2011 Heads of Fisheries Meeting - Maritime Boundaries Brief.
Dr Arthur Webb, Deputy Director OIP.
SPC SOPAC Division
Applied Geoscience & Technology Division – SOPAC l
2010 – 2011 Rational Statement; The Ocean and Islands Programme provides applied ocean, island
and coastal geoscience services to support countries to govern and develop their natural resources,
increase their resilience to hazards and facilitates data based approaches to adaptation. These vital
technical services will be strategically deployed in response to specific Member requests to assist in the
development, management and monitoring of natural resources and unique island environmental
systems and processes.
Overview of the new
SPC SOPAC Division
Applied Geoscience & Technology Division
“SOPAC Division”
Directorate
3 Main Technical
Programmes
Technical Support
Services
Corporate Services
Natural Resource
Economics
Publications
GIS Remote Sensing
Information
Management
Water & Sanitation
Programme
Disaster Reduction
Programme
Ocean & Islands
Programme
Technical Workshop
Ocean and Islands Programme 1
ii
SPC SOPAC Division
Ocean & Islands
Programme organisational structure
Programme
Management
Expected staff numbers in
2011 - 23
Technical Workshop
Administrative
Support
Data Management
GeoNetwork, etc.
Marine, Coastal
Science & Survey
ESAT – EU Envelope
C Project
Maritime Boundaries
South Pacific Sea Level &
Climate Monitoring Project
Geology, Minerals &
Hyrocarbons
EU EDF 10 Deep
Sea Minerals Project
The Ocean & Islands Programme at a glance
SPC SOPAC Division
OIP also contributes to climate change science and understanding
OIP delivery is supported & complemented by Technical Workshop & the
PIC vulnerability
and
adaptation
in coastal
Natural
Resource
Economics
Sector. and near shore systems.
Maritime Boundaries
Saline intrusion
inundation
Remote
sensing &
Sealevel
Monitoring
Deep sea
resources
Oceanography
Coastal Processes;
(planning, infrastructure, erosion,
aggregates, vulnerability, etc)
Water Quality
(ecological maintenance)
Hydrodynamic Modelling;
wave, current, inundation
Habitat Mapping
Hydrography / Geophysics
SPC SOPAC Division
Ocean & Islands Programme
Collaborative & complementary work
•Some
SPC Coastal
Fisheries
has used OIP
existing
collaborative
/
Hydrographic
Products
to assist
in the
complementary
efforts
between
placement of FADs (fish aggregating devises).
FAME and the new Applied
•GeoScience
Collaboration on
SPC CoastalDivision
Fisheries
&the
Technology
Research
Project on the Potential Impact of
- SOPAC;
Climate Change on Fisheries in the Pacific
Islands.
• Assistance to SPC Coastal Fisheries to
understand Trochus larvae distribution in
Tongatapu lagoon.
• OIP and SPC Coastal Fisheries Programme
have, albeit independently, provided
complementary expert review of major
development proposals and EIA documents
for PI Governments.
• Collaborating with the SPC Lands Division
on research and supervision of a
postgraduate student working on salinity
tolerance of swamp taro.
Ocean and Islands Programme 1
Geodetic survey, image processing, mapping / charting, remote sensing
Bathymetric mapping (habitat mapping), geophysics, coastal processes
Oceanography, hydrodynamic modelling, water quality, coastal processes
SPC SOPAC Division
Ocean & Islands Programme
Maritime Boundaries Sector
Notional PIC Maritime Zones
& eCS Claim Areas – 2010
Baseline
Survey 2010
eCS hydrographic
survey 2010
eCS workshop
2010
PIC maritime boundaries
lodged in acordance with
the provisions of UNCLOS
as of Oct. 2010
Baseline
Survey 2010
Maritime Boundaries
SPC SOPAC Division
Establishment of maritime zones and boundaries (EEZ) in the Pacific
Islands Region in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS and
development of extended continental shelf (eCS) claims.
EEZ
status
unknown
Contiguous Zone 24nm
eCS Territorial Sea 12nm
EEZ 200nm
PICs with eCS potential
Baseline
ECS
Delimitation
FoS
Delineation
100
200
own
arrangements
Baseline
300
Maritime Boundaries
Extended Continental Shelf Claims, so far.
SPC SOPAC Division
1.86million km2
presently under eCS
claim.
RMI
Palau
FSM
PNG
Nauru Kiribati
Kiribati
Solomon Is
Tuvalu
Kiribati
Tokelau
Samoa
Vanuatu
Fiji
Tonga
Niue
Cook Is.
Maritime Boundaries
EEZ development
SPC SOPAC Division
Ocean and Islands Programme
The challenge of developing enduring
solutions to PIC maritime boundaries.
SPC SOPAC Division
• At this time only 3 PICs have declared their outer 200nautical mile zones and 4 have
declared their archipelagic baselines. Less than half of the region’s shared boundaries
are subject to treaty (21 of 48).
• The development of maritime boundary solutions is a technical / legal / diplomatic
process with multiple stakeholders – all components must equally interact to produce
enduring solutions.
