ANGLAIS |
DOMAINE |
Marine ecosystem
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Marine navigation
| | |     (Hierarchy: Fisheries > Aquatic navigation > Marine navigation)
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VEDETTE | * Low-tide elevation statut: préféré
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CATÉGORIE GRAMMATICALE | noun |
PLURIEL | Low-tide elevations ;
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ETYMOLOGIE | The word low-tide elevation dates back before the twentieth century. The earliest usages in published works can be seen in books such as:
- Benedict, E. C., Knauth, A. W., Knauth, C. R. (1940). The Law of American Admiralty: Its Jurisdiction and Practice; with Forms and Directions. United States: M. Bender. page 562. View in Google books ;
- Appeared in numerous articles in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This goes to support the fact that it was already an internationally recognised term;
An analysis of ngram graph, graph 1, above shows that the term low-tide elevation came into usage even before the 1870's. It then became wildly used from the 1940's, turned even more popular after its usage in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. |
DÉFINITION |
a naturally formed offshore land feature (such as mudflat, shoal, rock, or reef ) within a distance of not more than 12 nautical miles from the low-water line of the mainland or an island, which is surrounded by water and visible at low tide but submerged at high tide.
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SOURCE DE LA DÉFINITION |
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
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EXEMPLE D'EMPLOI | " Where a low-tide elevation is wholly situated at a distance exceeding the breadth of the territorial sea from the mainland or an island, it has no territorial sea of its own. " (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, article 13, paragraph 2) |
NOTES | Naturally occurring offshore land features (e.g. mudflats, shoals, rocks, or reefs ) visible during low tides but submerged at high tide.
Characteristics of low-tide elevations:
- They are situated within a distance of not more than 12 nautical miles from the low-water line of the mainland or of an island;
- They are surroundedby water at mean lower low water, which is above the level of mean lower low water but not above the level of mean high water;
- Naturally-formed on the see bed;
Significance and application of low-tide elevations in international law:
Pursuant to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is the international landmark convention regulating the world's oceans and seas, the following rules are applicable:
- Low tide elevations may be used as basepoints for the calculation of maritime zones when they are lying within the breath of the territorial sea;
- low-tide elevations lying totally outside the usual breadth of the territorial sea (12-miles) do not have any territorial sea and thus, cannot expand the reach of the territorial sea of a nation.
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