No Demarcations in Sea Spaces, but Equi-distancing

Bennett explained that whether it’s Guatemalan naval vessels, illegal fishers, or suspected drug traffickers navigating our southern waters, the Coast Guard takes swift action when they encounter them. He noted that, unlike land borders, there are no specific lines or buoys to mark our sea boundaries. However, there are methods to determine which side of the border you’re on when navigating the seas.

 

Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard

“We’ve never done that that demarcation exercise 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, then we’ll 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 to go by equidistance. Say half a distance of sea space between Belize and Guatemala, and then that’s the border. That’s how we exercise our jurisdiction. Uh, we believe this is Belizean waters. They would say this is Guatemalan waters. Whenever we would encounter, uh, fishermen or fisher folk in that area, and it is within what we believe is Belize sea spaces, we would arrest, detain, and we will exercise jurisdiction over that. Unlike what you see happening on land where there’s an adjacency zone and there’s a organization of American States office that manages incidents in there to verify. location and action to be taken that does not exist in the sea spaces. So, the confidence building measures does not extend anywhere out at sea. So, it’s completely down to the two countries to try to, um, use diplomatic measures to try to mitigate, um, and try to manage these incidents.”