Disputes: Splitting the Difference

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The nations of the world are mired in roughly 300 maritime boundary disputes, and last week a special panel of the International Court of Justice reduced that number by one. From The Hague, the World Court's headquarters in The Netherlands, the panel announced the settlement of a 20-year-old case between the U.S. and Canada over the Gulf of Maine, which lies between Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. The decision awards the U.S. about two-thirds of the gulf and Canada the rest. The 30,000-sq.-mi. area includes the Georges Bank, one of the world's richest fishing grounds, which may also contain sizable deposits of oil and natural gas.

The U.S. had claimed all of the gulf, on the grounds that Americans had historically dominated fishing in the area and that the adjoining U.S. coastline was longer. Canada wanted half, arguing that it had vital economic interests in the area and that any boundary should be equidistant from the two shores. In essence, the court split the difference. Both countries said that they will abide by the verdict.