Seas and Submerged Lands (Territorial Sea Baseline) Proclamation 2006

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Seas and Submerged Lands (Territorial Sea Baseline) Proclamation 2006

Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973

I, PHILIP MICHAEL JEFFERY, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make this Proclamation under section 7 of the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.

Signed and sealed with the Great Seal of Australia on 15 February 2006

 

 

 

 

P. M. JEFFERY

Governor-General

By His Excellency’s Command

PHILIP RUDDOCK

Attorney-General

Contents

 1 Name of Proclamation 

 2 Commencement

 3 Revocation of previous Proclamation

 4 Definitions 

 5 Bays 

 6 Baseline — mainland of Australia 

 7 Baseline — mainland of Tasmania

 8 Baseline — islands off the coast of State or Northern Territory

 9 Low-tide elevations

 10 Low-water line of naturally formed area

 11 Low-water line of island

Schedule 1 Geocentric Datum of Australia

Schedule 2 Straight baseline points under Article 7 of the Convention 

Part 1 Coast of the mainland of Australia 

Part 2 Historic bays 

Part 3 Coast of the mainland of Tasmania 

Part 4 Islands off the coasts of the States and the Northern Territory 

 

 

 

1 Name of Proclamation

  This Proclamation is the Seas and Submerged Lands (Territorial Sea Baseline) Proclamation 2006.

2 Commencement

  This Proclamation commences on the day after it is registered.

3 Revocation of previous Proclamation

  The Proclamation made under section 7 of the Act on 4 February 1983 and published in Gazette No. S 29 of 9 February 1983, as amended by the Proclamation made on 19 March 1987 and published in Gazette No. S 57 of 31 March 1987, is revoked.

4 Definitions

 (1) In this Proclamation:

Act means the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.

bay has the meaning given by section 5.

Convention means the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea done at Montego Bay on 10 December 1982.

Geocentric Datum of Australia means the datum described in Schedule 1.

historic bay means a bay that is declared by Proclamation under section 8 of the Act to be an historic bay.

low-tide elevation has the same meaning as in article 13 of the Convention.

low-water means Lowest Astronomical Tide.

mile means an international nautical mile, being 1 852 metres.

straight line means a geodesic line.

territorial sea means the territorial sea of Australia.

 (2) For the purposes of this Proclamation, the outermost permanent harbour works (other than offshore installations and artificial islands) which form an integral part of a harbour system are regarded as forming part of the coast.

 (3) For the purposes of paragraphs 6 (d), 7 (d) and 8 (2) (d), the low-water line of a low-tide elevation must not be taken into account unless a lighthouse or similar installation that is permanently above sea level has been built on the low-tide elevation.

 (4) For the purposes of this Proclamation, the position on the surface of the Earth of a point, line or area is to be determined by reference to:

 (a) subject to paragraph (b), the Geocentric Datum of Australia; and

 (b) if the position is to be determined by reference to any of the points of latitude and longitude specified in column 2 of items 4012 to 4039 of Part 4 of Schedule 2 (inclusive) — the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000, as defined by the International Earth Rotation Service at epoch 1 January 2000.

5 Bays

 (1) Subject to subsection (2), an indentation is a bay if the distance between the low-water marks of the natural entrance points of the indentation does not exceed 24 miles.

 (2) An indentation is not a bay if:

 (a) for an indentation that has one mouth — the area of the indentation is less than that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of the indentation; and

 (b) for an indentation that, because of the presence of islands, has more than one mouth — the area of the indentation is less than that of the semi-circle drawn on a line as long as the sum total of the lengths of the lines across the different mouths.

 (3) In this section:

area of the indentation is the area lying between the low-water mark around the shore of the indentation and a line joining the low-water marks of its natural entrance points, and includes the area of any island within the indentation as if it were part of the water area.

6 Baseline — mainland of Australia

  Subject to sections 9, 10 and 11, the baseline from which the breadth of the part of the territorial sea adjacent to the mainland of Australia is to be measured is the line constituted by the following:

 (a) the low-water line along the coast, except where that low-water line is landward of a line mentioned in paragraph (b), (c), (d) or (e);

 (b) for each river that flows directly into the sea on the coast — the straight line drawn across the mouth of the river between points on the low‑water lines of its banks, except where that line is landward of a line mentioned in paragraph (c) or (d);

 (c) for each bay (other than an historic bay) on the coast — the straight line drawn between the low-water marks of the natural entrance points of the bay, except where that line is landward of, or identical with, a line mentioned in paragraph (d);

 (d) the straight lines joining each of the points on the low-water line of the coast that are on, or closest to, the points of latitude and longitude specified in column 2 of an item in Part 1 of Schedule 2;

 (e) for each historic bay specified in column 2 of an item in Part 2 of Schedule 2:

 (i) if 2 points of latitude and longitude are specified in column 3 of the item — the straight line joining each of the points on the low‑water line of the coast that are on, or closest to, those points; and

 (ii) if more than 2 points of latitude and longitude are specified in column 3 of the item — the line constituted by each of the straight lines joining, respectively, each of the points on the low‑water line of the coast that are on, or closest to, 2 points specified opposite each other in that column of that item.

