Serranilla Bank
Encyclopedia
Serranilla Bank is a partially submerged reef
, with small uninhabited islets, in the western Caribbean Sea
. It is situated about 350 kilometres (217.5 mi) northeast of Punta Gorda
, Nicaragua
, and roughly 280 kilometres (174 mi) southwest of Jamaica
. The closest neighbouring land feature is Bajo Nuevo Bank
, located 110 km to the east.
Serranilla Bank was first shown on Spanish
maps in 1510. It is administered by Colombia
as part of the department of San Andrés and Providencia. Although the bank is currently occupied by Colombia, it is subject to a sovereignty dispute involving Honduras
, Nicaragua
and the United States
.
maps in 1510. The United States
claimed the Bank under the Guano Islands Act
in 1879 and 1880. Colombia
(indirectly) and possibly Honduras
also claim the Bank. The U.S. ceded claims to several "guano islands" to Colombia in 1981, but Serranilla Bank was not definitely included.
, now a mostly submerged carbonate
platform consisting of shallow reef
environments. It is about 40 km in length and 32 km in width, covering an area of over 1200 km2, almost entirely under water. Three small cay
s and two rocks emerge above the water to form the bank's islands. These are West Breaker, Middle Cay, East Cay, Beacon Cay and Northeast Breaker. They are largely barren, with sparse vegetation of bushes and some trees. Most of the reef is drying and many shipwreck
s are located in its vicinity.
Beacon Cay is the largest islet
in the Bank. It is overbuilt with small military facilities, which house a small rotating garrison of Colombian naval personnel. There is a lighthouse
on a coral
ledge in the southwest approach to the bank. It is a 33 m (108 ft) tall skeletal tower built atop a 3-storey crew residence. The lamp emits a focal plane beam of light as two white flashes every 20 seconds. The current lighthouse was first erected in 1982, and was reconstructed in May 2008 by the Colombian Ministry of Defence
. It is currently maintained by the Colombian Navy
, and overseen by the state's Maritime Authority.
made by a number of sovereign state
s. In most cases, the dispute stems from attempts by a state to expand its exclusive economic zone
over the surrounding seas.
Between 1982 and 1986, Colombia maintained a formal agreement with Jamaica
which granted regulated fishing rights to Jamaican vessels within the territorial waters
of Serranilla Bank and nearby Bajo Nuevo Bank. In November 1993, the two states agreed upon a maritime delimitation treaty establishing a "Joint Regime Area" to cooperatively manage and exploit living and non-living resources in designated waters between the two banks. However, the territorial waters immediately surrounding the cays themselves were excluded from the zone of joint-control, as Colombia considers these areas to be part of her coastal waters. The agreement came into force in March 1994.
Nicaragua
lays claim to all the islands on its continental shelf, covering an area of over 50,000 km2 in the Caribbean Sea, including the Serranilla Bank and all islands associated with the San Andrés and Providencia archipelagoes. It has persistently pursued this claim against Colombia in the International Court of Justice
(ICJ), filing cases in both 2001 and 2007.
The United States
claim was made in the 19th century by James W. Jennett under the provisions of the Guano Islands Act
. Most claims made by the U.S. over the guano islands
in this region were officially renounced in a treaty with Colombia, dated September 1972. But whether or not Serranilla Bank was included in the agreement is disputed—there is no specific mention of the feature in the treaty and, as per Article 7 of the said treaty, only matters specifically mentioned in the document are subject to it. According to other records, as well as claims made within the ICJ, Colombia is recognised by the United States as having varying degrees of sovereignty over Serranilla Bank through the treaty of 1972, which took effect in September 1981. The U.S. considers the reef to be an unorganized
, unincorporated United States territory
.
Honduras
claims Serranilla Bank as part of its national territory in Article 10 of its Constitution
. In 1986, it agreed upon a maritime boundary
demarcation with Colombia that excluded Honduras of any control over the bank or its surrounding waters. The ratification
of this boundary on 20 December 1999 proved to be controversial within Honduras, as it ensured that the state implicitly recognised Colombia's sovereignty over the claimed territory. Nicaragua, which has not resolved its maritime borders with Honduras or Colombia, disputed Honduras' legal right to hand over these areas before the ICJ. Despite the agreement with Colombia, however, the government has yet to officially renounce the claim in the Constitution.
