ECUADOR-PERU MARITIME LIMITS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000700080004-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 17, 1971
• Content Type: CABLE

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Department of State
Ecuador-Peru Maritime Limits
Lima's 1-591 of February 2, 1971
DATE:
rEnclosed are copies of the chart "Ecuador-Peru Claimed Territorial -1
Sea Boundary and Limits," and a commentary on the chart.
It would be appreciated if both embassies would determine, where
applicable, the answers to the questions posed in the enclosed
commentary. The questions are:
1. Does the chart correctly delimit the straight baselines
around the Galapagos Islands?
. Does the 200-nautical mile territorial sea around the Galapagos,
Islands extend to the limits shown on the chart or is the
southern extent of the sea truncated by an additional westward:4
extension of the maritime boundary between Ecuador and Peru? S
3. What marks the limit of the Peruvian 200-nautical mile
territorial sea: a) the maritime boundary or b) the
intersection of the Peruvian territorial sea with the
Ecuadorean sea, with said intersection being north of the
maritime boundary?
4. What is the seaward extent of the maritime boundary?
Enclosures:
1. Chart, "Ecuador-Peru Claimed Territorial
Sea Boundary arid Limits" (10 copies )
. Commentary on the Chart (10 copies)
FORM
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For Department Use Only ?
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ARA/EP - Mr. Freschettetk
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDPO8C01297R06?0700080004-5
UNCLASSIFIED 2
?
5. What is the seaward extent of the buffer zone?
6. Does Ecuador terminate the northern extent of their
? territorial sea at the seaward extension of the parallel
that marks the point where the Ecuador-Colombia land
boundary reaches the sea?
Also, could Amembassy Lima please acquire the most recent
publication of the Agreements and Other Documents (English
version) of the Conference on the Exploitation and Conservation
Of the Maritime Resources of the South Pacific, Chile-Ecuador-
Peru. The latest copy INR/RGE has was issued by the General
Secretariat, Lima, January 1967. Please forward to INR/DFR/RGE.
ROGERS
UNCLASSIFIED
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Are-rt.-try-% Paoe 1 of 3. Encl. No. 2
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ECUADOR-PERU CLAIMED TERRITORIAL SEA BOUNDARY AND LIMITS
The chart "Ecuador-Peru Claimed Territorial Sea Boundary and Limits,"
delimits the maritime boundaries as imprecisely defined in: (1) 200-nautical
mile (n.m.) territorial sea declarations of Peru (1947) and Ecuador (1966);
(2) the Declaration on the Maritime Zone, 1st Conference, Santiago 1952;
and (3) the Agreement Relating to a Special Maritime Frontier Zone,
2nd Conference, Lima 1954.
The territorial sea declarations of the two countries state that
the 200 n.m. territorial seas will be measured from low-tide elevations.
However, the Ecuadorean territorial sea around the Galapagos Islands is open
to interpretation. The chart delimits what is deemed to be the proper
interpretation of how straight baselines are drawn around the Islands
by Ecuador. Isla Darwin and Isla Wolf are not considered to be geographi-
cally part of the Galapagos Archipelago, hence straight baselines would
not be drawn about them. However, the Ecuadoreans may have extended the
baselines to include the islands of Darwin and Wolf.
The text of the Declaration on the Maritime Zone is not precise:
II. The Governments of Chile, Ecuador and Peru therefore
proclaim as a principle of their international maritime
policy that each of them possesses sole sovereignty and
jurisdiction over the area of sea adjacent to the coast
of its own country and extending not less than 200 nautical miles
from the said coast.
IV. The zone of 200 nautical miles shall extend in every
direction from any island or group of islands forming part of
the territory of the declarant country. The maritime zone
of an island or group of islands belonging to one declarant
county and situated less than 200 nautical miles from the
general maritime zone of another declarant country shall be
bounded by the parallel of latitude drawn from the point of
which the land frontier between the two countries reaches the
sea.
The Agreement Relating to a Special Maritime Frontier Zone states:
FIRST: A special zone is hereby established, at a distance
of 12 miles from the coast, extending to a breadth of 10
nautical miles on either side of the parallel which constitutes
the maritime boundary between the two countries.
UNCLASSIFIED
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UNCLASSIFIED Encl. No. 2
-4- CA-780 to Lima
Quito
In view of the language of the Declaration and Agreement above, the
delimitation of the maritime boundary is open to varying interpretations.
_
Boca Capones, Point A, marks the approximate terminus of the maritime
boundary between Peru and Ecuador. The seaward extent of the maritime
boundary is not definite. Point B on the chart is 200 n.m. from Point A;
this extent causes no confusion but the seaward extension beyond Point B
is indefinite.
The maritime boundary could terminate at the point where the
Ecuadorean territorial sea would intersect the maritime boundary as
extended; or the boundary could extend to Point C which is the point where
the Peru territorial sea would intersect the boundary. In all probability
the maritime boundary does extend at least to the point where the boundary
would intersect the Ecuadorean territorial sea claim.
The extent of the maritime boundary has a definite effect on where
the Peru territorial sea could terminate. Does the territorial sea end
at Point C, or does it extend in an arc to the north until the arc
intersects the Ecuadorean territorial sea? Thus there is the question of
jurisdiction over the area of water bounded by the maritime boundary, the
northward extension of the Peruvian territorial sea from Point C to the
Ecuadorean territorial sea, and from this point of intersection southward
to the maritime boundary.
Further, a question arises if the territorial sea around the
Galapagos Islands is terminated on the south at a line that marks the
extension of the maritime boundary westward from Point C? This
question is raised by Article IV of the Declaration on the Maritime Zone
(see above) which states that the parallel marking of the maritime
boundary terminates the territorial sea of any declarant country when it
infringes on the sea of another declarant country. One interpretation
is that the 200 n.m. territorial sea around the Galapagos Islands does
not infringe on the Peruvian territorial sea because the limits of the
Galapagos' territorial sea are less than 200 n.m. from the Peruvian terri-
torial sea. The other assumption is that the chart as drawn is correct
with respect to the extent of the territorial sea around the Galapagos
Islands and that there is no infringement on the Peruvian sea. Therefore,
the soughern limits of the sea around the Galapagos would be terminated
by an extension of the maritime boundary into the area of the Galapagos.
Another issue is the extent of the puffer zone. As shown on the
chart, the buffer zone terminates at a point 200 n.m. from the landward
terminus of the boundary. The questions are: (1) Does the buffer zone
extend on both sides of the maritime boundary to the point where the
Ecuadorean sea intersects the boundary? If the buffer zone does extend
to this point, do its limits curve along the arc of the Ecuadorean
territorial sea or is the westward extent of the zone marked by a
UNCLASSIFIED
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/12: CIA-RDPO8C01297R0607008806021-5
Lncl. No.
CA- 780 to Lima & Quito
perpendicular to the maritime boundary? If this is so, a small area
of the Ecuadorean sea between the arc and the perpendicular would not be
in the buffer zone. (2) Does the buffer zone extend to the limit of the
Ecuadorean sea on the northside of the maritime boundary and on the
southside is the seaward extent Point C or does the buffer zone curve
northward along the westside of the Ecuadorean sea in the area that can
conceivably be Peruvian waters if the Peruvian sea is not truncated by the
maritime boundary.
Thus, it has been shown that there are a number of areas for which
additional information is required to delimit precisely the claimed
territorial sea boundary and limits of Ecuador and Peru.
UNCLASSIFIED
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDP08001297R000700080004-5