Cayman Islands (Territorial Sea) Order, 1989

1989 No. 2397 CARIBBEAN AND NORTH ArfLANTIC l~ERRrfORIES THE CA Yt\1i\N ISLANDS (TERRITORIAL SEA) ORDER 1989 Made Coming into force 19th Dece1nber 1989 1st January l 990 At the Court at Buckinghatn Palace, the 19th day of December 1989 Present, lhe Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council Her Majesty. in pursu~mce of the powers conferred upon Her by the Colonial Bocrrrdaries Al.'.t I 895(a) and all other po 1.x:ers enahling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice' of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered. as follows: l. This Order may be cited as the Cayman Islands (Territorial Sea) Order 1989 and shall come into force on I st January L 990. 2. The boundaries of 1he Colony of the Cayman Islands are hereby extended to include. as territorial sea. that part of the sea which is siru~ued within L! nautical miles of the Cayman Islands. nK·asured from the baselines as established by article 3 of this Order, together v,'ith the seabed of the territorial sea an<l its subsoil. 3. (.l) Except as otlhenvise provided in paragraph (2) of this artide and in articles 4 and 5 below, the baseline from which ihe breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to the Cayman Islands is measured shall be the low-water line along rhe coast, including the coast of all islands comprised in the territory. (2) For the purpos1;!S of this article a low-tide elevation which lies wholly or partly within the breadth of sea which would be territorial sea if all tow-tide elevations were disregarded for the purpose of the measurement of the bre-Jdth thereof shall! be: treated as an island. 4. (l) In the case of the sea adjacent to a coast off \vhich there are frln~ing reef,;. the b~t..,dine from which the breadth of the territorial sea is me:.t<.;ured shall be the sea\vard ... \in,it of the low-~atcr line of the fringing reefs. (2) Where there is a break or passage through the fringing reefs referred to in paragraph ( l l of this article, the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured shall be a straight line joining the seaward entrance points of that break or passage. ... S. [n the c~,se of the sc .. , adjacent to a bay. the ba.~dine from which the bre~u.lth of the ti.!rritorial sea is measured shall (a) if the bay has only one mouth and the distance between the low-water lines of the natur.11 entrance point-. of the bay does not exceed 24 nautical miles. be a straight line joining the said low-water lines: (b) if, because of the presence of islands, the bay has more than one mouth and the dist~mccs between the low-water lines of the natural entrance points of each mouth added together do not exceed 24 nautical miles. be a series of straieht lines across each of the mouths drawn so a.'i to join the said low-water lines: ... (c} if neither paragraph (,.\) nor (b) of this article applies. be a straight line 24, nautical miles in length drawn from low-water line to low-water line within the bay in such a m~mner as to enclose the maximum area of water that is possible with a line of that length. 6. In this Order (a) "bay" means an indentation of the coast such that its area is not less than that of the semi-circle whose di~uneter is a line drav,:n across the mouth of the indentation, and for the purposes of this definition the area of an indentation shall be taken to be the area bounded by the low-water line around the shore of the indentation and the strJ.ight line joining the low-water lines of its natural entrance points, and where, ~cause of the presem;e of islands. an indentation has more than one mouth the length of the diam\!ter of the semi-circle referred to shall be the sum of the lengths of the straight lines drawn across each of the mouths, and in calculating the area of an indentation the area of any islands lying within it shall .be treated as part of the area of the indentation: (b) "fringing reefs" means reefa attached directly to, or located in the immediate vicinity of, the coast or ~my coastal lagoon; (c) "island" means a naturally fanned area of land surrounded by water which is above water at mean high-water spring tides: (d) "low-tide elevation" me~ms a naturally fom1ed area of drying land surrounded by water which is below water at mean high-w~lter spring tides: and (e) "nautical miles" mt!an4> international nautical miles of l,852 metres. G.I. de Denev Clerk of the Privy Coundi EXPLANATORY NOTE (This note is not part of the Order) This Order extends the boundaries of the Colony of the Cayman [slandli so as to include, as territorial sea, the sea within twelve nautical miles of the baselines of the Cayman Islands, together with its seabed and subsoil, and makes other provisions in this connection. ln particular. it defines the b .. L~dine from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured as generally the low-\vater line. except where there are fringing reefs or bays.