Puerto Rico's Territorial Waters

Puerto Rico’s territorial sea extends nine nautical miles due to its complex historical and political background and the cleverness of its politicians. Like Florida and Texas, Puerto Rico's territorial sea extends beyond the standard three nautical miles granted to most U.S. States.   This significant advantage dates back to the era when the Spanish ruled the island.

The Spanish Law of Ports of 1880 and the Law of Waters of 1879 ruled Puerto Rico and established the extent of the territorial maritime zone based on international law.

Following Spain's defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the U.S. military government took control of Puerto Rico. The Americans were forced to share the governance of the newly colonized territory due to the presence of an existing autonomous government on the island. In that same year, the United States declared that all existing Spanish laws would remain in force. As a result, the old Spanish Port Law remained in force, recognizing the territorial waters surrounding Puerto Rico that were delimited by international law.

Decades later, the U.S. government enacted the Jones Act of 1917, which ceded the bays, navigable rivers, bodies of water, and submerged lands to the government of Puerto Rico. This measure made it clear that these areas were to be administered for the benefit of the people of Puerto Rico. The Jones Act also allowed Puerto Rico's legislature to create laws related to bays, navigable rivers, bodies of water and submerged lands. A key detail about the Jones Act is that it did not defined  the limits of the territorial waters. The author Sandra Laureano suggests, that since the Jones Act did not define the boundary, it implicitly adopted the territorial sea definition established in Spanish law, which aligns with international law.

The interest in the resources buried in the marine subsoil created misunderstandings between the U.S. States and the federal government regarding the jurisdiction of the marine zones. The U.S. judicial branch sought to undermine state jurisdiction over the seabed. The Court distinguished the Puerto Rico case from the California, Texas, and Louisiana cases, arguing that Congress did not grant subsoil authority to those states, while Puerto Rico did.

In response to the judicial determinations, Congress enacted the Submerged Lands Act. This law gave the states exclusive jurisdiction over certain lands under navigable waters and the resources found in those waters. Even though the statute took Puerto Rico under consideration, the reality is that Puerto Rico already had jurisdiction over submerged lands. Subsequently, this rule was reiterated during a dispute between Guam and the federal government, in which the federal government said that Puerto Rico owned the offshore areas surrounding it.

These events occurred within a political and economic framework driven by the discovery of hydrocarbons within Puerto Rico's territorial waters. During the 1970s, supporters of the pro-statehood political party drafted an agreement in which they proposed to the federal government to establish the extension of territorial waters as dictated by international law. The U.S. House of Representatives modified the measure and established the extension of the territorial sea at nine nautical miles. However, the proposal was shelved and never discussed again. But it was not until 1980 that former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló supported the U.S. presidential candidate in exchange for the federal government declaring that Puerto Rico's territorial waters extend to nine nautical miles.

This is a brief history and reasons why Puerto Rico's territorial sea is comprised of nine nautical miles. However, this could change at any time. Currently, it is circulating in the press that the Build Back Better project, promoted by President Biden, could diminish Puerto Rico's territorial waters. Examples like this could threaten the waters that belong to Puerto Rico, so it is important to understand these issues and know the history behind them.

References

Laureano, Sandra M., "Puerto Rico's Political Status and Its Right to a Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone" (1980). Theses and Major Papers. Paper 116. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/ma_etds/116

Efraín Vázquez-Vera, El Nuevo Día, https://blogs.elnuevodia.com/el-internacionalista/2016/05/15/puerto-rico-y-su-mar/