The Editor, Sir:
Dr. Vasciannie's recent, informative letter on Jamaica's territorial waters raises important issues about sovereignty, posing potential problems now and in the future.
The professor points out that Jamaica is an archipelago as defined by the Law of the Sea Convention, its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extending 200 miles beyond a line connecting each of the outer islands in our group. However, because Jamaica's EEZ intersects with other, nearby, foreign islands' EEZ, a compromise must be made by setting the dividing line half-way between them.
To the west, the line would pass mid-way between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; to the north mid-way between Jamaica and Cuba; to the east mid-way between Jamaica and Navassa, an American island; and to the south mid-way between the Pedro Cays and New Bank (Bajo Nuevo), a Colombian cay. Conflicting claims to some of these islands complicate the issue. Before 1860, Navassa was Haitian; although seized by the United States (U.S.), it is still claimed by Haiti. There is also a long-standing dispute over the cays to the south of Jamaica, which are claimed by both Colombia and Nicaragua.
Future international conflict
Ownership of these cays and their EEZ remains relatively unimportant as long as their economic value is only seafood. However, should oil be discovered at sea in a contested EEZ, suddenly the issue would be critical. Jamaica is now conducting oil exploration on or near the Pedro Banks, an uncontested zone, but the search may go farther afield. If manganese nodules or other rare minerals were found on the deep ocean floor between the banks, some of which are essential for making jet engines and other important things, an international conflict would be likely.
The value of these seabed minerals is the reason that the U.S. has not signed the Law of the Sea Convention. The U.S. is one of the few nations with the technology to mine deposits on the ocean floor. By not signing, the U.S. does not recognise Jamaica's 200-mile EEZ, nor that of most nations whose total EEZ would amount to the vast majority of the world's seabed, containing all those important minerals.
Helping our neighbours
Jamaicans should remember that the Americans seized Haiti's Navassa because it was covered by guano, a rich fertiliser deposited by seagulls. Before discovering chemical farm fertilisers in the 20th century, they mined the island using Jamaican labour. At the same time, for the same reason, the U.S. also tried to take Jamaica's Morant Cays, but was prevented from doing so by the British. How would the U.S. behave towards Jamaica today, no longer part of a powerful Empire?
Jamaica should try to help our neighbours settle their territorial island/cay disputes because the waters surrounding these dots of land could be tremendously valuable. If we are in firm agreement with our neighbours, then when a powerful nation tries to take what is ours, we would not alone cry out, but others would come to our help.
I am, etc.,
DAVID KEELING
DAKeeling@Hotmail.com
Box 44
Claremont P.O.
St. Ann.
