Page 429 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

EXTENSION OF TERRITORIAL SEAS 363

These provisions are applicable to Sharjah’s possessions on the
coast of the Gulf of Oman, where the territorial sea of Iran, the
opposite State, overlaps the territorial sea of Sharjah’s possessions
on the Arab coast of the said Gulf.1
Article 4 refers to the case where the territorial sea of Sharjah and
the territorial sea of an opposite State overlap, and provides that, in
this case, the boundary line shall be determined on the basis of the
median line, measured from the base-lines of both opposite coasts.
This principle is consistent with the provisions of Article 12 of the
Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone.

3. Sultanate of Oman
Before 1972, the Sultanate had never declared her position on the
questions concerning the limit of her territorial sea and jurisdiction
over the continental shelf.2 However, on 17 July 1972, Sultan Qabus
of Oman issued a Decree in which he declared the Sultanate’s
pqsition on such questions. The Decree of 1972,3 concerning the
territorial sea, continental shelf and exclusive fishing zone, contains
10 Articles.
Article 1 confirms the full sovereignty of the Sultanate over her :
territorial sea and over the airspace above and the seabed and
subsoil beneath the territorial sea. However, it provides that this :
exercise of sovereignty shall be consistent with the principle of :
“innocent passage of ships and planes of other states through
international straits.’’
Article 2 declares that the territorial sea of Oman “extends to
twelve nautical miles seaward, measured from the baselines’’3 It
provides that “low-water marks’’ of the coast shall form the
baselines for measuring the territorial sea of the mainland or islands.
Articles 3 and 4 deal with the continental shelf over which the
Sultanate exercises sovereignty 4 ‘for the purpose of exploring it and ;
exploiting its natural resources’’. (Art. 1).

This continental shelf is defined as including

“the seabed and natural resources upon and beneath the seabed £
adjacent to the coast of the mainland or of an island, rock, reef or
shoal, but outside the territorial Sea of the Sultanate, to a depth of
1. On the Arabian side of the Gulf of Oman, Sharjah owns three enclaves, namely,
Husn Dibba, Khor Fakkan, and Kalba. These areas, together with Fujairah,
form the eastern region of the M.E. A. All these areas are intermingled with the :
territory of Fujairah. See Map in Appendix XIV.
2. See this book, pp. 278-282.
3. Sultanate of Oman, Compilation of Operative Laws, issued on 30 November
1972. And see Appendix No. 27.