Territorial Sea

The territorial sea is the belt of sea adjacent to the coast over which the coastal state exercises sovereignty, subject to the right of innocent passage. Under UNCLOS Article 3 a state may claim up to 12 nautical miles measured from the baseline, and its sovereignty extends to the airspace above and the seabed and subsoil below. The breadth resolved a long dispute that had run from the cannon-shot rule to claims of 3, 6, and 200 miles; the 12-mile limit is now near-universal state practice.