The Rockall Fishing Dispute Between the United Kingdom and Ireland: Assessment of Claims in Light of International Law

• Author: Margot Donzé
• Position: Master's student in International Law at the Graduate Institute (IHEID) in Geneva
• Pages: 121-141

(2022) 21 COLR 121

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THE ROCKALL FISHING DISPUTE BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND

IRELAND: ASSESSMENT OF CLAIMS IN LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Margot Donzé*

A INTRODUCTION

The Rockall islet, a 21-metre-high rock with a 91-metre circumference, standing in the North

Atlantic Ocean, is at the centre of an ongoing dispute

1

It is fifty-two million years old.

2

Despite this, the islet at the core of a dispute between Scotland and Ireland.

3

These states both

have competing claims on the Rockall, claims that will be analysed in this article. Both states

desire the islet as part of their territory, the reason being that the waters surrounding it are rich

in oil, gas and particularly fish.

4

This fishing dispute has been going on for centuries, as both

have been exploring and fishing around Rockall since at least the 16th century.

5

However, it

was overlooked as long as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK)

was part of the European Union (EU). Indeed, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) applied in

all European waters, and therefore both states could fish there. Yet, since Brexit, the issue was

uncovered.

In 2019, Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s External Affairs Minister, warned Ireland that she would

deploy Scottish vessels with the aim of protecting Scotland’s fishing rights around Rockall.

6

Thereby, the Scottish minister for External Affairs raised the matter again: to whom does the

Rockall islet belong?

* Master’s student in International Law at the Graduate Institute (IHEID) in Geneva. Previously completed a

bachelor’s degree in International Relations at the University of Geneva. I would like to thank Sébastien, Romy,

Sophie and my family for their support. Fur thermore, I am grateful for the Editorial Board’s help and thoughtful

comments.

1

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Rockall’, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2017)

<https://www.britannica.com/place/Rockall/additional-info#history> accessed 24 March 2022.

2

Greg Noone, ‘This Tiny, Uninhabitable Islet in the North Atlantic Has Attracted Fishermen and Adventurers for

Decades’ Smithsonian Magazine (Washington DC, 29 October 2019)

<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/this-tiny-uninhabitable-islet-north-atlantic-has-been-attracting-

fisherman-adventurers-decades-180973420/> accessed 24 March 2022.

3

Iceland and Denmark have also made claims to Rockall, but this article will focus on the dispute between Ireland

and Scotland.

4

‘Rockall Dispute: Iceland Stakes Claim to Fishing Waters’ BBC News (London, 21 June 2019)

<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48724832> accessed 24 March 2022.

5

Noone (n 2).

6

‘Who Owns Rockall? A History of Disputes over a Tiny Atlantic Island’ The Irish Times (Dublin, 8 June 2019)

<https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/who-owns-rockall-a-history-of-disputes-over-a-tiny-atlantic-island-

1.3919668> accessed 24 March 2022.

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This article will assess the different claims that Ireland and the UK, on behalf of Scotland, have

raised and could raise, in light of international law, to affirm that Rockall is ‘theirs’. First, the

issue at hand and what the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) says about islands, and

more precisely uninhabited islands, will be presented.

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Second, it will assess the different

claims that could be used by both sides, namely claims based on customary international law,

on treaties, and historic claims.

B THE ISSUE OF THE RELEVANT MARTIME AREA

The first issue is whether the Rockall islet has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a territorial

sea, or any other type of ‘maritime area under national jurisdiction’ that could be disputed.

8

If

it is not the case and the rock is only surrounded by the High Sea, there is no legal dispute.

Indeed, article 89 of the LOSC states the following: ‘[n]o state may validly purport to subject

any part of the high seas to its sovereignty’. Does Rockall possess a maritime area? Part VIII

of the LOSC regulates islands and their regime. Article 121(3) of the LOSC provides that

‘[r]ocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no

exclusive economic zone or continental shelf’. However, Rockall cannot sustain human

habitation. Attempts have been made to stay as long as possible at the top of the islet and the

current world record is held by English explorer Nick Hancock. In 2014, he lived, or rather

survived, on the rock for approximately forty days.

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Therefore, under article 121(3) of the

LOSC, the Rockall islet has neither an EEZ, nor a continental shelf of its own. However, article

121(2) of the LOSC on the Regime of Islands mentions ‘… the territorial sea, the contiguous

zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of an island …’ but article 121(3)

of the LOSC only considers the EEZ and the continental shelf. We can hence deduce from

article 121(3) of the LOSC, considered with article 121(2) of the LOSC, that those types of

rocks, which cannot sustain human habitation, do have a territorial sea. According to article 3

of the LOSC, the breadth of the territorial sea of a state can measure up to 12 nautical miles.

7

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (adopted 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November

1994) 1833 UNTS 3 (LOSC).

8

ibid art 55: ‘[t]he exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the

specific legal regime established in this Part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal state and the

rights and freedoms of other states are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention’; ibid art 3: ‘Every

state has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles,

measured from baselines determined in accordance with this Convention’.

9

‘Adventurer Breaks the Record for Occupying Rockall’ BBC News

(London, 16 July 2014)

<https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-28335886> accessed 24 March 2022; Noone (n 2).