Green Island (Fortune), Newfoundland and Labrador explained

See also: Green Island (Catalina), Newfoundland and Labrador.

Green Island (in French: Île verte) is a rocky island near the mouth of Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. It is located about west of the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland near Point May, and east of Saint Pierre Island in the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.[1]

Sovereignty

In Article XIII of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713),[2] France acknowledged British ownership of and sovereignty over Newfoundland and its adjacent islands, of which Green Island is one.

The Saint Pierre and Miquelon islands later on were ceded back to France by the 1763 Treaty of Paris and the British and French signatories of the 1783 Treaty of Versailles made it clear that the mid channel line between Newfoundland and Saint Pierre and Miquelon was to be the boundary line.[3]

Although the territorial location of the island remained legally unclear for a long time because it is nearer to Saint Pierre island than to Newfoundland but at the same time nearer to Newfoundland than to Little Miquelon, it eventually was assumed to be part of Newfoundland after the British lighthouse had been built on it (1908). The March 27, 1972, agreement between Canada and France on their mutual fishing relations determined the demarcation of the limit of their territorial waters. This agreement confirmed Green Island’s location on the Canadian side of the boundary line. The boundary touches two Canadian islands at their low water marks (which are defined as the minimum low tide mark).[4]

A U.S. State Department document[5] lists nine turning points on the boundary. Points (4) and (5) touch islands:

Point 4 and 5 are separated by a distance of 0.35 nautical miles. Google Maps' aerial view displays the straight line boundary with endpoints at the stated coordinates for Points 4 and 5, with this boundary line crossing one of the islands comprising the Little Green Islands. This line from Point 4 to Point 5 runs in a northwesterly direction.

Green Island Lighthouse

Qid:Q29644690
Yearbuilt:1908 (first)
1955 (second)
Yearlit:1993 (current)
Construction:cast iron tower (first)
skeletal tower (second and current)
Shape:cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern (first)
square frustum tower (second and current)[6]
Marking:red tower (first)
red lantern (current)

The first lighthouse was built on Green Island in 1908. It was replaced in 1955 with an aluminium skeletal tower, and this was replaced with the present structure in 1993. Its light flashes every 10 seconds and is visible for . The foghorn sounds every 60 seconds as well.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: St. Pierre et Miquelon: Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage . 2006-10-16 . 2013-06-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130602074252/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/pierre_miquelon.html . live .
  2. Peace and Friendship Treaty of Utrecht between France and Great Britain . 1713.
  3. "The Canadian-French boundary", Xavier Maillard P.M. (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, 2006)
  4. "The Canadian-French boundary", Xavier Maillard P.M. (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, 2006)
  5. Book: Limits in the Seas No. 57 Territorial Sea Boundary: Canada - St.-Pierre and Miquelon. 1974. U.S. Department of State.
  6. December 30, 2015.