Submarine Elevations and Ridges: Wild Cards in the Poker Game of UNCLOS Article 76

Submarine elevations and ridges present an array of definitional uncertainties to coastal states that are engaged in the high-stakes process of delimiting extended continental shelves. Faced with the imprecise terminology of Article 76, with the nonspecific wording of the Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), and with the Commission's rules of confidentiality that hamper the open exchange of information concerning ridge and elevation assessments in previous continental shelf implementations, a coastal state needs to develop its own evaluations of what might and might not pass the “test of appurtenance.” Significant components of a continental shelf submission might thus be formulated on the basis of these national evaluations, only to have the CLCS question them, which could necessitate a potentially expensive and time-consuming reworking of the submission. This article outlines the ramifications of this wild card effect.