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
, with small uninhabited islets, in the western Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
. It is situated about 350 kilometres (217.5 mi) northeast of Punta Gorda
Punta Gorda
Punta Gorda may refer to:*Punta Gorda, Belize*Punta Gorda, Florida*Punta Gorda Light, Humboldt County, California, USA*Punta Gorda, Montevideo, in Uruguay....
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, and roughly 280 kilometres (174 mi) southwest of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. The closest neighbouring land feature is Bajo Nuevo Bank
Bajo Nuevo Bank
Bajo Nuevo Bank, also known as the Petrel Islands , is a small, uninhabited reef with some small islets, covered with grass, located in the western Caribbean Sea at , with a lighthouse on Low Cay at . The closest neighbouring land feature is Serranilla Bank, located to the west.The reef was first...
, located 110 km to the east.
Serranilla Bank was first shown on Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
maps in 1510. It is administered by Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
as part of the department of San Andrés and Providencia. Although the bank is currently occupied by Colombia, it is subject to a sovereignty dispute involving Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
The Serranilla Bank was first shown on SpanishSpanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
maps in 1510. The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
claimed the Bank under the Guano Islands Act
Guano Islands Act
The Guano Islands Act is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of other...
in 1879 and 1880. Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
(indirectly) and possibly Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
also claim the Bank. The U.S. ceded claims to several "guano islands" to Colombia in 1981, but Serranilla Bank was not definitely included.
Geography
Serranilla Bank is a former atollAtoll
An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
, now a mostly submerged carbonate
Carbonate
In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....
platform consisting of shallow reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
environments. It is about 40 km in length and 32 km in width, covering an area of over 1200 km2, almost entirely under water. Three small cay
Cay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
s and two rocks emerge above the water to form the bank's islands. These are West Breaker, Middle Cay, East Cay, Beacon Cay and Northeast Breaker. They are largely barren, with sparse vegetation of bushes and some trees. Most of the reef is drying and many shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s are located in its vicinity.
Beacon Cay is the largest islet
Islet
An islet is a very small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
in the Bank. It is overbuilt with small military facilities, which house a small rotating garrison of Colombian naval personnel. There is a lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
on a coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
ledge in the southwest approach to the bank. It is a 33 m (108 ft) tall skeletal tower built atop a 3-storey crew residence. The lamp emits a focal plane beam of light as two white flashes every 20 seconds. The current lighthouse was first erected in 1982, and was reconstructed in May 2008 by the Colombian Ministry of Defence
Ministry of National Defense (Colombia)
The Ministry of National Defence , is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the armed forces of Colombia, similar to the defense ministries in...
. It is currently maintained by the Colombian Navy
Colombian National Armada
The Colombian Navy , also known as the "Armada Nacional" or just the "Armada" in Spanish, is the naval branch of the military forces of Colombia....
, and overseen by the state's Maritime Authority.
Territorial dispute
Serranilla is the subject of conflicting claimsTerritorial dispute
A territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession/control of land between two or more states or over the possession or control of land by a new state and occupying power after it has conquered the land from a former state no longer currently recognized by the new state.-Context and...
made by a number of sovereign state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
s. In most cases, the dispute stems from attempts by a state to expand its exclusive economic zone
Exclusive Economic Zone
Under the law of the sea, an exclusive economic zone is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including production of energy from water and wind. It stretches from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical...
over the surrounding seas.
