The Sea and Its Unlimited Resources

The politico-geographical distribution of land seemed to have been resolved and consolidated on a long-term basis after the colonial era. Except in a few cases (for example, Israel/Jordan) state borders have not been altered. Changes amounted to incorporation of the entire country with its former borders, or a change in the political system. Expansion beyond a border would only be possible by means of war because nowhere on earth is there a totally uninhabited region that does not belong to anyone, and at the coast living space comes to an end.

In the past, the sea was used as a waterway or for fishing, and it seemed endless and inexhaustible; everyone had sufficient space and fish (Fulton 1911). Hugo Grotius 1 defined the principle of the mare liberum in 1609. A territorial sea with a width of three nautical miles under the jurisdiction of a coastal state was only established under the growing influence of Great Britain, the Netherlands and other European sea-powers. Beyond three nautical miles nobody could claim national rights. At that time large areas of the sea were not of value except for strategically important straits. Unlike on dry land, it was possible to use its resources without marking out claims. In 1702, Bynkershoek added an auxiliary quality to the principle of the three-nautical-mile territorial sea as a juridical support: the distance a cannon can fire, because the sea cannot be fully occupied and therefore it cannot be part of a country (Kent H.S.K. 1954). Of course, there have always been attempts to mark off territorial seas, particularly if these seas are surrounded by land on a few sides. The reasons given were either on security or on economic grounds (for example, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were a union since 1381, but when Greenland was rediscovered in 1585 Denmark claimed exclusive fishing rights in the northern North Atlantic, as they now ruled over the opposite coast).