The Papua New Guinea-Solomon Islands Maritime Boundary Victor Prescott Department of Geography, University of Melbourne

The Papua New Guinea-Solomon Islands Maritime Boundary Victor Prescott Department of Geography, University of Melbourne INTRODUCTION The analysis of maritime boundary agreements is usually an exercise in detec- tive work. A text and often a map show the boundary, but rarely is there any , explanation of why the particular line was selected. There are occasional exceptions to this rule. The agreement defining the Continental Shelf boundary between Italy and Spain specifies that the boundary is based on equidistance.1 The bases of lines defining the Australian-Indonesian joint zone in the Timor Sea were revealed in a sketch map accompanying a press release.22 Generally the investigator must obtain charts of the area, plot the boundary on them, and then make measurements from the turning points of the boundary to the nearest points on the coasts of each country. This procedure will quickly show whether any of the points are equidistant from the two shores. If they are, then it is possible to test whether the entire boundary follows an equidistant course, or whether the negotiators have created a sim- plified equidistant line. Plotting the strict line of equidistance in such cases will often reveal that both sides have exchanged areas that are approximately equal. If the turning points do not occupy locations that are close to equidistance, then it is necessary to discover whether there is any consistent deviation from equidistance. That would happen if a particular minor feature off one coast has been discounted and given only half effect or some other propor- tion.3 If there is no mathematical rhyme or reason to be found in the config- uration of the boundary, then guesses have to be made about the reasons why the line was selected. 1. J. I. Charney and L. M. Alexander, International Maritime Boundaries (Dor- drecht: Martinus Nijhoff, 1993), 2:1607. 2. J. R. V. Prescott, "Maritime Boundary Agreements: Australia-Indonesia and Australia-Solomon Islands," Marine Policy Reports 1 (1989): 37-45. 3. J. R. V. Prescott, Maritime Political Boundaries of the World (London: Methuen, 1985), pp. 288-89. After receiving a copy of the boundary agreement between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands late in 1992, I was about to start the usual procedures when a happy thought occurred. On a visit to the Solomon Is- lands nearly a decade earlier, I had been given some maps and reports. When they were located, it was clear that they were drafts used during the boundary discussions, and the need for guesswork was removed. Although this is the first maritime boundary drawn between these two countries, a series of lines were drawn on maps to separate them when they were colonies. The division of eastern New Guinea between Britain and Germany occurred in 1885. The impetus for this settlement was provided by agitation in the Australian colonies to press Britain to annex the whole of eastern New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. Indeed, Queensland unilaterally an- nexed these territories in April 1883.4 The British government declined to approve this action, but it so alarmed the German authorities that they took steps to advise Britain that German interests in the area would be protected by territorial claims.5 The boundary separating German New Guinea from British Papua terminated at Mitre Rock, which lies 0.7 nm north of Cape Ward Hunt. It was from this gray rock, standing 12.2 m high, that a boundary was defined to separate the British and German spheres of influence in the western Pacific Ocean. It was settled in April 1885 and placed the Bismarck Archipelago, the northern Solomon Islands, the Caroline Islands, and the Marshall Islands in the German sphere and the southern Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands, and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the British sphere.6 The Solomon Islands in the German sphere of influence included Bougainville, Shortland, Choiseul, and Santa Isabel (fig. 1). This line is typical of the geographical shorthand that was used in colonial treaties to allocate islands without the need to name each one. Such lines did not allocate areas of the sea or the seabed. In the 1890s Britain, Germany, and the United States were competing for influence in Samoa. Eventually Britain decided to withdraw from the contest in favor of Germany, and this arrangement was ratified in February 1900. Britain was recompensed in 1904 by a reconstruction of the 1886 boundary delimiting spheres of influences The effect of this change was to transfer to Britain some of the Solomon Islands. The new segment of boundary diverted from the 1886 line at point A on figure 1, ran through the strait that lies due south of Bougainville Island, and passed between the Tasman 4. P. W. van der Veur, Search for New Guinea's Boundaries (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1966), p. 15. 5. Naval Intelligence Division, Pacific Islands, 4 vols. (London: HMSO, 1945), 4: 128-29. 6. P. W. van der Veur, Documents and Correspondence on New Guinea's Boundaries (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1966), p. 60. 7. Ibid., pp. 69-70. .

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