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Argentine Sea

Coordinates: 46°S 63°W / 46°S 63°W / -46; -63
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Argentine Sea
Argentine Sea is located in Argentina
Argentine Sea
Argentine Sea
The Argentine Sea, off the Atlantic coast of Argentina
LocationEastern shore of Argentina
Coordinates46°S 63°W / 46°S 63°W / -46; -63
Part ofSouth Atlantic Ocean
River sourcesRío de la Plata, Colorado River, Río Negro, Chubut River, Deseado River
Basin countriesArgentina, Uruguay, Falkland Islands (UK)
Surface area1,000,000 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi)
IslandsFalkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego

The Argentine Sea (Spanish: Mar Argentino) is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the southern tip of South America. It ranges from the mouth of the estuary of the Río de la Plata in the north (35th parallel south) to the Isla de los Estados in the south, and from the Argentine coast to the 200 meters isobath. Its width varies between 210 km in front of Mar del Plata and 850 km at the latitude of the Falkland Islands. The coastline extends for 4,725 km. To the east of the Argentine Sea extends much deeper and more extensive Argentine Basin.

Geography

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The Argentine Sea is in the South Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern coast of Argentina, extending from the approximate latitude of Montevideo, Uruguay, southward to Tierra del Fuego, and is situated about 500 mi (800 km) north of Antarctica. The Argentine Sea has a surface area of 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)[1] and is one of the largest seas in the world. The average depth of the sea is 1,205 m (3,952 ft) and the maximum depth is 2,224 m (7,296 ft). It has a salinity of 3.5%.[1]

The Argentine Sea progressively widens going southward, in contrast to the narrowing of the continental mass.[1] The sea platform has a series of plateaux which descend to the east as large terraces or steps. Because of its stair-shaped plateaux, the Argentine Sea is similar morphologically to the Extra-Andean Patagonia. The Falkland Islands are also located within the continental shelf of the Argentine Sea.

Territorial claims

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According to the law 23968,[clarification needed] the territorial waters of Argentina extend 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from the line from the gulfs of San Matías and San Jorge to the outer limits of the River Plate. The contiguous zone extends 12 nautical miles after the territorial waters, and the exclusive economic zone 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) from it. The extended continental shelf extends to either the limits of the exclusive economic zone or the shelf slope. Argentina has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The exclusive economic zone claimed by Argentina overlap with claims maintained by the United Kingdom around the Falkland Islands and similar claims around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The UK's Falkland Islands claim boundary starts from the midpoint between Argentina and the Islands to the West and stretches 200 nautical miles in other directions with similar claims around the other British Overseas Territories.[2]

Argentina announced its claim without consultation with the United Kingdom. In the years 1990 to 2005 fishing and mineral resources in the area were administered by joint commissions between Argentina and the United Kingdom, Argentina unilaterally withdrew from these organisations in 2005 to pursue a more aggressive stance in its claim to the Falkland Islands. At any one time Argentina usually has a single vessel patrolling the undisputed area of its claim,[3] the vessels do not enter the exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom although there have been reports of Argentine warships threatening vessels on the Falkland side of the border by radio.[4]

Under the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Article 59 disputed and overlapping claims have no legal force until the dispute is resolved between the opposing parties.

Dispute over the extended continental shelf with Chile

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Map of the dispute.
This section is an excerpt from Dispute over the extended continental shelf in the Southern Zone Sea between Argentina and Chile § History.[edit]

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of April 30, 1982, which entered into force on November 16, 1994, established the regime of the continental shelf in Part VI (Articles 76 to 85), defining in Article 76, paragraph 1 what is understood as a continental shelf.

Argentina ratified the convention on January 12, 1995, and it came into force for the country on December 31, 1995.

On August 25, 1997, Chile signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and it entered into force for the country on September 24, 1997.[5]

In 2009, Argentina submitted a presentation to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which was accepted in 2016 by the UNCLOS.[6] The map in the submission included the disputed territories with the United Kingdom, such as the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and South Sandwich Islands, a crescent-shaped area south of Argentina's territorial sea as defined in the 1984 treaty with Chile.[7] This area was also claimed by Chile as part of its presential sea,[8] and the sea surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula, which is claimed by all three aforementioned countries.[9] That same year, on May 8, Chile submitted its Preliminary Report to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.[10][11][12]

In 2020, the Argentine Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved the outer limit of the Argentine Continental Shelf in Law 27,557.[13]

That same year, on December 21, Chile submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf the partial report on the extended continental shelf in Easter Island and Salas y Gómez.[14][15]

In 2021, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera signed Supreme Decree No. 95, which outlined the continental shelf east of the 67º 16' 0 meridian as part of Chile's continental shelf (not the extended one) area projected from the Diego Ramírez Islands, also claiming the crescent area that Argentina considers part of its extension achieved under the extended continental shelf principle.[16][17][18] This was reflected in the SHOA Chart No. 8[19] and prompted a response from the Argentine Foreign Ministry against Chile's measure.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

In February 2022, Chile submitted its second partial presentation regarding the Western Continental Shelf of the Chilean Antarctic Territory.[28][29] In August of the same year, Chile made the oral presentations of both partial submissions during the 55th Session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf at the United Nations in New York.[30][5]

