archipelagic waters
Seas within islands
Archipelagic waters are the waters enclosed within the baselines connecting the outermost points of an island nation's outermost islands.
Under international law, countries like Indonesia and the Philippines can claim these waters as internal territory while granting foreign ships passage rights.
The concept treats scattered islands as a unified whole rather than separate landmasses with open sea between them.
- innocent passageLegal coastal water crossing
- straitConstricted marine passage
- baselineStandard for comparison
- island chainSeries of linked islands
- shipping laneDesignated ocean travel path
sovereignty · marine ecosystem · traditional fishing methods · continental shelf · ancient trade routes · mangrove forest · oral traditions · sustainable fisheries · lagoon · tidal · Pacific · tropical · coastal · nautical · treaty · atolls · coral reef · shipping routes
- maritime zonesterritorial sea, maritime border, high seas, fishing zones, fishing zone
- sea lawlaw of the sea, continental shelf, freedom of navigation, baselines, fishing zones
- ocean zonesintertidal zone, twilight zone, midnight zone, tidal zone, thermocline
- maritime lawmaritime piracy, admiralty, law of the sea, salvage rights, towage
archipelagic watershigh seas
Waters beyond jurisdiction
international waters · open ocean · deep ocean · territorial sea · coastal waters