Territorial Seas - UK's response to Chief Minister's request

Summary

The request sought correspondence between the Isle of Man Chief Minister and the UK Government regarding the territorial sea median line and EEZ from May 2024 onwards. The response disclosed internal Isle of Man emails from January and February 2024 discussing the drafting and potential release of a letter to the UK Ministry of Justice, though the outcome was noted as partially exempt.

Key Facts

• The request concerns the future of the sea area beyond the Isle of Man's 12 nautical mile territorial limit and the median line with the UK.
• The Chief Minister's initial letter to the UK Ministry of Justice was drafted in early 2024 following a Tynwald resolution.
• Internal correspondence reveals discussions about sharing the letter with Tynwald Members and the potential for it to enter the public domain.
• The response includes emails from Anne Shimmin, External Relations Manager, dated January and February 2024.
• The FOI outcome was 'Some information sent but part exempt'.

Data Disclosed

• May 2024
• 12 nautical mile
• 2025-10-28
• 2025-11-26
• 63 pages
• 2 documents
• 02 February 2024
• 05 January 2024
• December 2023
• EPT231212-EVE-RHX.pdf

Original Request

"In/around May 2024 our Chief Minister wrote to Mike Freer, then Under Secretary of State in the UK's Ministry of Justice to ask about the future of the area of sea beyond the Island's 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit and the median line with the United Kingdom. Please can I see a copy of: A) Our Chief Minister's initial letter. B) The UK's initial reply. C) Any and all further correspondence between the IOM & UK Govts on this matter to date. Thank you." On the 27 October 2025 we wrote to ask you for clarification as follows: "In order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for we need some further information from you. In particular, it would be helpful to know the following: at part C) of your request, you have asked for "any and all further correspondence", by this do you mean correspondence since the date of what you describe as "the UK's initial reply". If this is not what you mean, please advise accordingly, providing a description of the information you are seeking." On 30 October 2025 you provided clarification by e-mail: By 'any and all further correspondence", I request correspondence since the date of the Chief Minister's initial letter in/around May 2024. The description of the information you are seeking is any and all further correspondence on this matter."

Data Tables (6)

Full Response Text

1 From: Shimmin, Anne Sent: 02 February 2024 15:02 To: Cc: Corlett, David (CSO) Subject: RE: EEZ median line Attachments: EPT231212-EVE-RHX.pdf Hi

I hope that you are well today.

I just wanted to let you know that a draft letter about the median line petition is now with the Chief Minister for him to consider (and amend as he sees fit) so it will be probably coming over next week.

Since the Hansard of December Tynwald hasn’t been published yet – Clerk of Tynwald’s Office is a bit behind due to resource issues – I asked if it might be possible to have an advance version of just the petition debate, and they have been good enough to provide it.

It has been published as an early publication: https://www.tynwald.org.im/spfile?file=/business/hansard/20202040/EPT231212-EVE-RHX.pdf but please note the text may be subject to revision prior to it being finalised, and the link provided will stop working once it’s been removed from the website. The most up- to-date Hansard will be available here: https://www.tynwald.org.im/business/hansard

However, in case you are interested and/or wish to provide it to relevant colleagues and the link stops working I attach a copy now.

Have a good weekend.

Best wishes Anne

From:

Sent: 05 January 2024 16:15 To: Shimmin, Anne
Subject: RE: EEZ median line

2 Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links.
Thanks Anne, yes good point and that’s fine.

It might be worth also cc’ing the relevant FCOD Minister, and potentially also the Crown Estate as you say, will do some digging at my end on that and come back.

Best

From: Shimmin, Anne Anne.Shimmin@gov.im
Sent: 05 January 2024 16:11 To:

Subject: RE: EEZ median line

Hi

I think that, given the wording of the Tynwald resolution, the Chief’s initial correspondence has to be with the MoJ, whether that is the SoS or the Minister (and potentially also Crown Estate). If after that MoJ wants to direct us elsewhere that’s fine of course. I imagine that after the initial political level contact things will then be picked up at official level in the usual way.

Have a good weekend.

Best wishes Anne

From:

Sent: 05 January 2024 15:49 To: Shimmin, Anne Anne.Shimmin@gov.im Subject: RE: EEZ median line

Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links.
Hi Anne,

Thank you for the helpful update here – I will advise colleagues in other relevant departments of these developments. 8

We are going to share the correspondence with Ministers for their information of course but I would like to ask how HMG would feel about it being shared more widely with Tynwald Members, which under new Tynwald rules would result in the correspondence being released into the public domain?

An early view on this would be really helpful.

Happy to discuss.

Best wishes Anne

Anne Shimmin External Relations Manager – Policy and Legislation

Cabinet Office, Isle of Man Government, Government Office, Bucks Road, Douglas, ISLE OF MAN IM1 3PN Tel: +44 (0)1624 685202 Anne.Shimmin@gov.im

Isle of Man. Giving you freedom to flourish

WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e- mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible.

No employee or agent is authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of any of the Departments or Statutory Boards of the Isle of Man Government with any party by e-mail without express written confirmation by a Manager of the relevant Department or Statutory Board.

