STRAIGHT LINE BASELINE METHOD

STRAIGHT LINE BASELINE METHOD.

To determine the extent of archipelagic waters, the archipelagic state shall draw straight baselines connecting the outermost points of the outermost islands and drying reefs, provided that ratio of the area of the water to the area of the land, including atolls, is between 1:1 and 9:1. The length of such baselines shall not exceed 100 nautical miles, except that up to 3% of the total number of baseline enclosing any archipelago may exceed that length up to a maximum of 125 miles. The baselines drawn should not depart, to any appreciable extent, from the general configuration of the archipelago. All the waters within the baselines shall then be considers as internal waters. The breadth of the 12 mile territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf shall then be measured from the archipelagic baselines