The RNLI's lifeboats operate to 100 miles from shore – but who controls the waters they navigate?

Freedom of the Seas

Across the world, land has been divided by mankind through war, conquest, colonisation and treaty, while rivers and mountains form timeless natural boundaries. The sea, however, has no distinctive surface features – it is a vast, briny expanse. How can it be defined?

In the early 1600s, Dutchman Hugo Grotius formulated the principle of Mare Liberum: all waters were free to all nations but belonged to none of them. This Freedom of the Seas gave mariners legal rights to roam the high seas.

A century later, fellow national Cornelius van Bynkershoek argued that coastal states have a territorial right to the adjoining waters to the distance that a cannon could fire from shore – about 3 nautical miles. It wasn’t until the 20th century that commercial activities like fishing and mining had an economic impact on the oceans and nations extended this limit. By the mid 1960s, only 25 nations still used the old 3-mile limit, while 66 had set a 12-mile territorial limit and 8 a 200-mile limit.

But all was not peaceful. Offshore oil quickly became the centre of attention in the North Sea, and the UK, Denmark and Germany were in conflict as to how to share the continental shelf with its rich resources. Fishing rights were even more heavily contested, resulting in the infamous 'Cod Wars' between Iceland and the UK. The seascape was generating a multitude of disputes.

Law of the Sea

In 1967, Malta’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) urged members to discuss the fair and responsible use of the world’s oceans. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was the result in 1994. It set limits on how much coastal water and seafloor a nation could claim. Navigation, mining and protection of the environment were also included.

The territorial sea – the aquatic boundary along a nation’s coast that extends its terrestrial boundaries – was at last set at 12 miles. To the present day, countries bordering the North Sea all claim the 12 miles for their exclusive fishing rights.

Contentious zones

For the most part, the UK’s territorial sea does not adjoin that of any other state. Where, however, the sea is narrower than the 12-mile limit different rules apply. In the Dover Straits, as in all straits, the UN Convention determines the waters are international. A specific UK–France agreement set the practical territorial sea limits in the English Channel but between the UK and the RoI, the situation is more complex. What to do adjacent to the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic? No boundary has ever been decided. Instead, there is joint management of the sea loughs by the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission’s Loughs Agency.

Looking beyond territorial sea limits, the Convention also set exclusive economic zones (EEZs) out to 200 miles. In areas of sea smaller than 200 miles across, the convention specifies that EEZs can extend to a line midway between neighbours. Each coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources in its EEZ. The UK, for example, has claimed exclusive rights to the production of energy from water and wind. RNLI lifeboats will sometimes pass into foreign EEZs while on a rescue mission, especially if they are based in such far-flung places as the Channel Islands or Shetland Isles (see diagram).

It’s mine, for(e) shore!

Moving closer to home, what of the foreshore? In most of the UK, this is defined as the area between mean high water and mean low water, though in Scotland it is the spring tidal range. In the RoI, the foreshore extends to the full 12-mile territorial limit.

Around 55% of the foreshore and approximately half of the beds of estuaries and tidal rivers in the UK are owned by The Crown Estate. The other 45% is owned by bodies including the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, local and port authorities, statutory environmental bodies, Government departments and others. The National Trust owns nearly a tenth of the coast of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In the RoI, the entire foreshore is presumed state owned unless proven otherwise.

Beyond the UK foreshore, The Crown Estate also owns virtually the entire seabed out to the 12-mile limit. It grants leases, licences and consents for activities such as harbour development, dredging, routes for cables and pipelines – and lifeboat stations!

The RNLI holds access and foreshore licences, and leases ranging from 1–999 years in length, from a multitude of owners. Some facilities have long, single leases with local councils, as with the new lifeboat stations at Padstow and Tenby. Having spent £Ms in construction, this brings stability for the charity.

Others involve several parties, for example Sennen Cove lifeboathouse is owned by the RNLI but part of the two slipways at this unusual station is owned by The Crown Estate and part by the Duchy of Cornwall, which retains the right to hunt there!

