Machias Seal Island-- Canada and the US disagree on which country owns Machias Seal Island, a small, rocky mound at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, famous for its Atlantic puffin colony. It was attributed to the rapidly increasing water temperature in the Gulf of Maine.The 277 square miles of sea, surrounding Machias Seal Island, called the Gray Zone, has become the site for a possible “lobster war” between Canadian and Maine commercial lobstermen. The island has long been included in federal and provincial electoral districts, and policing has been enforced on the island by Royal Canadian Mounted Police and on waters surrounding the island by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Located smack-dab between the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the US state of Maine, Machias Seal Island is the only contested territory between Canada and the US on the East Coast.
And this dispute has been festering since the Revolutionary War. Following a multitude of charting issues with the initial agreement in 1783, the later Jay’s treaty established a new charting mission in the area which proved that the distance of the island from the US coast was within the twenty (20) leagues boundary.
However, the treaty ex…
Since the 1984 ICJ ruling on the Gulf of Maine decided the fate of offshore boundaries,[7] Machias Seal Island and neighboring North Rock, an exposed rock outcropping about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-northeast at 44°32′15″N 67°05′10″W / 44.53750°N 67.08611°W / 44.53750; -67.08611, as well as the surrounding waters, have become a political football for local politicians in fishing communities of coastal Charlotte County, New Brunswick and Washington County, Maine. The local ACLU branches in three New England states have also sued the government for allegedly ignoring freedom of information requests about the checkpoints in the states. Amid already inflamed tensions with Canada over trade and increased border patrol efforts across the country, Canadian fishermen complained last month that U.S. agents were stopping them in the Grey Zone. Amid irritation among Maine lobstermen, New Brunswick Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet acknowledged to the CBC in 2015 that “the boats coming over from Nova Scotia have upped the ante a little bit.”. For all the attention being paid on southern immigration, the shared border itself between the United States and Mexico is actually something on which all sides have agreed for decades. Tour boats taking birdwatchers to see the puffin colony continue to operate out of both Maine and Grand Manan Island, which is part of New Brunswick and, at its closest point, less than 12 miles away from Machias Seal Island. The only access is via boat charters, one out of Cutler, Maine, Bold Coast Charters, 207 259-4484 and Sea Watch Tours from Grand Manan, New Brunswick, 877-662-8552.For any nature lover, a trip to the island should place high on their BUCKET LIST. It also consumes krill, marine worms and some mollusks. However, the United States has never maintained an ongoing presence on the island as Canada has, and until recent decades, many branches of the Federal and State of Maine governments were inconsistent in their communications: they sometimes have referred to Machias Seal Island as being owned by Canada. A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said its officers were not involved in the matter.
Lying some 12 miles from New Brunswick’s Great Manan Island and about 10 miles off Cutler, Maine, the tear-drop shaped, 18-acre is land serves as an important breeding site for Atlantic puffins, razorbills, Arctic terns and other coastal birds.In its early history, coastal areas near the island provided an ancestral home for the Passamaquoddy Tribe. And to own a fishing license in Maine, the license-holder has to be on the boat, which keeps the industry locally based. The lucrative supply of fish and lobster in the deep waters surrounding the island have historically formed a large part of the dispute over whether Canada or the United States can claim ownership of what is known as the “grey zone,” where Canadian and American claims overlap into a territorial dispute.
The Americans argue the agreement voided prior British – now Canadian – claim to the island. In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, the French handed over the territories that made up Acadia to the British, and in 1783, the Treaty of Peace ended the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the American colonies. The U.S. claims that the island within its national coastline; the Canadians argue that a land grant, pre-existing the Treaty of Paris, makes it within its territory. ( Log Out / [11] These Coast Guard employees also assist the Canadian Wildlife Service in maintaining the Migratory Bird Sanctuary, as well as helping any wildlife researchers who may stay on the island for a period of time.
WATCH BELOW: Fisherman not happy with new rules to protect endangered whale.
Maine Marine Patrol specialist Mark Murry speaks with lobsterman Brian Cates in Cutler, Maine, in 2015. The then-British colony constructed a lighthouse on the island in 1832 and made sure to staff it regularly with Canadian keepers.
Sovereignty of the island is disputed. “So when I heard about Machias Seal Island, it was just so unexpected.”. According to Kelly, the Grey Zone was colloquially known to Mainers as the “gravy zone,” given how lobstermen were able to clean up in the absence of any Canadians.
“Canada’s sovereignty over the Machias Seal Island and the surrounding waters is long standing and has a strong foundation in international law.
“In some ways, I think that’s when the problem started to get more serious,” Kelly said. “The island belongs to me, but everyone is welcome,” the straw-hatted octogenarian told the Associated Press in 1998. And besides, it is frequently said that the Americans have never objected to the Canadian lighthouse on the property.As the waters of Long Island Sound, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts warmed, their lobster population has seen a significant decrease. That’s because CBSA agents are responsible only for enforcing the law at official ports of entry; enforcement between ports of entry falls to the RCMP. The issue which arises here is what constitutes “near” to and the reference to specific coasts. However, the two countries submitted the other claims to the International Court of Justice at the Hague to be settled in 1984. In 1832, the Canadians built two octagonal wooden towers and a keeper’s dwelling on the island. These ambiguities resulted in both countries claiming several islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, Grand Manan Island, and nearby islands.
They often seem to crash-land into the sea and sometimes they can be seen tumbling as they land on the ground. B.C. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The tiny island is only about 550 metres long and 250 metres wide, shaped like a tear drop and is entirely treeless. At the current time, the island is the only territorial dispute involving sovereignty over land between the US and Canada; an impressive diplomatic and mapping feat given that it is the largest land border between any two states.
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