what theory was it that all nations should be able to use the oceans without restrictions from other countries

Question

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Answer 1

it's called international waters. usually a nation will define a boundary, usually a set of coordinates where they will claim their territory. This is important if a nation has navies. That way, they can practice and sail in their home waters without threat. It is also where they can kick out other nations' navies. The open ocean, however, is international. It belongs to no one.

Answer 2

I don't know of an actual name other than "Law of the Sea", but Hugo Grotius, a Dutch statesman, was responsible for formulating much of this in 1609. Since then, nations have been fighting over control of their territorial waters. In 1772, the British established a 3-mile limit around the Commonwealth, defining the "Territorial Sea". Then in 1982, at the United Nations Laws of the Sea Conference, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) was established, or more commonly known as the 200-mile limit. It took several years for ratification (the US didn't sign until 1994).

Answer 3

Most national waters are extend 200 miles from the shoreline. The US used to be 12 miles many years ago (while other countries were 200), which meant foreign fishing trawlers could come in and totally wipe out our fishing grounds. In addition, that meant other countries could drill for oil on the continental shelf a mere 12 miles from our shore. They'd get the goodies and we were the ones losing the resource and taking the chance of getting smeared by an oil spill. Plus there'd be nothing we could do about it. Other countries whined when we extended our line to 200 miles, but those were ones like Japan that were used to stealing our fish from the Alaskan shores. And incidently, they already had 200 mile waters. Hey, what's good for the goose is good for the gander!

Answer 4

I never heard of such a theory, its not trye either every where you go now there are international restrictions involving the oceans some where!