Coll 30/87(2) Part II 'Qatar: Oil Concession - P.C.L.'s Operations.' [‎191r] (384/603)

(f) i r n® m -la’sicia lie to the wast of the causeway
across a arjall expanse of sea and are the connecting
•"> feature between the * causeway * and Sawad Janublyali, thus
completing the r«ef. south of tlae causeway ia a lagoon
of even depth of roughly a fathom, except that from the
causeway running southwards Is a channel said to have .
been cut by some pirate chief years ago to enable him
to escape from the lagoon when almost surrounded by foes.
The lagoon is bounded on the south by the tail of Hawar.
There is a narrow channel between the tip of the tail
and oatar 9 but the Idea that at certain tides a sand bank
is visible above the water and joins Hewar and Qatar
appears to Me to be unlikely? particularly whan the
smallness of the rise and fall of the tide is renembered.
This sub-group lies almost wholly within Qatar territorial
waters, but to the north of the causeway Is separated by
an expanse of eea. At the causeway It is almost joined to
Qatar and again Bawar is almost joined to . f: atar at the
southern end. there is, nevertheless, If we consider the
gap at the causeway, a distinct strait between the two
which separates the sub-group from Qatar, to the non-expert
the islands and Islets to the west of the strait appear to
foe part of the Bawar feature, and I personally think that
they appertain to Hawar.
16* It Is now necessary to select an equitable method
of arriving at the delimiting line for Hawar and the
* group*, and the possible methods which occur arej-
(a) The continental shelf or modified
continental shelf principle!
(b) By territorial water limits!
(c) By an arbitrary line!
(d) By the low tide level;
(«) By the high tide level.
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17. .Of these methods (a) can be eliminated since,
although the ’group* belongs to Bahrain, It is situated
on the Qatar shelf ami mm® part of it even within
Qatar territorial waters# For the latter reason the 'group*
cannot have territorial waters of its own In the full
meaning of the word, (b) could foe applied arbitrarily
to lawar itself on its western coast, but not to the
islands of the group nor Hawar itself in the east, because
owing to the proximity of Qatar this would entail'unjusti
fiable encroachment on atar rights. Between (d) and (e)
there is little difference to the layman since the rise and
fail of the tide is only 3 or 4 feet* But the difference
to an Oil Company Is considerable, due to the fact that
shoals and sand-banks submerged at high tide show above
the surface of the sea at low tide and often extend many
miles into the i-ea? these are of significance to them.
Because the sea-bed and shoal area has not been surveyed
and in order to give to mil the islands of the ’group*
their proper fore-shore and share of shoals a combination
of methods is necessary. Consequently, ay recommendation