Harbour waters and beyond

Every statutory harbour authority regulates activities within their jurisdiction, attempting to balance the needs of safety, conservation, industry and development. But the Port Marine Safety Code has been developed to improve safety and to manage marine operations to nationally agreed standards. It gives harbour authorities the power to enforce byelaws and ensure the safety of harbour users. Speed limits are usually low but lifeboats can request ‘best speed with caution’ when departing for a rescue.

Authorities may also be subject to the European Habitats Directive and have a statutory duty to balance nature conservation with their other duties. Many harbours and ports are within marine protected areas, special protection areas and sites of special scientific interest and some areas have World Heritage Site status.

As a result they are required to follow strict guidelines when issuing licences for works that could affect the harbour. When the Lifeboat College in Poole was built, the RNLI had to decontaminate the land, previously the site of a chemical works, and gain consent from Natural England to dredge and place piles in the seabed.

International regulations

Beyond the confines of harbour and ports, the water can be an extensive and unregulated environment. Whoever owns the foreshore or the seabed doesn’t own the water above it, nor do they govern access. In tidal navigable waters ‘ships of all States … enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea’ but vessels must navigate in accordance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), produced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). These set out the ‘rules of the road’ to be followed by ships and other vessels at sea – including lifeboats. One important innovation in the COLREGS was the recognition of traffic separation schemes at sea. Following a series of collisions, the first such scheme separated shipping into two lanes in the Dover Strait, which is the busiest international seaway in the world. So strict is this scheme that a Coastguard spotter plane patrols for miscreants, and cross-Channel swimmers must book their exploits with the Channel Swimming Association and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation.

Other international laws in operation that affect RNLI crews, leisure boaters and oil tanker skippers alike include the 1974 Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) Convention and the 1978 (amended 1995) Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). (The RNLI’s first aid, sea survival, firefighting and approved engine courses are all STCW approved.)

But the RNLI is no passive recipient of regulation. Through membership of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF), with its Director of Operations as Chairman, the charity helps to formulate international policy and regulations to ensure the safety of all water users. Currently, one such co-sponsored project is to produce a rescue boat code to be adopted internationally. The RNLI is also a founder member of the National Water Safety Forum in the UK and of Irish Water Safety, and is represented on various watersports’ governing bodies. These strive to change the attitude and behaviour of those using the sea by improving knowledge and training through education and awareness initiatives.

There are still no statutory requirements for safety signage, public rescue equipment or lifeguards at the coast but the charity is leading the way in providing free coastal risk assessments. These identify hazards above and below the tide lines

Protecting the seas

Part of the UK Government's Maritime and Coastguard Agency's remit is to minimise the risk and impact of pollution of the marine environment from ships – its motto is 'Safer lives, safer ships, cleaner seas'. The RNLI duly makes sure it maintains its craft for both speed and good stewardship of the environment. The UK is also party to several international agreements that provide for cooperation in dealing with major marine pollution incidents, including the Mancheplan (English Channel), UK–Ireland and Anglo-Isle of Man agreements, which also cover search and rescue operations. Fishing quotas and exploitation of resources have always incited lively debate but initiatives such as no-take zones and marine conservation zones play an important part in maintaining the long-term health and sustainability of the oceans.

However, less than 1% of UK coastal waters are fully protected so the Government has planned a network of Marine Protected Zones by 2012. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has suggested 73 sites. The public can nominate their own or vote for or against the MCS sites where activites like fishing, dredging and construction would be banned.

The MCS also publishes an annual Good Beach Guide, recommending only those beaches with the very best water quality in the UK. For the last few years, the RNLI has been working with this charity towards both cleaner and safer beaches.

As island nations, we have a rich and complex relationship with the sea, with its all-embracing presence in the UK and RoI. Moving on the 17thcentury principle that all waters are free to all nations but belonging to none of them, the 21st-century aim is to provide ‘clean, safe, healthy, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas’ that will be sustainable for everyone. Governments, international organisations and stakeholders from the public, private and voluntary sectors, including the RNLI,