Portugal, Definitely a Land of Sea
This is how the Iberic nation ambitiously intends to reestablish historical ties with the Atlantic Ocean by potentially expanding its maritime boundaries
If Portugal’s soul had a smell, it would be like sea breeze. If Portugal’s spirit had a taste, it would be a lot like salty water. There is no doubt that the sea has played a crucial role in this country’s history and is today an unquestionable symbol of this European nation, dating back to the Age of Discovery initiated in the 15th century. While “heroes of the sea” are the first words that emerge in Portugal’s national anthem, the armillary sphere (an ancient navigation tool used for determining the position of the sun and stars) is the shiny golden element which is featured right in between the green and red colors of its flag. Having established vast territorial domains including a network of trading outposts and overseas colonies across Africa, South America and Asia, the powerful Portuguese empire had a unique entrepreneurial impetus for its time. For centuries, this nation has used the oceans as aquatic highways to conduct trade, cultural, scientific, and technological exchanges with other civilizations as well as to extract natural resources, engage in slave trade and exert its influence abroad. Some of these remarkable achievements were epically narrated by Luis de Camões (1524–1579) in The Lusiads. With its past full of brave sailors and explorers who sought their fortunes in faraway continents, Portugal is certainly proud of assuming itself as a maritime country by excellence. However, the country is set to revisit and reframe its past relationship with Atlantic waters.
Fast forward nearly 500 years and Lisbon has been trying to reconnect the Portuguese society and economy with the sea. Being the westernmost country in the continent and sometimes portraited as peripheral and isolated from the rest of the European Union (EU), Portugal’s geostrategic position now seems to be a central and outstanding one. In 2005, the country has created the Portuguese Task Group for the Extension of the Continental Shelf (EMEPC), a permanent technical entity and political body thought to support the nation’s submission to the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), which took place in May 2009. An addendum was later transmitted in August 2017 containing newly gathered geologic data. The Portuguese proposal has been considered by seven international experts since then. The claim for expanding its sovereignty and exclusive jurisdiction over the ocean floor and subsoil is based on solid scientific evidence and materialized in a prolonged legal process reflecting international law, namely Article 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The stringent evaluation is still ongoing and is likely to reach a conclusion in 2021. CLCS basically has the mandate to determine whether submerged geological formations are technically adjacent to any coastal country’s land territory, i.e. whether it represents a natural prolongation of that continent.
To be clear, there are three sequential layers when it comes to special rights in waters that go beyond any county’s coast: 1) Territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles (or 22.2 km) and emanate full sovereignty at the airspace above, the seabed below and all the water in between; 2) the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles (or 370.4 km) beyond the coastal baseline and ensures exclusivity for the exploration and use of marine resources below the surface of the sea, meaning that airplanes, ships and boats can freely pass through this area; and 3) the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS), which can extend up to 350 nautical miles (or 648.2 km) beyond the coastal baseline, subject to a decision by the CLCS, and only grants exclusive jurisdiction to its respective country at the ocean floor and subsoil, not including resources found in the water column. That said, Portugal already possesses the fourth largest EEZ in the EU and the 21st largest worldwide, which is not bad at all for a tiny country of less than 10 million inhabitants. Consisting of three distinct territories, the Portuguese Republic can be divided into Continental Portugal and the autonomous archipelagos of Madeira and Azores, which respectively contribute with 446,000 km² and 953,000 km² of EEZ to the country. Considering all that, EMEPC’s long-term efforts could end up more than doubling the total size of Portugal’s territory to around 3.8 million km², instantly becoming one of the largest countries in the world by surpassing continental India (currently the world’s 7th largest country), for instance. Interesting fact: if successful, this plan could leave Portugal with a unusual territorial composition of 2.4% land and 97.6% water.
In parallel to the CLCS legal process, to be consistent with its strategic goals, Portugal has developed and published the so-called ‘National Ocean Strategy’ (NOS), a new roadmap that sets a national action plan towards promoting its maritime economy between 2013 and 2020. The idea is to invest in deep sea R&D advancements as well as in proper infrastructure and capacity building in fields such as hydrography, geology, geophysics, biology, oceanography, geographic information systems, and underwater robotics in close collaboration with the scientific community, national universities, civil society organizations, the navy and the private sector, following an intersectoral and multidisciplinary perspective. The underlying intention is also to pragmatically increase the knowledge on the morphology, geological and hydrographic characteristics of the seabed in question to consolidate the data and information contained in the submission presented to the CLCS. To accomplish this and other ongoing missions, Portugal’s Ministry of the Sea allocated a budget of €208.4 million in 2020 alone. Structured around three axes — research, exploration and preservation — NOS is grounded in four key areas of intervention: 1) Ecosystem and environmental issues (ocean and atmosphere); 2) Living resources (fisheries, aquaculture, and marine biotechnology); 3) Non-living resources (mineral and energy resources); and 4) Infrastructure and activities (ports, transport, logistics / recreation, sports and tourism / shipbuilding, maintenance and repairs / maritime works).
The economic and innovation potentials ahead are enormous. From the exploration of underseas zinc, copper, cobalt, gold, silver, manganese and rare earths — perhaps some oil & gas along the way as well — to providing naval services right at the center of the North Atlantic (where relevant shipping routes of intercontinental cargo carriers are based), Portugal has a bold vision that revenues coming from all these marine activities could be as high as 50% of the country’s GDP in decades to come. The birthplace of Lusophony could be very well forging a modern maritime identity based on a new paradigm that prioritizes scientific investigation, knowledge gathering, institutional cooperation, sustainable development, and environmental responsibility. After years of scarce economic growth and low competitiveness, Portugal now seems to be well positioned to take command once again over its destiny while rediscovering its seafaring traits. Apart from the romantic idea of returning to the sea, which is very much tied to the past, such a public policy could certainly be responsible for paving the way for a successful and prosperous future. The path appears to be wide open: Different than current conflicting claims in the Arctic, in Antarctica and in the South China Sea, Portugal stands all alone in this one, with absolutely no rivals and no disputes attached. In the past few decades, around 30 States with proven broader continental shelves, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, Madagascar, Mexico, Sri Lanka and France, were granted the possibility of establishing boundaries going out to 350 nautical miles from their shores or further. On its turn, much beyond setting boundaries, Portugal is very close to be eternally married to the sea.
