Talk:Beaufort Sea

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Canada argues it extends in a straight line from the Yukon-Alaska border to the North Pole. The United States contends that the border extends due north from the meeting point of the two countries. Currently most international law experts favour Canada's claim

Is there a source for this? I would find it hard to believe that such experts would agree with Canada's claim here in the Beaufort (extending straight from shore) and not have honoured the U.S. claim in the 1984 Gulf of Maine boundary case where they were "essentially" claiming the same thing (which would have had their boundary running about 50 km west off Yarmouth. Gulf of Maine may have been a bit more complicated than Beaufort, but Canada argued that one had to include the shoreline of the Bay of Fundy along with the Gulf of Maine in determining the size of shoreline and the bearing which the maritime boundary would follow. Experts bought Canada's case and sent the line angled from the NB/Maine border to a point halfway between NS & Mass. and then out to 200 NM EEZ... Cheers, Plasma east 23:24, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I don't even see a difference between the statement of the two contentions. presumably one of they is in fact that coastline beyond the meeting point has to be taken into account, or the angle of the land frontier needs to be considered, but I cannot tell which. I assume that a "straight line" is a great circle - perhaps not. --Henrygb 10:21, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I guess I just find the statement about "experts favour Canada's claim" in this entry to be confusing. The boundary along the northern part of Yukon-Alaska follows 141ºW (I think) for the most part, although it might "waver" ever so slightly. Canada claims the maritime boundary continues straight from where it meets the coastline of the Beaufort Sea, along 141ºW to 90ºN - all well and good, it would appear. The U.S. appears to be claiming what Canada had claimed in 1984 in the Gulf of Maine, ie. take into account the shape of the coastline in determining how the seaward claim is delimited... Interestingly in 1984, the U.S. took the position that Canada is claiming now in Beaufort. They wanted the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine to continue due south, more or less continuing the trend of the boundary between New Brunswick-Maine, thus placing it not far from the western tip of Nova Scotia. I'm no expert in the area but it just seems to me that the "international experts" agreed with Canada's position in 1984, and awarded our (Canada's) claim as such, but now with both nations appearing to have reversed their positions, the experts still side with us (Canada)? Obviously in the 1984 case, the U.S. took their position since it would give them a bigger claim, ditto for Canada and it would appear to be the case here in Beaufort, except to achieve the better claim, each nation has reversed the logic upon which the Gulf of Maine was delimited... I'd just like to know who the "experts" are and on what basis this support is given - or at a minimum, more detail on the actual maritime boundary dispute. Cheers, Plasma east 02:44, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)