MARINE CADASTRE

How to collect and store marine cadastre information

Marine cadastre according to Grant (1999) is defined as a “system to enable the boundaries of
marine rights and interests, to be recorded, spatially managed and physically defined in relationship to the
boundaries of other neighbouring or underlying rights and interests”. In other words, it contains range of
information about the marine rights and to which extent it could be utilize. In this case, it is very
important for us to have knowledge about the importance of coastal and marine areas.

In collecting and storing marine cadastre information, you need conduct hydrographic,
oceanographic and geophysical surveys in order to gather all the important information that is needed. In
hydrography, you could gather data about the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans
and seas. Oceanography on the other hand, would give you data about the ocean itself most importantly, the geology
of the seafloor. Geophysical surveys would give you data that involves the physical properties of the Earth.
Combining all the data collected, you could clearly visualize the marine space and determine which rights
are violated.

It is indeed important that we collect and store marine cadastre information in a most precise way
because this information involves the private and public laws’ effects on marine environment. Knowing
the extent of the marine rights and restrictions would help us set limits to avoid performing activities that
would violate those rights. In that case, if we couldn’t completely elude the damage we create on marine
spaces, at least we could reduce it and could create a large impact in conserving marine spaces and its
resources.