Serranilla Bank

Serranilla Bank (Template:Langx and Placer de la Serranilla)<ref>Derrotero de las islas Antillas y de las costas orientales de América p. 333</ref> is a partially submerged reef, with small uninhabited islets, in the western Caribbean Sea. It is situated about Template:Convert northeast of Punta Gorda, Nicaragua, and roughly Template:Convert southwest of Jamaica.<ref name="loc" /> The closest neighbouring land feature is Bajo Nuevo Bank, located Template:Convert to the east.

Serranilla Bank was first shown on Spanish maps in 1510. It is administered by Colombia as part of the department of San Andrés and Providencia.<ref>Template:In lang Armada de la República de Colombia: Forces and Commands — area is under the jurisdiction of Comando Específico de San Andrés y Providencia.</ref><ref name="mapa">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link An official map of Colombian borders, with treaty dates.</ref> The reef is subject to a sovereignty dispute involving Colombia and the United States. A previous claim by Honduras was resolved in favor of Colombia when the two countries approved a treaty establishing their maritime boundaries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jamaica's claim was resolved when it established a joint regime area with overlapping maritime boundaries in 1993, but acknowledging Colombian control of Serranilla and Bajo Nuevo banks.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2012, in regards to Nicaraguan claims to the islands, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) upheld Colombia's sovereignty over the bank. However, the judgment does not analyze or mention the U.S. claim over the reef.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Geography

Serranilla Bank is a former atoll, now a mostly submerged carbonate platform consisting of shallow reef environments. It is about Template:Convert in length and Template:Convert in width, covering an area of over Template:Convert, almost entirely under water. Three small cays and two rocks emerge above the water to form the bank's islands. These are West Breaker, Middle Cay, East Cay, Beacon Cay, and Northeast Breaker.<ref name="photos">Sanandresislas – description and photographs of Serranilla Bank.</ref> They are largely barren, with sparse vegetation of bushes and some trees. Many shipwrecks are located in its vicinity.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The bank lacks coral reefs and has minimal sediment cover. Accretion of the bank is not keeping up with the rise in sea level. The southeastern portion is covered mainly by hardgrounds, while the rest of the bank is mostly covered by thin Halimeda sediments.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Beacon Cay is the largest islet in the Bank. It is overbuilt with small military facilities, which house a small rotating garrison of Colombian naval personnel. There is a lighthouse on a coral ledge in the southwest approach to the bank. It is a Template:Convert tall skeletal tower built atop a 3-storey crew residence. The lamp emits a focal plane beam of light as two white flashes every 20 seconds. The current lighthouse was first erected in 1982,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Legal status of the Banks of Serranilla and Bajo Nuevo, page 8.</ref> and was reconstructed in May 2008 by the Colombian Ministry of Defence. It is currently maintained by the Colombian Navy and overseen by the state's Maritime Authority.<ref name="photos" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Contract detail between Colombian Defense Ministry and private contractor, Tecnosoluciones Ltda., for the replacement of various metal lighthouse structures, including on Serranilla Bank.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Photographs of Colombian lighthouses, with Serranilla Bank shown, pages 4–5.</ref>

History

The Serranilla Bank was first shown on Spanish maps in 1510 as Placer de la Serranilla. It was mentioned by Louis-Michel Aury, whose ship was shipwrecked on it in 1820.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In later history, it has been the subject of conflicting claims by several sovereign states; in most cases, the dispute stems from attempts by a state to expand its exclusive economic zone over the surrounding seas.

Between 1982 and 1986, Colombia maintained a formal agreement with Jamaica, which granted regulated fishing rights to Jamaican vessels within the territorial waters of Serranilla Bank and nearby Bajo Nuevo Bank.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Fishing agreement which permits regulated fishing rights to Jamaican vessels around Bajo Nuevo and Serranilla Banks.</ref><ref name="asil">Template:Cite book</ref> In November 1993, the two states agreed upon a maritime delimitation treaty establishing a "Joint Regime Area" to cooperatively manage and exploit living and non-living resources in designated waters between the two banks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, the territorial waters immediately surrounding the cays themselves were excluded from the zone of joint-control, as Colombia considers these areas to be part of her coastal waters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Review of the 1993 Maritime Delimitation Treaty between Colombia and Jamaica.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Topographic map of the Colombia-Jamaica Joint-Regime Area, with the two exclusion circles shown.</ref> The agreement came into force in March 1994.<ref name="asil" />

Nicaragua formerly claimed all the islands on its continental shelf,<ref name="casefile">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> covering an area of over 50,000 km² in the Caribbean Sea, including the Serranilla Bank and all islands associated with the San Andrés and Providencia archipelagoes. It had persistently pursued this claim against Colombia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), filing cases in both 2001 and 2007.<ref>Template:In lang El Espectador: Colombia could lose territory, despite the Hague failure Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Nicaragua v. Colombia, Preliminary Objections.</ref> Nicaragua formally accepted the ICJ's 2012 ruling of Colombian sovereignty in a 2014 constitutional amendment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The United States' claim was made in 1879<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 1880 under the Guano Islands Act<ref name="DOIgov"> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> by James W. Jennett.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="oia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} lists Serranilla Bank as an insular area under U.S. sovereignty.</ref> Most claims made by the U.S. over the guano islands in this region were officially renounced in a treaty with Colombia dated September 1972.<ref>Template:In lang Treaty of exchange between Colombia and the United States, 1972 Template:Webarchive</ref> But whether or not Serranilla Bank was included in the agreement is disputed. There is no specific mention of the feature in the treaty, and as per Article 7 of the treaty, only matters specifically mentioned in the document are subject to it. The U.S. considers the reef an insular area.<ref name="oia" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Page 39 states that U.S. sovereignty over Serranilla Bank is disputed. "Currently, the United States conducts maritime law enforcement operations in and around Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo consistent with U.S. sovereignty claims." This is the only archived document from this source that mentions Serranilla Bank as an insular area.</ref>

Honduras claimed Serranilla Bank as part of its national territory in Article 10 of its Constitution.<ref name="hond05">Template:In lang Republic of Honduras: Political Constitution of 1982 through 2005 reforms</ref> In 1986, it agreed upon a maritime boundary demarcation with Colombia that excluded Honduras of any control over the bank or its surrounding waters.<ref name="mapa" /><ref>Template:In lang Treaty between Colombia and Honduras, 1986</ref> The ratification of this boundary on 20 December 1999<ref>Template:In lang Affirmation of Maritime Delimitation Treaty between Honduras and Colombia, 1999</ref> proved to be controversial within Honduras, as it ensured that the state implicitly recognized Colombia's sovereignty over the claimed territory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At that time, Nicaragua disputed Honduras' legal right to hand over these areas before the ICJ.<ref name="casefile" /><ref>Nicaragua-Honduras Territorial Dispute Template:Webarchive De Mar, Rebecca. American University, June 2002.</ref> Despite the agreement with Colombia, the Honduran government has not officially renounced the claim in the Constitution.

Notable fauna

In 1952, Serranilla Bank was the site of the last sighting of the now-extinct Caribbean monk seal.<ref name="Caribbean Monk Seal: Gone but Not Forgotten">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Alice Shoal
• List of Guano Island claims
• Rosalind Bank

External links

• Template:Webarchive – aerial image of Serranilla Bank
• Photos of the islands on Panoramio: [1] [2]