Kenya to acquire 150 nautical miles of Indian Ocean in new ‘scramble’

The report is expected to be handed over to President Mwai Kibaki by July 30 and will be implemented by January 2010, once the relevant modalities have been put in place, said Kenya’s Fisheries Minister, Dr Paul Otuoma.

The task force was working on a report required to grant Kenya an additional 150 nautical miles of the ocean in addition to the current 200 nautical miles, which is the equivalent of 142,000 square kilometres.

The UN website says: “On May 6, 2009, the Republic of Kenya submitted to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, in accordance with Article 76, paragraph 8, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.”

Other African countries that had made their submissions by Friday were a joint venture by the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles in the region of the Mascarene Plateau. The others are Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius and Nigeria.

The African nations that have made preliminary submissions are Togo, Benin, Somalia and Gambia.

Tanzania, Mozambique, Congo and Gabon had not made their submissions to the UN by Friday.

After the scramble for the sea, the status of the successful nations will change from “coastal states” to “ocean states.”

The UN Commission is set up under the convention and will take over whatever ocean space the states do not claim by the expiry of the date.

The Commission is an inter-governmental body based in Kingston, Jamaica, was established to organise and control all mineral-related activities on the international seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

It is an autonomous organisation with a relationship agreement with the United Nations. Kenya’s Attorney General Amos Wako was the authority’s president in 1997 and 1998.

States were required to come up with policies and strategies that could position the country to optimally benefit from the ocean space.

The first nation to enter submissions for the extension of its water boundaries was Russia on December 20, 2001, followed by Brazil on May 17, 2004, Australia on November 15, 2004, and Ireland on May 25, 2005.

Dr Otuoma said Kenya stood to benefit from resources both living and mineral, shipping and environmental conservation, as well as fighting the recent menace of piracy.

Multinational trawlers fishing in the high seas will need to seek authority from the relevant “ocean state” for any activities they wish to carry out in its waters, the minister said.

Surveillance will limit the operations of pirates in the region as the sea states will embark on managing the areas they have asked for, said Dr Otuoma.