What do you know about international waters?

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 Thursday, May 27, 2021 - 10:11
What do you know about international waters?

By Michael Buchanan
Water covers more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface. What rules apply in the world’s oceans and seas?
That’s where “freedom of the seas,” a fundamental principle of international law, comes in. It’s important because it affects everything from trade to travel to national security.


For many thousands of years, we have relied on the ocean for sustenance, commerce, exploration and discovery. A system of international maritime law grew out of a need to balance various interests in these areas, including security, commerce and resources.
Isn’t water everywhere treated the same?
No, it isn’t. A well-defined body of international law provides a framework for all claims and activities at sea, and the rules vary by location.
Historically, countries made all sorts of claims about the waters along their coastlines and how far out into the ocean they had full sovereignty — in other words, where they could exercise jurisdiction and control in ocean waters much as they did on land.

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