U ovome radu analiziraju se sve dosada utvrđene granice jadranskog podmorja kao
i one koje tak valja utvrditi, posebice u svjetlu novih istraživanja njegovih prirodnih
bogatstava. Uz Hrvatsku i Italiju, koje dijele najveći dio morskog dna i podzemlja u
Jadranu, pravo na epikontinentski pojas imaju i Crna Gora te Albanija. Dvije jadranske
države s kratkim obalama – Bosna i Hercegovina te Slovenija, države su u nepovoljnome
geografskom položaju koje ne mogu imati epikontinentski pojas kao prirodni
produžetak svoga kopnenog područja. Podmorski prostori tih država završavaju stoga
na vanjskoj granici njihovih teritorijalnih mora. Osim razmatranja tih granica i sporazumno
utvrđenih granica epikontinentskih pojaseva, autorice se kritički osvrću i na
jednostrane akte Slovenije o proglašenju njezinoga epikontinentskog pojasa iz 2005.
godine kao potpuno pravno neutemeljene akte.
U središtu pozornosti ovoga rada je razmatranje granice koja dijeli podmorske prostore
Hrvatske i Italije kao buduće granice dviju država i nad morskim dnom. Ta bi granična
crta, u skladu s Konvencijom UN-a o pravu mora, trebala postati – jedinstvena
morska granica njihovih epikontinentskih i gospodarskih pojaseva (odnosno ekološke
zone Italije i zaštićenoga ekološko-ribolovnog pojasa Republike Hrvatske). Takva višefunkcionalna
jedinstvena granična crta u najboljem je interesu pravne sigurnosti
u svim načinima korištenja mora, a u međunarodnoj sudskoj i arbitražnoj praksi posljednjih
desetljeća u potpunosti je zamijenila povlačenje različitih crta razgraničenja
za više pojaseva u istome morskom prostoru.
S obzirom na rezultate nedavno provedenih istraživanja potencijalnih nalazišta nafte
i plina u južnom Jadranu, u radu se upozorava i na potrebu što skorijeg povlačenja
crte bočnog razgraničenja epikontinentskih pojaseva Hrvatske i Crne Gore. Autorice
analiziraju moguće pravce te nove granice, uzimajući u obzir znatno odstupanje od
ekvidistancije privremene crte razgraničenja određene Protokolom o privremenom režimu
uz južnu granicu između dviju država 2002. godine.This paper analyses all the established boundaries of submarine areas in the Adriatic, as
well as those that are yet to be defined, especially in the context of the recent exploring and
exploiting of its natural resources. In addition to Croatia and Italy that share the largest proportion
of the seabed and subsoil in the Adriatic, Montenegro and Albania are also entitled
to their own continental shelves. Two Adriatic states with the shortest coastlines – Slovenia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina are geographically disadvantaged states, and cannot have their
own continental shelves as a natural prolongation of their land territory. Therefore, the
submarine areas of those countries terminate on the outer limit of their territorial sea. Aside
from the consideration of these boundaries and continental shelf boundaries established by
the agreements between the Adriatic states, the authors also critically examine Slovenia’s
unilateral acts on the proclamation of the continental shelf of 2005, which have no basis in
the international law.
This paper focuses on the consideration of the existing continental shelf boundary that divides
the submarine areas between Croatia and Italy, as the future boundary of their superjacent
waters. In accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, this
boundary line should become a single maritime boundary of their continental shelves and
exclusive economic zones (that is, the ecological protection zone of Italy and the ecological and
fisheries protection zone of the Republic of Croatia). Such a single all-purpose boundary is in
the best interest of legal certainty in all uses of the sea. In the recent decades, it has completely
replaced various delimitation lines for several maritime zones in the same maritime area, in
the practice of international courts and tribunals.
With respect to the results of the recently conducted explorations of potential oil and gas fields
in the southern Adriatic, the paper also draws attention to the necessity of drawing the line
of the lateral boundary of the continental shelf between Croatia and Montenegro, as soon as
possible. The authors analyze the possible directions of the new boundary, taking into account
that the temporary line, determined by the Protocol between the Government of the Republic
of Croatia and the Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on temporary
border regime along the southern border between the two states in 2002, deviates significantly
from the equidistance line
