The Equi-Area/Ratio The New Method for Maritime Delimitation

Abstract

The Equi-Area/Ratio aims at reducing the vagueness of immediate vicinities, regime of islands, historical titles and special circumstance. These are applied abstractly for adjusting strict median lines. That the Equi-Area/Ratio calculated the median line mathematically will reduce the mentioned vagueness. The Equi-Area/Ratio is proved by testing with setup scenario and real scenario. The setup scenario is a real place and the real scenario is from the International Court of Justice, ICJ, especially case of Nicaragua and Colombia. The result shows that The Equi-Area/Ratio is applicable for maritime delimitation. The most potential of the method is that every feature can be inputted for calculation. As such it addresses the issue of disagreement on selecting features if the Equi-Area/Ratio is applied for maritime delimitation. The Equi-Area/Ratio can be divided into two categories the Equi-Area and Equi-Ratio. The Equi-Area/Ratio is calculation of total area and sea area.1 The complicated maritime boundary is from vagueness of special circumstances or historic title. The special circumstance is various interpretations. It is deviated by coastal States to take advantages for drawing median line. Different understanding historic agreement makes the coastal States delineate the maritime boundary differently. The special circumstances and historic title are too subjective to be specific for solving the difference in maritime delimitation. The Equi-Area/Ratio is the optional method for both States. The testing of the Equi-Area/Ratio with the real scenarios, Colombia vs. Nicaragua (in case of offshore features), proves that the Equi-Area/Ratio is applicable for maritime delimitation. The disagreement on selection of features can be solved by the Equi-Area/Ratio method because every feature in the sea can be used as base points for controlling the turning point of provisional median line. The allocated areas of each feature will illustrate whether features are relevant for constructing median line. The provisional area of individual features will be allocated by the Euclidean Allocation analysis. Each allocated area is as input for the Equi-Area/Ratio method. The results of the Equi-Area/Ratio method are the gain area and the lose area. The allocated areas will be adjusted mathematically to meet the equitable solution.