Between 1982 and 1986, Colombia maintained a formal agreement with Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
which granted regulated fishing rights to Jamaican vessels within the territorial waters
Territorial waters
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
of Serranilla Bank and nearby Bajo Nuevo Bank. In November 1993, the two states agreed upon a maritime delimitation treaty establishing a "Joint Regime Area" to cooperatively manage and exploit living and non-living resources in designated waters between the two banks. However, the territorial waters immediately surrounding the cays themselves were excluded from the zone of joint-control, as Colombia considers these areas to be part of her coastal waters. The agreement came into force in March 1994.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
lays claim to all the islands on its continental shelf, covering an area of over 50,000 km2 in the Caribbean Sea, including the Serranilla Bank and all islands associated with the San Andrés and Providencia archipelagoes. It has persistently pursued this claim against Colombia in the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
(ICJ), filing cases in both 2001 and 2007.
The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
claim was made in the 19th century by James W. Jennett under the provisions of the Guano Islands Act
Guano Islands Act
The Guano Islands Act is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of other...
. Most claims made by the U.S. over the guano islands
Guano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
in this region were officially renounced in a treaty with Colombia, dated September 1972. But whether or not Serranilla Bank was included in the agreement is disputed—there is no specific mention of the feature in the treaty and, as per Article 7 of the said treaty, only matters specifically mentioned in the document are subject to it. According to other records, as well as claims made within the ICJ, Colombia is recognised by the United States as having varying degrees of sovereignty over Serranilla Bank through the treaty of 1972, which took effect in September 1981. The U.S. considers the reef to be an unorganized
Unorganized territory
An unorganized territory is a region of land without a "normally" constituted system of government. This does not mean that the territory has no government at all or that it is unclaimed territory...
, unincorporated United States territory
United States territory
United States territory is any extent of region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters including all U.S. Naval carriers. The United States has traditionally proclaimed the sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its...
.
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
claims Serranilla Bank as part of its national territory in Article 10 of its Constitution
Constitution of Honduras
The Political Constitution of the Republic of Honduras was approved on 11 January 1982, published on 20 January 1982, amended by the National Congress of Honduras 26 times from 1984 to 2005, and 10 interpretations by Congress were made from 1982 to 2005. It is Honduras' twelfth constitution since...
. In 1986, it agreed upon a maritime boundary
Maritime boundary
Maritime boundary is a conceptual means of division of the water surface of the planet into maritime areas that are defined through surrounding physical geography or by human geography. As such it usually includes areas of exclusive national rights over the mineral and biological resources,...
demarcation with Colombia that excluded Honduras of any control over the bank or its surrounding waters. The ratification
Ratification
Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent where the agent lacked authority to legally bind the principal. The term applies to private contract law, international treaties, and constitutionals in federations such as the United States and Canada.- Private law :In contract law, the...
of this boundary on 20 December 1999 proved to be controversial within Honduras, as it ensured that the state implicitly recognised Colombia's sovereignty over the claimed territory. Nicaragua, which has not resolved its maritime borders with Honduras or Colombia, disputed Honduras' legal right to hand over these areas before the ICJ. Despite the agreement with Colombia, however, the government has yet to officially renounce the claim in the Constitution.
See also
- Alice ShoalAlice ShoalAlice Shoal is a wholly submerged reef, located in the western Caribbean Sea, about 260 kilometres southwest of Jamaica. The mainland of Colombia lies 740 km away to the southeast....
- Rosalind BankRosalind BankRosalind Bank, also called Rosalinda or Rosa Linda Bank, is a large, completely submerged atoll that lies with its southern extremity 269 km ENE of Cabo Gracias a Dios, at . It is the culmination of an area of coral reef some 300 km long that is stretching out eastward from Cabo Gracias a Dios...
- Serrana BankSerrana BankThe Serrana Bank is one of the few atolls in the Atlantic Ocean. Its mostly underwater reef of about 50 km long and 13 km wide has six cays or islets, the most prominent of which is Southwest Cay.The cays from south to north are:...
- List of Guano Island claims
Sources and external links
- Statoids — states Serrana Bank and Serranilla Bank transferred from United States to Colombia.
- Oceandots — aerial image of Serranilla Bank.
- WorldStatesmen.org — lists the bank under the United States.
- Panoramio — photos of the islands here http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19500056 and here http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19500094.