Coastal state
A coastal state is a state that has access from its own territory to at least one ocean or the adjacent sea of an ocean. States that only have access to an inland sea are not coastal states. In the Duden dictionary it is referred to as a "state lying on a coast".
description
Most of the world's countries are currently coastal states. States that have no territory on the mainland are known as island states . Landlocked states are states without direct access to the sea. The latter also include those bordering the Caspian Sea ( Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan ), as this is an inland sea with no direct connection to the ocean.
The use of waters on which there is a coast is regulated by the Convention on the Law of the Sea and is divided into an “ exclusive economic zone ” and a “ continental shelf ” ( territorial sea ). The territorial sea is part of the national territory.
The exclusive economic zone may be used economically by the coastal state; it is also responsible for research, environmental and marine protection. The coastal state can claim an "extended continental shelf" of up to 350 nautical miles - in individual cases even more (by application, Commission for the Limitation of the Continental Shelf ).
The coastal state can exercise its sovereign rights "to research, exploit, conserve and manage the living resources in the exclusive economic zone" by means of measures to ensure compliance with the laws it has passed. Detained ships and their crew are released immediately by means of bail or other security. The proposed penalties for violations of fisheries laws and similar regulations may not include detention unless the states involved have agreed to them.
advantages
In contrast to landlocked states , whose participation in the global economy (especially trade ) is difficult, coastal states have to spend a smaller proportion of their export revenues on transport (landlocked states approx. 15%). Also infrastructure this is an advantage.
Some states have coasts on several oceans or tributaries, which is often a particular advantage. These are:
- Between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean : United Kingdom
- Between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean : France , Spain , Morocco
- Between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea : Thailand
- Between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan : North Korea
- Between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea : Egypt , Israel
- Between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans : Canada , United States , Mexico , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama , Colombia and Chile
- Russia has coasts on the Arctic Ocean , the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Pacific .
- On the South African coast walk Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean merge.
Such a double coastal location is particularly advantageous if both coasts are connected by a canal. This is the case in Germany with the Kiel Canal , in Egypt with the Suez Canal and in Panama through the Panama Canal . As an alternative to the Panama Canal, a canal through Nicaragua was considered in the 19th century , and this has been discussed again for several years. In Thailand, a canal through the Isthmus of Kra has also been under discussion for more than 100 years. A system of canals ( White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal , Volga-Baltic Sea Canal , Volga-Don Canal ) that connects the Russian rivers allows travel from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea; not for seagoing vessels, but for inland vessels .
Some of today's states used to have several coasts, but lost them to war. These include Finland , which lost its ice-free port of Pechenga on the North Sea in the winter war and finally after the Second World War to the Soviet Union (now Russia); Bulgaria , whose access to the Aegean Sea fell to Greece after the First World War .
Some of today's landlocked states used to be coastal states. These are Bolivia , which lost its access to the sea to Chile in the saltpeter war ; Ethiopia , which became a landlocked country through the independence of Eritrea ; as well as Austria and Hungary , which lost their coastal areas to the newly founded Yugoslavia (now Slovenia and Croatia ) and Italy during the First World War . At the time of the Confederation of Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia had access to the Adriatic Sea. This fell away with the independence of Montenegro .
Some coastal states have only very narrow access to the sea, which may even only offer access to the high seas through the territorial waters of other states . This applies to Slovenia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Jordan , Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . States on inland seas also have this problem; this affects Georgia , Ukraine , Romania , Bulgaria and Russia on the Black Sea and Russia, Finland , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea . Israel's access to the Red Sea is through the Gulf of Aqaba , which is connected to the sea proper by the narrow Strait of Tiran . During the Middle East Wars , it was blocked by Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
