1. Marine Cadastres…the Final Frontier Timothy Fella tfella@esri
Marine Cadastres…the Final Frontier Timothy Fella 23 March 2017

2. “Marine cadstre is a system to enable the boundaries of maritime rights and interests to be recorded, spatially managed and physically defined in relationship to the boundaries of other neighboring or underlying rights and interests” (Robertson et al, 1999)

3. Interests of a Nation do not Stop at the Land Sea Interface
Economic
Oil & gas, fishing, shipping, recreation, etc.
Environmental
Marine protected areas, loss of habitats, pollution, etc.
Social
Indigenous and traditional fishing rights, etc.
National Security
Installations, target/testing areas, border patrols, etc.
All developed countries have a cadastral system of some kind for land but most have nothing for the sea. Similar to a land-based cadastre system, a marine cadastre is intended to promote peaceful and sustainable use of the marine environment.

4. Why the Need to Establish a Marine Cadastre?
The time to implement is now before it becomes increasingly contested…
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Growing competition over the use of over maritime space
Technology making it easier to extract offshore resources
Growth of GIS and SDI
Increasing number of maritime disputes and legal cases
New sources of revenue from taxation and registration of rights
Very few countries have taken steps to establish a full fledged “marine cadastre”. Countries which appear to have advanced the furthest are the U.S., Canada, Australia, Israel, Indonesia and Malaysia. Even the U.S., Australia, and Canada lack a real marine cadastral registration component. Scattered amongst variety of government departments.
UNCLOS only came into effect in 1994 and replaces the older 'freedom of the seas' concept, dating from the 17th century: national rights were limited to a specified belt of water extending from a nation's coastlines, usually 3 nautical miles (5.6 km), according to the 'cannon shot' rule
In the early 20th century, some nations expressed their desire to extend national claims: to include mineral resources, to protect fish stocks, and to provide the means to enforce pollution controls.
By 1967, only 25 nations still used the old 3-mile (4.8 km) limit, while 66 nations had set a 12-nautical-mile (22 km) territorial limit and eight had set a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) limit. As of 2008, only two countries still used 3-mile limit.

5. Maritime Zones under UNCLOS
Territorial sea - is the marine area, up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with the Convention which encompasses air space & sea surface & water column superjacent to the seabed & soil or seabed & subsoil
Contiguous zone – encompasses the sea surface & water column & soil & subsoil – breadth of 12 nautical miles measured from the outer limit of the territorial sea
Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – encompasses the sea surface & water column & soil & subsoil – breadth of 200 nautical miles measured from the outer limit of the territorial sea
Continental shelf – encompasses only the seabed and its subsoil – breadth of 200 nautical miles
(maximum of 350 miles) measured from the outer limit of the territorial seabed
High seas – consists only of the sea surface and the water column subjacent to the surface – beyond the EEZ – beyond any national jurisdiction
the Area encompassing only the seabed and its subsoil under the High Seas – beyond the outer limit of the continental shelf – beyond any national jurisdiction.
Geoscience, Australia

6. Unique Challenges with Establishing a Marine Cadastre
Marine environment is 4-dimensional
Multiple overlapping rights in same geographic area
Absence of freehold rights
Ordinary land demarcation techniques do not apply
Large majority of maritime boundaries remained unresolved
Responsibilities and jurisdiction over marine environment is scattered amongst government departments
Marine data tends to be held in different formats, accuracies and silos
As of 2006, about 2/3 of the world’s maritime boundaries remained unresolved (Fugro Pelagos, 2006)
Standard of baseline for maritime zones differs by country. USA uses mean lower low water, Canada uses Lower water line, while Australia uses lower water mark and Indonesia uses low tide shoreline

7. Marine Management Systems and Names
Aims of each system are closely aligned…
Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)
Marine GIS
Marine Information System
Multipurpose Marine Cadastre
Australian Research Council describes a marine cadastre as providing the ability to describe, visualize and realize the various rights, restrictions and responsibilities within the marine and coastal environments
(Binns, 2004)

8. Experiences with Establishing Marine Cadastres
United States
Originally created to comply with Energy Policy Act of 2005 and to assist with the siting of renewable energy facilities. Includes block grids and official boundaries, which provide base for nearly all BOEM offshore maps and leasing processes
Australia
Researching the topic since early 2000s. Developed the Australian Marine Spatial Information System containing layers of information related to maritime boundaries, petroleum, fisheries, regulatory, environment, native titles and offshore minerals
Israel
The marine cadastre is a natural continuation of the land cadastre; it follows the same principles and methods of implementation. Marine boundaries are delimited by coordinates, which are connected to base control points on the coast
Israel follows same procedure for land settlement as it does with marine blocks, including advertisement in official gazette, acceptance and review of claims, visit to site, etc. In this case, it is the Israeli National Land Authority which manages all state-owned lands
Future requirements for Israel include 3D registration

9. Esri Experience with Marine Cadastre
U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
Replaced custom tools with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) tools
Built a Boundary Delineation system– semi-automated workflow model to create official marine boundaries, including delineation of outer limits of the continental shelf to support claims to extend maritime territory beyond nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone
Helped generate new leasing blocks for certain geographies and subdivide blocks into aliquot parts
Utilized Data Interoperability extension to import and export Block and Boundary data between Boundary Delineation System (BDS) and Technical Information Management System (TIMS), which managed leasing activities
Developed integrated information system and web map viewer for visualization, map generation, measuring, lease management, etc.
The final boundary delineation tool was an ArcGIS-based application in which the user could insert the required data into a model and use the tools provided to analyze the complex data necessary for a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
To establish boundary of continental shelf is complex and goes beyond establishing a simple buffer. Offshore boundary lines are measured along an arc over the earth’s ellipsoidal surface (Chord length), therefore, arc distance varies with latitude and azimuth corresponding to variations in the radius of the earth’s surface. As a result, the arc length must be computed (in 3D space) separately for each stretch of coastline. Foundational data for the analyses included baseline data, coastline data, bathymetric contours, bathymetry grid, and sediment thickness raster
Baseline points are necessary for delineating both the EEZ and the 350 nautical mile constraint line as mandated by the convention. Baseline is the origin from which seaward measurements are made, using an envelope of arcs process to identify location of these two lines
The risk of poor delineation could result in disputed jurisdiction or shortchanging a nation of its potential claims to minerals, oil, petroleum and fish. For the U.S. alone, conservative calculations estimate the approximate worth of U.S. territory gains of 386,000 sq miles equals $1.3 trillion in resources. Currently, the U.S. claim of 3 million sq miles overlaps with boundaries of around 25 nations

10. MarineCadastre.gov Leverages Web GIS Pattern
Web GIS Integrates all Types of Information
Portal
Bathymetry
Imagery
Navigational Routes
Leasing Data
Protected Area Maps
Port Installations
Administrative Boundaries
U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
Both Internally and on the Open Web

11. MarineCadastre.gov Leverages Web GIS Pattern
Web GIS Provides a New Pattern for Integration and SDI
Knowledge Workers
Executives
Open Services Open Data
GIS Professionals
Casual Users
Open Data Community
Portal
U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
NOAA Office of Coast Survey
BOEM
National Park Service
Department of Energy
Fish and Wildlife Services
NOAA Fisheries
Coast Guard
Department of Defense
NOAA Marine Protected Areas
Leveraging the Value of Shared Information

12. MarineCadastre.gov Web Map Viewer
A Joint BOEM and NOAA Initiative
U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
System is federated but absorbs and disseminates the authoritative data from many organizations. Web map viewer allows data to be visualized, additional maps to be made, and the solution is supports through best practices, templates and consultation with Esri