The Extension of Coastal State Jurisdiction in Enclosed snd Semi-Enclosed Seas: A Mediterranean and Adriatic Perspective

The current jurisdictional status of the Mediterranean Sea is notably different from other enclosed or semi-enclosed seas.

Nearly fifty per cent of the Mediterranean waters are high seas and are therefore beyond the jurisdiction of coastal States, this is despite the fact that there are no points in the Mediterranean Sea where the coasts of two States would be more than 400 nm apart.

Such a legal situation generally prevents coastal States from adopting and enforcing their laws on the Mediterranean high seas in respect of many important fields such as the protection and preservation of the marine environment, as well as the conservation of marine living resources. However, when it comes to the Adriatic Sea, a sub-sea and sub-region of the Mediterranean, Croatia has proclaimed an Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone-EFPZ, Slovenia has proclaimed a Zone of Ecological Protection while Italy has adopted a framework law for the proclamation of its Zone of Ecological Protection without actually proclaiming its regime.

This book examines the actual or potential extension of coastal State jurisdiction in the Adriatic Sea against the background of similar extensions elsewhere in the Mediterranean.