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28 Ocean L. Memo 1 (1986)

handle is hein.journals/ocoaslme28 and id is 1 raw text is: Ocean and Coastal Law Center - School of Law - University of Oregon * Eugene 97403 I Ocean Lw Mym* ISSUE 28 May 1986 Recent Developments in Ocean and Coastal Law, 1984-85 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMVtRWJ U.S.-Canada Gulf of Maine Boundary Determined On October 12, 1984 the Interna- tional Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down its landmark decision delimiting the U.S.-Canada maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine. Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area (Canada/U.S.), 1984 ICJ Rep. 246. Pursuant to this decision, the U.S. and Canada are to share the great bounty of Georges Bank's fishery resources. Canada is now entitled to the lion's share of Georges Bank's multimillion dollar scallop fishery located on its rich Northeast Peak, whereas both coun- tries now jointly share several stocks of groundfish divided in two by the new boundary. As a practical result, this decision profoundly affects optimum management of these resources and conse- quently mandates international coopera-. tion in conservation and management. Moreover, as the delimitation marks the first single boundary ever drawn for both the continental shelf and the water column, this decision provides a signif- icant milestone in the law of interna- tional maritime boundaries. Reflecting a century-old conflict, the dispute over Gulf of Maine resources began in earnest in 1977 when the U.S. and Canada simultaneously expanded their fishery jurisdictions to 200 nautical miles. In the Gulf of Maine, the new jurisdictions incorporated some of the world's richest fishing grounds, includ- ing that of the prized Georges Bank, over which the claims clashed irrecon- cilably. Bilateral negotiations failed to resolve the dispute, forcing the two countries to seek outside binding settlement. In a Special Agreement submitted November 1981, the two coun- tries asked a five-member Chamber of the ICJ, pursuant to Article 26 of the Statute of the ICJ, to delimit by a single boundary both the continental shelf and the water column of the Gulf of Maine. The ICJ based its delimitation almost exclusively on geography. In so doing, it clarified the rule of custom- ary international law which requires that maritime boundary delimitations, in the absence of agreement, be based on equitable principles adjusted to account for relevant circumstances in order to achieve an equitable result. See, e.g., Case Concerning the Continental Shelf (Tunisia/Libya), 1982 ICJ Rep. 18. The court drew an initial boundary based on the equitable principle of coastline geography. The line bisecting the angle formed by the Nova Scotia and North American continent coastal parallels provided the initial delimitation. In making this initial delimitation, the ICJ rejected application of the equi- distance principle as defined in Article 6 of the 1958 Convention on the Conti- nental Shelf even though both countries are party to the treaty. The 1958 Con- vention governed only the continental shelf and was thus found inapplicable to the dual-purpose boundary. Furthermore, the court found that equidistance had not become a general rule of maritime boundary delimitation in customary international law and the court was thus under no obligation to follow it. Relevant circumstances considered by the ICJ in making its initial delim- itation equitable were again geograph- icaL: the boundary was adjusted by the proportional lengths of coastlines. In flatly refusing to consider certain non- geographical circumstances proposed by both parties, the court further empha- sized the relationship of geography to equitable delimitations. Thus histori- cal fishing patterns, socio-economic dependence on fishery resources, and naturally existing ecological boundaries delimiting fishery resources were all deemed irrelevant to achieving an equi- table result.

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