7 Baseline — mainland of Tasmania

  Subject to sections 9, 10 and 11, the baseline from which the breadth of the part of the territorial sea adjacent to the mainland of Tasmania is to be measured is the line constituted by the following:

 (a) the low-water line along the coast, except where that low-water line is landward of a line mentioned in paragraph (b), (c) or (d);

 (b) for each river that flows directly into the sea on the coast — the straight line drawn across the mouth of the river between points on the low‑water lines of its banks, except where that line is landward of a line mentioned in paragraph (c) or (d);

 (c) for each bay on the coast — the straight line drawn between the low‑water marks of the natural entrance points of the bay, except where that line is landward of, or identical with, a line mentioned in paragraph (d);

 (d) the straight lines joining each of the points on the low-water line of the coast that are on, or closest to, the points of latitude and longitude specified in column 2 of an item in Part 3 of Schedule 2.

8 Baseline — islands off the coast of State or Northern Territory

 (1) In this section:

baseline of the mainland of a State or Territory means:

 (a) for a State (other than Tasmania) or the Northern Territory —the line determined in accordance with sections 6, 9, 10 and 11; and

 (b) for Tasmania — the line determined in accordance with sections 7, 9, 10 and 11.

group of islands does not include a group of islands declared by subsection (4) to be an excluded group of islands for the purposes of subsection (2).

island does not include:

 (a) an island declared by subsection (3) to be an excluded island for the purpose of subsection (2); and

 (b) an island included in a group of islands declared by subsection (4) to be an excluded group of islands for the purposes of subsection (2).

 (2) Subject to sections 9, 10 and 11, the baseline from which the breadth of the part of the territorial sea adjacent to an island, or a group of islands, located within a State or the Northern Territory, and seaward of the baseline of the mainland of that State or Territory, is to be measured is the line constituted by the following:

 (a) the low-water line along the coast of the island, or along the coast of each island included in the group of islands, except where that low‑water line is landward of a line mentioned in paragraph (b), (c) or (d);

 (b) for each river that flows directly into the sea on the coast of the island, or on the coast of an island included in the group of islands — the straight line drawn across the mouth of the river between points on the low-water lines of its banks, except where the line is landward of a line mentioned in paragraph (c) or (d);

 (c) for each bay on the coast of the island, or on the coast of an island included in the group of islands — the straight line drawn between the respective low-water marks of the natural entrance points of the bay, except where the line is landward of, or identical with, a line mentioned in paragraph (d);

 (d) the straight lines joining each of the points on the low-water line of the coast of the island, or on the low-water line of the coast of an island included in the group of islands, that are on, or closest to, the points of latitude and longitude specified in column 2 of an item in Part 4 of Schedule 2.

 (3) Each of the following islands located within the State of Queensland is an excluded island for the purpose of subsection (2):

 (a) Pearce Cay;

 (b) Turnagain Island;

 (c) Turu Cay.

 (4) Each of the following groups of islands located within the State of Queensland is an excluded group of islands for the purposes of subsection (2):

 (a) the group of islands known as Aubusi, Boigu and Moimi;

 (b) the group of islands known as Dauan, Kaumag and Saibai;

 (c) the group of islands known as Anchor Cay and East Cay;

 (d) the group of islands known as Black Rocks and Bramble Cay;

 (e) the group of islands known as Deliverance Island and Kerr Islet.

9 Low-tide elevations

  The baseline from which the breadth of the part of the territorial sea adjacent to a low-tide elevation, situated wholly or partly at a distance not exceeding the breadth of the territorial sea from the mainland or an island, is to be measured is the low-water line on the low-tide elevation.

10 Low-water line of naturally formed area

 (1) If the low-water line of a naturally formed area of land which is above water at high-tide would intersect a straight baseline drawn in accordance with this Proclamation, the part of the straight baseline that would be between the points of intersection of the low-water line and that baseline is to be substituted with the line that would be the baseline between those points if the seaward part of the area of land were part of the coast of the mainland of the State or Territory within which the naturally formed area of land is located.

 (2) For subsection (1):

 (a) if the low-water line and baseline intersect at more than 2 points, the points of intersection of the low-water line of an area of land and a straight baseline are taken to be the 2 outermost points of intersection; and

 (b) the seaward part of the area of land is the part, or parts, of the area of land on the seaward side of the straight baseline.

11 Low-water line of island

 (1) If straight lines mentioned in paragraph 6 (d), 6 (e), 7 (d) or 8 (2) (d) of this Proclamation join different points on the low-water line of the same island, the baseline from which the breadth of the part of the territorial sea adjacent to that island, or the group of islands in which that island is included, between those points is to be measured is the line that would be the baseline if the seaward part of the coast of the island between those points were part of the coast of the mainland of the State or Territory within which the island is located.

 (2) For subsection (1), the seaward part of the coast of an island between 2 points is the part of the coast of the island between those points that includes the most seaward part of the island.

Schedule 1 Geocentric Datum of Australia

 (subsection 4 (1))

 

1 Reference Ellipsoid

  Geodetic Reference System 1980 ellipsoid with a semi-major axis of 6 378 137 metres and an inverse flattening of 298.257 222 101.

2 Reference Frame

  The Geocentric Datum of Australia is realised by the co‑ordinates of the following Australian Fiducial Network geodetic stations referred to the Geodetic Reference System 1980 ellipsoid determined within the International Earth Rotation Service Terrestrial Reference Frame 1992 at the epoch of 1994.0.

 

Schedule 2 Straight baseline points under Article 7 of the Convention

(sections 6, 7 and 8)

Part 1 Coast of the mainland of Australia

 

Part 2 Historic bays

 

Part 3 Coast of the mainland of Tasmania

 

Part 4 Islands off the coasts of the States and the Northern Territory