A coastal state is a term found in the law of the sea. Although widely used in the legal documents, including the

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...

(UNCLOS), this term lacks a precise definition. The "essential idea" of a coastal state is having an open sea coast and asserting the

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Ju ...

in the areas of the sea adjacent to this coast.

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

are examples of the coastal states, Churchill counts up a total of 150 of such states (while considering the definition in the Virginia Commentary, "the State from the coastline or baselines of which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured" to be "overly narrow"). The interests of a coastal state can be in conflict with those of the

maritime nation A maritime nation is any nation that borders the sea and is dependent on its use for the majority of the following state activities: commerce and transport, war, to define a territorial boundary, or for any maritime activity (activities using the s ...

s (the ones that greatly depend on the sea trade routes). For example, when the

marine pollution Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The major ...

is concerned, the coastal states seek to protect their shores and waters, while the maritime nations worry about limits the protective regulations place onto the

freedom of navigation Freedom of navigation (FON) is a principle of law of the sea that ships flying the flag of any sovereign state shall not suffer interference from other states, apart from the exceptions provided for in international law. In the realm of internat ...

. Many states have both maritime and coastal interests, so the groups of coastal and maritime states intersect to a large degree. The coastal states have jurisdiction over the sea areas:

internal waters According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a nation's internal waters include waters on the side of the baseline of a nation's territorial waters that is facing toward the land, except in archipelagic states. It includes w ...

and the territorial sea with

international strait An international strait is a narrow natural waterway connecting two parts of the high seas or exclusive economic zones, used for international navigation. Per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a transit passage regime pre ...

s (limited by the

transit passage Transit passage is a concept of the law of the sea, which allows a vessel or aircraft the freedom of navigation or overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of a strait between one part of the high seas or exclusiv ...

), archipelagic waters, the

contiguous zone The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potent ...

, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. Their jurisdiction covers, depending on the area: navigation, fishing, mineral extraction from the seabed, customs, fiscal, research (including archeological) and immigration matters, the environmental protection. Jurisdiction also extends to ships and overflying aircraft, including those on board of them, structures built in the sea and their population. Børresen, while acknowledging that UNCLOS uses the term for any state with

territorial sea The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and poten ...

, suggests limiting its scope by excluding the states with the

navies A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

of global reach, " maritime powers".

References

Sources

* * * {{law-stub Law of the sea International law Legal concepts