Generally, the territorial waters extend 12 miles from shore. In cases of conflict (ie, a point is less than 12 miles from the shores of two or more countries), the dividing line is established by treaty. I think there are still a few areas where treaties have not been adopted, so there might be some "gray" areas... International Treaties permit definition of "Economic Excclusion Zones" (the US EEZ is a 200-mile limit). Fishing limits apply in such areas, but boarding rights and controls over shipping etc. don not apply. Paul Goyette Juniper Networks Customer Service and former skipper of the 61' Cheoy Lee motor yacht "Gentle Wind" on her 2005 journey across the Pacific Ocean.
-----Original Message----- From: Christina Lawrence [mailto:CLawrence@stopwatchmaps.com] Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2007 11:38 AM To: Paul Eggert Cc: tz@lecserver.nci.nih.gov Subject: RE: TimeZones and international waters
Thank you for the response!
What distance from shore defines "the territorial waters of any nation"? Is it nation specific, or an internationally recognized distance from shore?
Thank you!
Christina
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Eggert [mailto:eggert@CS.UCLA.EDU] Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 12:56 PM To: tz@elsie.nci.nih.gov Cc: Christina Lawrence Subject: Re: TimeZones and international waters
To help clear this up I'll add something like the following to my next proposed patch. Comments welcome.
A ship within the territorial waters of any nation uses that nation's time. In international waters, time zone boundaries are meridians 15° apart, except that UTC−12 and UTC+12 are each 7.5° wide and are separated by the 180° meridian (not by the International Date Line, which is for land and territorial waters only). A captain can change ship's clocks any time after entering a new time zone; midnight changes are common.