Caribbean Sea

This page provides an overview of the Dutch lines and zones in the Caribbean Sea that have a relation to UNCLOS, and are relevant to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. No attempt has been made to make this overview comprehensive and the explanations with the lines and zones are indicative only.

For details on those lines and areas, consult the source. More information on geodetic datums is given on the horizontal coordinate systems page.

Straight baselines

Straight baselines have been published in the Decree governing the implementation of section 1 of the Territorial Sea of the Kingdom in the Netherlands Antilles (Extension) Act of 1985, see figure 1 and figure 2. These straight baselines are given in the geodetic datum NAD27 for the Windward Antilles, and PSAD56 for the Leeward Antilles.

Zones

In 1985, the Kingdom of the Netherlands established the width of its territorial sea at 12M. For the Netherlands Antilles, this has been done by means of the Territorial Sea of the Kingdom in the Netherlands Antilles (Extension) Act. In 2005, the Kingdom of the Netherlands established a contiguous zone (CZ) between 12 and 24M, in the Contiguous Zone (Establishment) Act. Its boundaries are given in the Contiguous Zone (Demarcation) Decree of 2006. In 2010, the EEZ of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba came into force by means of the Decree limits Caribbean exclusive economic zone. All these zones in the Caribbean Sea consist of several smaller zones, see the figure 1 and figure 2.

Maritime boundaries with other states

The maritime boundary between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Venezuela is established in the Boundary delimitation treaty between the Republic of Venezuela and the Kingdom of the Netherlands of 1978. This boundary consists of 4 sectors:

Sector A delimits the western side of Aruba.
Sector B delimits the southern side of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire.
Sector C delimits the eastern side of Bonaire.
Sector D delimits Saba and Sint Eustatius, and the Venezuelan island Aves.
This boundary consists of parts that delimit the territorial sea, and parts that delimit the EEZ. Sectors A, B and C are expressed in the geodetic datum PSAD56, while sector D is expressed in NAD27.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has undelimited Caribbean maritime boundaries with many states:

With France (extending both sides of the land border at St Martin, where the western boundary also delimits Saba and French Saint Martin, and the eastern boundary also delimits the three windward Antilles and French Saint Barthélemy).
With the United Kingdom (between Saba and Anguilla).
With the United States (between Saba and the American Virgin islands).
With Saint Kitts and Nevis (between Saint Kitts and St Eustatius).
With the Dominican Republic (northern boundary of Aruba and Curaçao).

Maritime boundaries within the Kingdom

The boundary between Curaçao and Aruba is established in the Maritime Boundary between the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (Establishment) Act of 1985, for both the territorial sea and the EEZ. The boudnary is expressed in the geodetic datum PSAD56. The maritime boundaries between Curaçao and Bonaire, and between Sint Maarten and Saba are described in the Act on the demarcation of the sea boundaries between Curaçao and Bonaire, and between Sint Maarten and Saba of 2010. The Decree boundaries public bodies Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba of 2010 demarcates a maritime boundary between the public bodies Saba and Sint Eustatius for the Dutch territorial sea in the Caribbean. These two documents use the geodetic datum WGS84.