Мемлекеттік теңіз шекаралары және құқықтық мәртебесі

Coastal waters that are part of a sovereign state's sovereign territory

Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf (these components are sometimes collectively called the maritime zones). In a narrower sense, the term is often used as a synonym for the territorial sea. Vessels have different rights and duties when passing through each area defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), one of the most ratified treaties. States cannot exercise their jurisdiction in waters beyond the exclusive economic zone, which are known as the high seas.

Normally, the baseline is the low water line along the coast as marked on large scale charts that the coastal state recognizes. This is either the low water mark closest to the shore or an unlimited distance from permanently exposed land, provided that some portion of elevations exposed at low tide but covered at high tide (such as mud flats) is within of permanently exposed land. Straight baselines can alternatively be defined connecting fringing islands along a coast, across the mouths of rivers, or with certain restrictions across the mouths of bays. In this case, a bay is defined as "a well marked indentation whose penetration is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as to contain land locked waters and constitute more than a mere curvature of the coast. An indentation is not, however, regarded as a bay unless its area is as large as, or larger than, that of the semi circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation". The baseline across the bay must also be no more than in length.

Internal waters are landward of the baseline. The coastal state has sovereignty over internal waters, enforce domestic law on vessels in internal waters, including to prohibit innocent passage. Lakes, rivers and bays are considered internal waters. "Archipelagic waters" within the outermost islands of an archipelagic state, such as Indonesia or the Philippines, are also internal waters, but the state must allow innocent passage through them. However, archipelagic states can limit innocent passage to designated sea lanes within these waters. Each island in the archipelago can have its own baseline. The territorial sea is sovereign territory, although foreign ships (military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it, or transit passage for straits; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. In international law, adjustment of these boundaries is called maritime delimitation. A state's territorial sea extends up to from its baseline. If this overlaps with another state's territorial sea, the border is taken as the median point between the states' baselines, unless the states agree otherwise. A state can also choose to claim a smaller territorial sea. Conflicts have occurred when a coastal nation claims an entire gulf as its territorial waters while other nations only recognize the more restrictive definitions of the UNCLOS. Claims that draw the baseline at more than 24 nautical miles (two 12 nm limits) are judged excessive by the US. Two conflicts occurred in the Gulf of Sidra where Libya drew a line in excess of and claimed the entire enclosed gulf as its territorial waters. The US exercised freedom of navigation rights, resulting in the 1981 and 1989 Gulf of Sidra incidents.

The contiguous zone is a band of water extending farther from the outer edge of the territorial sea to up to from the baseline. Inside, a state can exercise limited control to prevent or punish "infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea". The zone is typically wide. However, it can be wider when a state claims a territorial sea of less than 12 nautical miles, or narrower if it would otherwise overlap with another state's contiguous zone. Unlike the territorial sea, there is no standard rule for resolving such conflicts and states must negotiate a compromise. The US invoked a contiguous zone out to 24 nmi from the baseline on 29 September 1999.

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends from the baseline to at most and therefore includes the contiguous zone. A coastal nation has control of all economic resources inside its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and pollution of those resources. However, it cannot prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or under the surface of the sea that complies with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal state in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention, within that portion of its exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea. Before the convention, coastal nations arbitrarily extended their territorial waters to attempt to control activities that are now regulated by the exclusive economic zone, such as offshore oil exploration or fishing rights (see Cod Wars). The EEZ is still popularly, but incorrectly, regarded as coastal nation's territorial waters.

Articles 77 to 81 define the rights of a country over its continental shelf. A coastal nation has control of all resources on or under its continental shelf, living or not, but no control over any living organisms above the shelf that are beyond its exclusive economic zone. This gives it the right to conduct hydrocarbon exploration and drilling works.

As of 13 May 2009, 51 submissions by 44 countries have been lodged for claims over their extended continental shelf. Some countries have multiple submissions and joint submissions with other countries. Recommendations have been given for 8 of the submissions.