John Malta
By STEPHEN R. KELLY
AT a time when territorial disputes over uninhabited outcrops in the
East China Sea have led to smashed cars and skulls in China, a similar,
if less dramatic, dispute over two remote rocks in the Gulf of Maine
smolders between the United States and Canada.
Machias Seal Island and nearby North Rock are the only pieces of land
that the two countries both claim after more than 230 years of vigorous
and sometimes violent border-making between them.
Except for the occasional jousting of lobster boats, this boundary
dispute floats far below the surface of public or official attention, no
doubt reflecting the apparent lack of valuable natural resources and a
reluctance to cede territory, no matter how small.
But if we are unlikely to resort to arms anytime soon, the clashes in
Asia have shown how seemingly minor border disputes can suddenly stoke
regional and nationalistic tensions. Our relaxed attitude toward these
remote rocks may well be a mistake.
While the United States and Canada have other maritime boundary disputes
along their 5,525-mile border, the world’s longest, this is the only
one left that involves actual chunks of land.
Machias Seal Island is a 20-acre, treeless lump that sits nearly
equidistant from Maine and New Brunswick. It, and the even smaller North
Rock, lie in what local lobstermen call the gray zone, a 277-square-mile area of overlapping American and Canadian maritime claims.
The disagreement dates back to the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the
Revolutionary War. The treaty assigned to the newly independent 13
colonies all islands within 20 leagues — about 70 miles — of the
American shore. Since Machias Seal Island sits less than 10 miles from
Maine, the American position has been that it is clearly United States
soil.
But the treaty also excluded any island that had ever been part of Nova
Scotia, and Canadians have pointed to a 17th-century British land grant
they say proves the island was indeed part of that province, whose
western portion became New Brunswick in the late 18th century.
Perhaps more important to the Canadian case, the British built a
lighthouse on Machias Seal Island in 1832, which has been staffed ever
since. Even today, two lighthouse keepers are regularly flown to the
island by helicopter for 28-day shifts to operate a light — even though,
like every other lighthouse in Canada, it is automated.
While abundant legal arguments surround Machias Seal Island, natural
resources are far less evident. No oil or natural gas has been
discovered in the area, nor has it had any strategic significance since
it served as a lookout for German U-boats during World War I.
Tour boats from Maine and New Brunswick carry strictly limited numbers of bird watchers to
the island to see nesting Atlantic puffins. And the surrounding waters
contain lobsters that, thanks to different regulatory schemes and
overlapping claims, have occasionally sparked clashes between Maine and
New Brunswick lobstermen, although a bumper lobster crop this summer has
slackened demand for gray zone crustaceans.
But the lack of hydrocarbons and the current lobster glut make this an ideal time to color in the gray zone.
The United States and Canada settled all their other maritime
differences in the Gulf of Maine in 1984 by submitting their claims to
the International Court of Justice for arbitration.
They could have included the gray zone in that case, but did not. The
Canadians had refused an earlier American arbitration proposal by saying
their case was so strong that agreeing to arbitration would bring their
title into question.
This attitude calls for re-examination. The fact that so little in the
way of resources appears to be at stake, far from justifying the status
quo, should be the main reason for resolving the issue. And for those
concerned about blowback from “giving away” territory, letting the
international court decide the case provides the most political cover.
As China and Japan can attest, border disputes do not go away; they
fester. And when other factors push them back to the surface — the
discovery of valuable resources, an assertion of national pride, a
mishap at sea — the stakes can suddenly rise to a point where easy
solutions become impossible.
Before that happens, we should put this last land dispute behind us, and
earn our reputation for running the longest peaceful border in the
world.
NO need to give into the CAnadians. We have the superior armed forces and should retain this island.
ReplyDeleteAll international disputes must be resolved through dialogue. Especially civilized nations such as Canada & United States of America will not solve the problem in any violent way.
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Sikander Hayat
Dear "Anonymous", Thanks for your comment.
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Sikander Hayat