Page 101 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

Saudi Arabia-Bahrain seabed boundary, 1951-1958 491

Minnies.

continuously for about fivo montha in
ovory'yoar in their dhows.. They
fished,and dived for pourls dnd the
a ran v/no to thorn aa much n "home­
land" ua v/aa the actual land on
which they had their permanent
housoo. Thio fact ohould entitle
thooo people and the atnte of Bahrain
to ownorohlp of the area just nn
muct aa tribeo who on the mainland
aottle in a certain area originally
for the purpose of grazing and
watering their flocka acquire
ownorohlp of that area and connequent .y
of products which may later be found
or dovolopod there e.g. grazing
vegetation and oil. Occaoionally a
few non-Bahrainis . had como to that
aroa to fioh but no-one hud over
disputed Bahrain's exclusive right
to control there. This r.iglit. woo Z
emphaoiaed by the fact that Bahrain 5
sent her Government Inopec tor to the 5
area and oven maintained n s
Government houpitul ship with a
medical officer there who remained £
almost throughout the fishing period x
und treated all the people for H
sickness.
2
(b) When BAPCO originally took out
their Oil Concession it was clearly s
understood by them that tho Fusht Bu H
Saafa area v/as included in it and t
survey work o tar ted i;i 1939 without OS
any complaints from the Saudis. Tills $
work was interrupted by the war.
After the war it was resumed and n u
n
considerable amount of seismic
survey and general exploration was o
carried out, but it v/ao not until an H
Aramco party came there in 19b9 that
the 3audi Government ever raiBod the O
question of ownership of the area. Z
Prior to thio the Saudis had never X
h
used or exploited this area in any o
way. No work has been done there by z
Aramco, whereas BAPCO have expended
considerable amounts of money and
labour and material and have
acquired much detailed knowledge and
erected various constructions such
aa light beacons. All this hps been
done wlth the approval of tho Ruler
of Bahrain. Pearling and fishing ore
now dying industries in tho Persian
Gulf whereas oil is new and it plays
a moot important part in the lives of
the people no it takes tho place of
the, former traditional means of
earning a livelihood. Tt should,
therefore, succeed to the traditional
of customary rights or privileges
which were formerly possessed by tho
other ays terns of work and livelihood.
(c) Mr. Benschoten agreed that it
/was