Essentially this monograph states the case for the two hundred mile limit of territorial waters adjacent to Ecuador, Peru, and especially Chile (which has the longest coastline of the three, and in which the author is most interested). He reviews ideas, agreements, and disagreements held from early times to the present concerning the high seas, territorial waters, contiguous waters, and the continental shelf. Some of these debates have been the work of individual countries, some of regional groups and international organizations such as the Hague Court and the United Nations. The book also contains special chapters on sovereignty of the seas, international maritime law, the Declaration of Santiago by Chile, Ecuador, and Peru (1952), and the particular importance of the fishing industry to the west coast countries of Latin America, especially Chile. The author cites occasions when individual countries or regional groups have altered territorial limits for specific reasons, e.g., control of customs, establishment of health measures, or, as in the Panama Declaration of 1939, an attempt to establish a neutral zone in wartime.
At present there is no universally accepted agreement on territorial limits, and the juridical question is complex. Obviously the economy of Chile and the other west coast countries could be further developed if oil and mineral wealth on the sea bottom were discovered and exploited, or perhaps various mineral elements or plankton protein could be extracted from the sea and converted into usable products. Furthermore, the development of an extensive fishing industry would supplement agriculture and mining.
Teitelboim’s bibliography and footnotes include works by writers of various nationalities. Those who do not read Spanish can obtain some references in English—Charles G. Fenwick’s work and the United Nations reports. Also one chapter (“Territorial Waters and Beyond”) in C. Neale Running, Law and Politics in Inter-American Diplomacy (New York and London, 1963) gives a condensed discussion in English of some of the issues of this involved problem, citing additional sources.
