Limits in the Seas No. 51: Straight Baselines, Haiti
Summary: International Boundary Study, Series A, Limits in the Seas No. 51, issued on 25 May 1973 by the Geographer of the US Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. It analyzes the territorial sea limits set by Haiti's decree of 6 April 1972, segment by segment, and reproduces the decree in English translation.
Key Findings
- The 6 April 1972 decree set Haiti's territorial sea at 12 nautical miles from the low-water line, doubling the 6-mile limit Haiti had acknowledged since 1894, and added a 3-mile contiguous fisheries zone.
- The polygonal outer limit on the small-scale decree map does not relate to the low-water line, so the limits imply a system of straight baselines that the decree never states.
- The implied baseline closing the Golfe de la Gonâve measures about 89 nautical miles, more than the 24-mile closing line permitted for a bay.
- As plotted, the breadth of the territorial sea ranges from less than 12 to more than 40 nautical miles.
- The northern and southern limits act as unilaterally declared territorial sea boundaries with the Dominican Republic, and the contiguous zone would overlap the Dominican territorial sea in many places.
How to cite
United States Department of State, 1973, Limits in the Seas No. 51: Straight Baselines, Haiti, https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/LIS-51.pdf
- Rights holder
- United States Department of State