and environmental protection.
• All other States have freedom of navigation and over flight
in the EEZ, as well as freedom to lay submarine cables and
pipelines.
• Land-locked and geographically disadvantaged States have
the right to participate on an equitable basis in exploitation
of an appropriate part of the surplus of the living resources of
the EEZ’s of Coastal States of the same region or sub-region:

To Nurture a Stable Environment at Sea 117