INVEMAR | Colombia 50% Mar

Colombia 50% Ocean

In other words, Colombia has a jurisdictional maritime area that is relatively equal to that of its emerged territories (mainland and islands), hence the origin of the corporate motto: Colombia 50 % Sea.

Determining the marine area is estimated by taking into account the official map of Colombia published in 2002 by the Agustin Codazzi Institute of Geography (initials in Spanish: IGAC). In this map the current border limits are set, except for the sites that do not have yet a defined "limit". In the case of the end point or extreme point with Venezuela, assuming a straight line from Castilletes to the point marked on the official map as "Marine Areas in process of delimitation by the high commissioners appointed by the governments of Colombia and Venezuela", and to the point located at latitude 15 18 ' 00 " north and longitude 69 29 ' 30" determined in the "Agreement on Delimitation of Marine and Submarine Areas and Maritime COOPERATION BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC " of 1978. Furthermore, assuming a straight line according to the official map published by the IGAC; for defining the border with Ecuador based on the "Agreement on Delimitation of Marine and Submarine Areas and MARITIME COOPERATION BETWEEN THE REPUBLICS OF COLOMBIA AND ECUADOR" and including the Joint Regime Area of Colombia and Jamaica.

According to the previous delimitation, the approximate area of marine territory is 892.118Km2, some have referred to 988,000 km2 (Colciencias - DNP -CCO, 1980) while others to 929,000 km2 (Fandiño, 2000). However, the direct influence of the sea covers all coastal and insular areas of Colombia. Understanding coastal area as; the strip of land that extends from the coast to 5 km inland (15,200 km2), it is necessary to add areas like: the lagoon mirror of Cienaga Grande of Santa Marta (450Km2 approximately), the swamp of Mallorquín, Tesca swamp, etc. The land area is 1,139,951 (IDEAM, IGAC IAvH, Invemar, I. Sinchi and IIAP. 2007).

Estimating a percentage, you may notice that the marine territory is close to 50 % (between 44 and 47 % depending on the amount you use).

The purpose of this slogan is primarily to draw attention to the size of our marine territory (almost equivalent to the terrestrial size) and by any means set an exact percentage.

CHARACTERISTICS		REGION		TOTAL
CHARACTERISTICS		CARIBBEAN	PACIFIC	TOTAL
Km Costal Line	Continental	1.779	1.545	3.513
	Insular of the Continental Margin	86	25
	Ocean Island	72	7
	Total	1.937	1576
Emerged Costal zone area Km2	Continental	6.958	8.181	15.232
	Insular of the Continental Margin	30	13
	Ocean Island	49	1
	Total	7.037	8.195
Area of Territorial waters Km2		532.162	359.955	892.118

The area and approximate lengths of marine and coastal zones of Colombia, in which vectors of "MAGNA Colombia Bogota" to "Lambert Azimuthal Colombia" were projected to estimate area. Source: Labsi INVEMAR, 2009.