Seychelles-Mauritius joint submission-Historic seabed claim presented to United Nations |31 March 2009

The joint submission project, covering 387,000 sq km, is the first to be lodged by any country in the African or Indian Ocean region and, more importantly, the first to be developed by two small island states working together.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Patrick Pillay has been leading a five-strong technical delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UN-CLCS), at the UN headquarters in New York. He addressed the commission on behalf of Seychelles last Thursday.

His statement was followed by legal and scientific presentations by Seychellois and Mauritian experts.

Dr Arvin Boolell, Mauritian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and
International Trade, also made a statement to the commission on the benefits of the submission to both countries.

Before their mission to New York, Seychellois and Mauritian technical teams were hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London to a three-day preparatory workshop, where the Commonwealth’s deputy secretary-general, Ransford Smith, described the joint submission as “ground-breaking”.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), member states including Seychelles are required to negotiate agreements on the limits of their maritime boundaries for good management, preservation of the environment and equitable use of the water-based resources. These are seen as especially relevant to Small Island Developing States like Seychelles with limited land-based resources.

After defining its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundary with Mauritius on July 29 last year, Seychelles decided to move to the next step – to claim its extended continental shelf beyond its EEZ boundaries in accordance with the Unclos treaty signed in 1982.

Because of overlapping claims, Seychelles decided to claim her extended continental shelf in the Mascarene plateau jointly with Mauritius.
The claim, when it comes into force, will mean sharing the seabed and subsoil of that area between Seychelles and Mauritius for our economic benefit, regional security and preservation of our pristine environment.

It will allow both countries to have exclusive access to extra areas of seabed resources such as minerals, oil and gas, and to marine life belonging to sedentary species.

The claim is in line with both countries’ commitment to the cardinal principle that the ocean is a common heritage of mankind and therefore has to be efficiently managed and preserved.

Seychelles and Mauritius have made the joint submission within the time limit set in the treaty for submitting such claims over extended territory. Failure to have made the claim in time would have meant losing the extended continental shelf in this area.

The Commonwealth Secretariat helped both countries prepare the submission by providing legal, strategic and technical experts. Other help came from the UN Trust Fund and Grid Arendal.

Key local institutions involved are the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sepec, the Attorney-General’s Office and the Seychelles Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, a Seychellois technical team is working on another claim, on its own this time, for an extended continental shelf to the north of Mahe, which is expected to be ready before the deadline of May 13.

The visit to New York also gave Mr Pillay – accompanied by Seychelles’ ambassador to the UN Ronny Jumeau – the chance to attend the Alliance of Small Island States’ plenary meeting at the UN HQ last Friday.