Maritime Boundary Application 

The BNGIS Centre, successfully hosted a desktop study and training in CARIS software to delimit the country’s proposed archipelagic maritime boundaries October 24th to November 4th 2005. Participating agencies included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The BNGIS Centre, The Royal Bahamas Defense Force, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Lands and Surveys Department.

This training was organized as a part of the Centre’s mandate to provide GIS technical assistance to governmental agencies
The desktop study area was complex, highly technical and research intensive. Additional field observations will be required to ensure best results.

The two week training course was conducted by Mr. Robert Van De Poll, Product Manager for CARIS, Marine Division, New Brunswick, Canada. Mr. Van De Poll is a Law of the Sea expert with a B.Sc. (Earth Science) and M.Sc. E (Geodesy & Geomatics).

It was generally felt that the training was money well spent and that this technical capacity building effort will equip the government with the best available information when negotiating boundaries with neighboring coastal states such as Cuba, Haiti, Turks and Caicos Islands and The United States of America.

Training in the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Article 46