File talk:Zonmar-en.svg

Errors

This image has numerous features that do not agree with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. I have thus removed it from w:Territorial waters. Here I copy and expand my comment on its talk page:

It does not show any bump or seaward deviation of either territorial waters or the contiguous zone around the island. The internal waters shown are suspiciously wide, about three nautical miles, on the left and right sides of the image. The baseline should be at the mean low water mark there, which at this scale cannot be distinguished from permanently exposed land unless there are exceptionally wide mud flats adjacent to 'shore' (usually shown stippled). The slight indentation to the left of the island does not meet the semicircle requirement for a bay, so the baseline follows its low water mark. Two straight baselines should enclose the channel between the island and the mainland, which is a 'bay' with two entrances. The mainland has natural headlands but the island does not, thus the baselines should touch the island at points nearly tangential to the seaward side of the island. The 'bay' thus enclosed has a water area that is close to the area of a semicircle whose diameter equals the sum of the two baselines. The resulting baselines will both be at an angle of about 45°, toward the lower left and right from the island. The only internal waters on the image should be the channel between these 45° baselines. The continental shelf should not be shown because it has no bearing on "international waters". As far passage is concerned, international waters is the ocean beyond the contiguous zone, including the exclusive economic zone. "International waters" regarding passage differ from those regarding fishing or mining in the exclusive economic zone. — Joe Kress 18:22, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

That's some heavy comments, and the image should obviously be adapted to this. Any volunteers? MJSmit 09:29, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I thank MJSmit for his efforts, but the main errors still remain (the following citations are to the article and paragraph within the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea):

1. The area of the 'bay' to the left of center must be increased so that it is greater than the area of a semicircle having a diameter equal to the straight line betweeen headlands, otherwise it does not qualify as a bay under the International Law of the Sea.(10.2)
2. The contours of the territorial and contiguous zones (4) and to a lesser extent the exclusive economic zone (57) should exhibit a 'bump' around the island.
3. The straight baseline to the right of the island must connect to permanently exposed land, not to a mean low water mark.(7.4) This is a different straight line than that used to determine the area of a bay, which must be connected to low water marks around or between headlands.(10.3)
4. Add stippling (many small dots) between permanently exposed land and the mean low water mark to the right of the island to indicate mud flats, otherwise its reason for being several miles from the coast is not apparent.(13.1)

Though not a defect, adding 350 nmi as the limit of the continental shelf from the baseline on the left hand side would be useful.(76.5–6) — Joe Kress (talk) 23:55, 16 July 2008 (UTC)