In 2023, Chile, through SHOA, made available an illustrative graphic showing all the maritime areas claimed by the country, which was once again rejected by Argentina.[31][32][33][34]

In July 2023, the International Court of Justice ruled on the priority of a Continental Shelf over a Extended Continental Shelf in the case of the territorial and maritime dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua.[35]

Biodiversity

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The Argentine sea is one of the most temperate seas of the world. It receives the cold Falkland Current from the south, which comes from the Antarctic, and the warm Brazil Current from the north.[36]

The Argentine sea has twelve areas identified as places of great biodiversity. There are two international protected areas, one national, and eighteen provincial ones.[36]

The Argentine sea has plankton, algae, crustaceans, sardines and anchovies. Those feed the more advanced fauna such as penguins, cormorants, sharks, whales, dolphins, Burmeister's porpoise, fur seals, sea lions, and southern elephant seals.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Mar Argentino" [Argentine Sea] (in Spanish). Red Argentina. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  2. ^ "Claims and potential claims to maritime jurisdiction" (PDF). dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Associated Press News". bigstory.ap.org.
  4. ^ "Web Page Under Construction". www.buenosairesherald.com.
  5. ^ a b "Proyecto Plataforma Continental de Chile". Government of Chile. 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
  6. ^ "Argentina presents territorial claim". BBC. April 21, 2009. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  7. ^ "Crescent beyond point F of the 1984 Treaty of Peace and Friendship: new maritime dispute with Argentina". El Mostrador. March 23, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  8. ^ Luis Kohler Gary (March 2001). "The Presential Sea of Chile. Its current challenge" (PDF). Revista Marina.
  9. ^ Fulvio Rossetti (August 2021). "No man's land, everyone's land. Unity and nature in the cultural figures of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding areas". Revista 180. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  10. ^ "Información Preliminar Indicativa de los límites exteriores de la Plataforma Continental y una descripción del estado de preparación y de la fecha prevista de envío de la presentación a la Comisión de Límites de la Plataforma Continental" (PDF). Government of Chile. May 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
  11. ^ "New limits dispute arises between Chile and Argentina". Merco Press. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Argentina/Chile continental shelf dispute: "beware about arousing nationalism in electoral processes"". Merco Press. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Deputies approved two laws to strengthen sovereignty over the Malvinas" (in Spanish). Página/12. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Chile seeks to define the Continental Shelf of the province of Easter Island". La Prensa Austral. June 16, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  15. ^ "The extended continental shelf around Easter Island and Salas y Gómez". Revista Marina. October 27, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  16. ^ "Piñera: "What Chile is doing is exercising its right and declaring its continental shelf"" (in Spanish). T13. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Chile will ask the UN to recognize its maritime platform extension, which is already causing conflict with Argentina" (in Spanish). Infobae. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Diplomatic conflict between Argentina and Chile over the Continental Shelf" (PDF) (in Spanish). Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Spain). 14 September 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  19. ^ Juan Ignacio Ipinza Mayor (3 September 2021). "Southern Patagonian Ice Field and SHOA Chart No. 8" (in Spanish). InfoGate. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  20. ^ "After decrees: Argentina accuses Chile of trying to "appropriate" the southern continental shelf" (in Spanish). T13. 28 August 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Argentina claims Chile over an area it does not yet own". Revista Puerto. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Foreign Minister Allamand states that "it seems unnecessary to engage in further public debate" with Argentina over the continental shelf". Emol. September 2, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  23. ^ "Solá rejected the document signed by the PRO on the continental shelf: "They deny our rights," he said". Realidad Sanmartinense. August 31, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  24. ^ "Chile vs. Argentina por la plataforma continental en el Mar Austral: perspectivas". La Capital de Mar del Plata. October 5, 2021. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  25. ^ "Plataforma continental chilena en el mar de la zona austral, un interés esencial del Estado". CEP Chile. January 28, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  26. ^ "Chile and Argentina agree to discuss ongoing continental shelf differences south of Cape Horn". Merco Press. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  27. ^ 7 September 2021. "Argentina sends Chile diplomatic note rejecting their "expansive vocation"". Merco Press. Retrieved 23 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ "Plataforma Continental Occidental del Territorio Chileno Antártico" (PDF). National Committee for the Continental Shelf - Chile. February 28, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
  29. ^ "Chile to present the extended continental shelf west of Antarctica to the UN". Info Defensa. December 16, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  30. ^ "Chile realiza sus presentaciones orales de Plataforma Continental extendida de Isla de Pascua y Antártica a la Comisión de Límites de la Plataforma Continental en Naciones Unidas". DIFROL. August 10, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
  31. ^ "SHOA makes available an illustrative graphic of Chilean maritime jurisdiction areas". Armada de Chile. August 23, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  32. ^ "Continental shelf: The stance Chile has maintained in response to Argentina's objections and the new frustration over SHOA maps". Emol. August 29, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  33. ^ "Argentine Foreign Ministry sends formal complaint to Chile over Navy map including continental shelf". Emol. August 29, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  34. ^ "Argentina protests over map with continental shelf created by Chilean Navy". Nuevo Poder. August 29, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  35. ^ "Nueva controversia en el mar de la zona austral". August 31, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  36. ^ a b "Ecorregión Mar Argentino" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 5, 2013.
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