Re: Pelagic Boundaries [was: Re: [MDOsprey] A Leg Up On Mississippi]
EdWelch17@aol.com
Mon, 21 Jun 1999 23:09:48 EDT
A few comments on the demarcation of state and federal waters:
A State's territorial jurisdiction DOES extend into the oceans. For most
coastal states, it goes out to 3 miles from shore. Congress established this
in the Outer Continental Shelf Act in the 1950's after a series of Supreme
Court decisions in which states sued the federal government as to who owned
offshore oil.
In the Gulf of Mexico, state jurisdiction extends out 3 marine leagues (about
9 miles). This is a legal holdover from the days when Spain owned these
territories. This covers Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the
Gulf coast of Florida.
Federal sovereignty extends to 12 miles offshore, as a result of a
Presidential Proclamation by Ronald Reagan in the early 1980's. He exercised
his constitutional authority over foreign policy to do this. The UN Law of
the Sea Treaty permits a nation to claim a 12-mile territorial sea, and the
US has done so, even though it has not ratified the LOS Treaty.
The US has extensive legal rights over natural resources out to 200 miles
offshore. This area (from 12 to 200 miles) is called the Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ) and it has been codified in many statutes enacted by Congress.
Again, the LOS Treaty recognizes a 200 mile EEZ as customary international
law. A nation has many legal rights within the EEZ, but it does not have
sovereignty.
The ABA delineations of state waters for purposes of state bird lists don't
necessarily correspond to these federal legal definitions
Ed Welch
Woodbridge VA
(formerly Chief Counsel, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, US House
of Representatives)