• SOPAC and our technical partners (Geoscience Australia, Commonwealth Secretariat
& UNEP GRID Arandal) have built excellent capacity in 8 PIC during our ECS work. It is
our intension to continue to use these technical teams to progress boundaries
development as well however these technical teams often lack legal and Govt. support.
• Enduring boundary solutions must be developed in a way to serve multiple needs, not
only fisheries management, e.g. security, biodiversity, conservation, research, deep sea
minerals development, transport, vessel monitoring, support ECS claims, etc.
• The 2010 Oceanscapes initiative raised issues regarding the possible threat to
boundary baseline features through climate change stress and sealevel rise.
PIC baseline features - potential impact of climate change
SPC SOPAC Division
Palau
Few PICs have declared their baselines or boundaries and there is
considerable urgency to undertake this work due to present resource use
and governance needs – the present work to characterise and declare
boundaries is the best possible way of addressing such CC concerns.
RMI
LowestLowest
Astronomical
Tide
“New”
Astronomical
= Baseline
in many PICs
FSM
Tide
& Baseline??
Precise determination & delimitation
of maritime zones, EEZ, archipelagic
status, shared boundaries & eCS, in
accordance with UNCLOS.
tide
NauruHigh
Kiribati
island
PNG
reef
Solomon Is
Future low tide
Low tide Kiribati
Sea level rise
Tuvalu
Tokelau
Kiribati
Samoa
boundary
Vanuatu
Fiji
Niue
Cook Is.
Tonga
Baseline
Ocean and Islands Programme
SOPAC Division Responsibility
Country Responsibility
Tasks
CK
FJ
FSM
KI
RMI
NR
NU
PW
PG
SI
TV
TN
VU
WS
Baseline
Reports
developed
Yes
Yes
Status
unknown
?
Work in
progress
Status
unknown
?
Yes
Yes
Own
arrangemen
ts – being
reviewed at
PW request.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Status
unknown/
own
arrangem
ents
?
Yes
Status
unknown
/own
arrange
ments
?
Achiapelagic
Status
defined
report
developed
NA
Yes –
being
reviewed at
FJ request
?
Work in
progress
?
NA
NA
Yes – being
reviewed at
PW request
Yes
Yes
In progress
?
Yes
?
Boundaries
computed &
reports
developed
Yes
Review in
progress
?
Work in
progress
?
Yes
Yes
Yes – being
reviewed at
PW request
Work in
progress
Work in
progress
Yes
?
Work in
progress
?
ECS claims
complete
Yes
Yes - work
in progress
Yes work in
progress
Work in
progress
NA
NA
NA
Yes - work
in progress
Yes
Yes - work
in progress
Work in
progress
Yes work in
progress
Yes work in
progress
NA
Baseline
Gazzetted
No
NA
No
No
No
Yes
No
NA
NA
NA
No
No
NA
No
Achiapelagic
Baseline
Gazzetted
No
Yes –
being
reviewed
No
No
No
NA
NA
Yes – being
reviewed
Yes –
being
reviewed
Yes – being
reviewed
No
No
Yes –
being
reviewed
NA
Boundaries /
Zones
Gazzetted
No
Yes –
being
reviewed
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes – being
reviewed
No
No
No
No
No
No
Baselines
deposited
with
UNCLOS
No
Yes –
being
reviewed
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes – being
reviewed
Yes –
being
reviewed
Yes – being
reviewed
No
No
Yes –
being
reviewed
No
Boundaries
deposited
with
UNCLOS
No
Yes –
being
reviewed
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes – being
reviewed
No
No
No
No
No
No
ECS claim
deposited
with
UNCLCS
Yes work in
progre
ss
Yes - work
in progress
Yes work in
progress
Deadline
03/01/13
- work in
progress
NA
NA
NA
Yes - work
in progress
Yes work in
progress
Yes - work
in progress
Deadline
26/03/13 work in
progress
Yes work in
progress
Yes work in
progress
NA
The way ahead ……….
SPC SOPAC Division
• Recognise that successful boundary development is not just SOPAC’s responsibility
– this process must be country lead.
• The processes is technical, legal and diplomatic and is ultimately an issue of lasting
sovereign importance.
• This is not just a fisheries issue, each country has many potential stakeholders with
an equal interest in boundary development and governance of marine resources.
• Effective in-country progress requires a “multi-stakeholder” approach where all
relevant parties have a clear understanding of the status, obstacles and requirements
to progress towards baseline and boundary declaration.
• The SPC SOPAC Division & technical partners welcomes FFA into the existing
boundaries development partnership and the opportunities this brings.
• A small boundaries team will be available throughout this week. If countries
wish to meet to discuss the specific status of their maritime boundaries please
come and talk to us - we can also arrange sit down meetings.
For more information email - arthur@sopac.org or arthurw@spc.int
Many thanks - any questions ………..
SPC
SPC
SPC
PIC extended continental shelf & maritime boundaries development teams & technical partners, Sydney 2010
Ocean and Islands Programme