V.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

1. Ocha is a highly-developed stated under the administration of an absolute monarchy,

which has a population of around 500 million, and is one of the fastest-growing free-

market economies in the world;

2. Edrines is a developing democratic state, south of Ocha, and across the Ograria Sea

with an approximate population of 100 million. It is an archipelago with five main

islands and hundreds of smaller islets. Edrines was previously ruled by a monarch, but

was abolished sometime in 1958;

3. The Ograrian Sea is a vital and shared water resources which spans at about 3.8 million

kilometers which connects the Pananu and Isidro Oceans. Around twelve (12) stated

claimed rights over the said Sea but no agreements have been condluded the sharing of

the resources and the overlaps in claimed waters.

4. As to the existence of trade in the Ograrian Sea, around 40% of Edrine’s export and

over 80% of Ocha’s trade passes through the Ograria Sea. The earliest trade between

the two states dates back to as early as the 12th century, in such sense that Ochan fishing

in Scor Guoy was permitted by the Edrinean king at around the 1850s, with the advent

of modern fishing trawlers that could traverse longer distances. While Edrine’s

monarchy was abolished, the Edrinean government did not outright prohibit Ochan

fishing in Scor Guyot.

5. In July 2016, Edrines discovered that Scor Guyot – an underwater volcanic mountain

about 120 nautical miles from Edrines’ northern island of Lostrug and 400 nautical

miles from Ocha’s coastlines – has rich hydrocarbon deposits which had been

intensively studied by Edrines until the recent incident that occurred on May 2019.
6. On May 12, 2019, at about 10 o’clock in the evening, a commotion in the waters were

heard by an Edrinean fishing vessel F/V BRISTAN to which they saw that R/V

GEMLINA, an Edrinean marine research vessel, was a party to a collision against a

vessel to which they were not able to identify at that moment.

7. Through pursuit, F.R.S. BATAHN, an Edrinean littoral combat ship stationed in Scor

Guyot, was able to identify that the vessel that had crashed into the R/V GEMLINA

was F/B KIROMI, which was later identified as an Ochan fishing trawler.

8. Both parties conducted separate investigations into the incidents, reporting such

disparate accounts that they eventually agreed to permit Irenea, a neighboring

archipelagic state with its own Ograrian claims, to conduct an independent

investigation. Irenea thereafter concluded that based on the evidence available, the that

had collided with R/V GEMLINA was indeed F/B KIROMI.

9. Edrines formally requested Ochan to turn over the crew of F/B KIROMI to gave

charges of poaching and reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries and

damage to property but Ocha refused the request.

10. Thus, unable to settle the differences, the two States presents to this Honorable Court

the adjudication of the issues at bar.

 VI. SUMMARY OF PLEADINGS

A. F/B KIROMI, A FISHING VESSEL FROM OCHA, WAS ENGAGED IN THE

LAWFUL ACT OF FISHING IN THE OGRIAN SEA AS PROVIDED IN THE

UNCLOS.

1. It was erroneous for the government of Edrines to claim that F/B Kiromi was engaged

in illegal fishing activities as the latter was within the coastal waters of Edrines. It bears

importance to take not that the proximity of the Ograrian Sea, particulary Scor Guyot,

was 400 nautical miles from the shore of Ocha. Thus, Ograrian Sea is considered as

High Seas, within the jurisdiction of the Government of Ocha. The United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Seas expressly provides:

“The provisions of this Part apply to all parts of the sea that are not included in

the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a

State, or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State.1”

2. Considering that Ogrian Sea is within the high seas of the government of Ocha, F/B

Kiromi has the freedom of fishing in Ogrian Sea, regardless of the fact that the

previous monarch of Edrines

1
Article 86, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)/*-