Why There Are No Lines Of Demarcation In Belize's Territorial Waters |
Tue, December 17, 2024 |
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And while the incursion was confirmed by GPS readings, the fact is, Belize's Maritime border is not clearly demarcated either physically or notionally, since the matter is before the ICJ. Bennett explained:
Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant at Belize Coast Guard
"So we have never done that demarcation except use out at sea whilst we know where our land border is the exercise has never taken place out at sea and hopefully with the ICJ ruling we will be able to do that so for now there are no buoys or markers to determine exactly where the official border lies. What we do is go by equi distance so say half the distance of sea space between Belize and Guatemala and then that's the border that's how we exercise our jurisdiction we believe this is Belizean waters they would say this is Guatemalan waters whenever we would encounter fishermen or fisher folk in that area and it is within what we believe is Belize sea space then we would arrest and detain and we would exercise jurisdiction over that."
"The ICJ would have to make that ruling to determine exactly where the maritime border lies and that's the exercise being done at the ICJ at this time."
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