RAAUE: S’preevaadjagh yn çhaghteraght post-l shoh chammah’s coadanyn erbee currit marish as ta shoh coadit ec y leigh. Cha nhegin diu coipal ny cur eh da peiagh erbee elley ny ymmydey yn chooid t’ayn er aght erbee dyn kied leayr veih’n choyrtagh. Mannagh nee shiu yn enmyssagh kiarit jeh’n phost-l shoh, doll-shiu magh eh, my sailliu, as cur-shiu fys da’n choyrtagh cha leah as oddys shiu.

Cha nel kied currit da failleydagh ny jantagh erbee conaant y yannoo rish peiagh ny possan erbee lesh post-l er son Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh erbee jeh Reiltys Ellan Vannin dyn co-niartaghey scruit leayr veih Reireyder y Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh t’eh bentyn rish. 9 This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail. This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. Monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail. This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. Monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail. This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. Monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail. This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. Monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
HANSARD EARLY PUBLICATION (1.50 p.m., 2nd February 2024)

T Y N W A L D P R O C E E D I N G S

HANSARD EARLY PUBLICATION EPT231212 EVE RHX

EVENING SESSION

Douglas, Tuesday, 12th December 2023

Published by the Office of the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings,
Finch Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PW. © High Court of Tynwald, 2023

Business transacted The first part of the Rolling Hansard will be uploaded as soon as possible. ................................... 2 11. Petition of Mr Philip Craine and Mr Keith Kerruish – Access to benefits of Maritime Holdings – Motion carried .................................................................................................... 2 The next part of the Rolling Hansard will be uploaded as soon as possible ................................. 16

TYNWALD, TUESDAY, 12th DECEMBER 2023

2 EPT-EVE RHX Tynwald

The Court met at 10 a.m.

[MR PRESIDENT in the Chair]

The first part of the Rolling Hansard will be uploaded as soon as possible.

1. Petition of Mr Philip Craine and Mr Keith Kerruish – Access to benefits of Maritime Holdings – Motion carried

The Hon. Member of the Council, Mr Craine, to move:

That Tynwald: (1) notes the petition of Keith Kerruish and Philip Craine and declares as policy that the Isle of Man should have access to the benefits of maritime holdings up to the median line between the Island and the United Kingdom; and
(2) requests the Council of Ministers to enter discussions with the UK’s Ministry of Justice and the Crown Estates Commissioners with the aim of realising this policy.

[PP 2023/0115] is relevant to this Item.

The President: We now move on to Item 11 and I call on the Hon. Member, Mr Craine.

Mr Craine: Gura mie eu, Eaghtyrane. I am aware it is late in the day and I am going to try and keep this short, but I am also aware that the issue coming out of the petition and the motion we have got is far from safely through. 5 So I hope you will bear with me if I do not over-shorten it. I want to try and put the best case I can going forward, but I have pruned down on the extent of what I was going to say.
I want to begin just with two areas, really. First of all, admiration for the petition system, that members of the public can put in a petition to parliament here in this democracy and can have that then taken forward and discussed. In the equivalent of the House of Commons, you need 10 100,000 signatures to do a debate. Here it is accessible and we have got that.
But I need to thank the petitioners Keith Kerruish and Philip Craine. I am delighted to see them in the Gallery there today. We got there in the end, Keith. I am delighted to see them there. They have put in an enormous amount of work with this, beginning with their work with Nigel Crowe, who I will talk more about in a second or two, but working with him during the period when he 15 was in hospice and engaged in this issue. So they have done a tremendous job, and I thank them for that. I am hugely grateful.
And then secondly, petitioners who had in turn themselves recognised the instrumental role of Mr Nigel Crowe, who sadly died in hospice in early August this year. Nigel was a Manx historian of very considerable note. His research covered very wide areas ranging from place names, field 20 boundaries, quarterlands and treens, to ancestry, family history, etc. and I am hugely grateful. TYNWALD, TUESDAY, 12th DECEMBER 2023

3 EPT-EVE RHX I want to recognise and give tribute to Nigel. I know that the petitioners have carried on to try and complete the petition in memory of, and in their gratitude for, what he had done.
I want to, or I need to at that point, just mention that I should note that Mr Philip Craine, one of the petitioners, is a cousin of mine, but that has no material bearing on the motion you have 25 got today. Our fathers were brothers. And I should also note that Nigel Crowe was a cousin of mine, my father was a cousin of his mother, but that again has no bearing (Laughter) on what is in front of us today.
I want to start by just very quickly clarifying the issue of the territorial sea. The Isle of Man has a territorial sea. It is 12 nautical miles. Within that we have certain seabed rights. The Ørsted 30 planned proposals for a wind farm and the proposed gas project from Crogga, their prospect area, they are both inside our territorial sea. We cannot extend the territorial sea, that is fixed. All the jurisdictions around us have a similar 12-nautical-mile territorial sea. There is no basis for that to change. And then I want to focus on exclusive economic zones, because it is this area beyond the territorial sea that is of interest in this motion today. 35 With the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 – and it is specifically the third convention in that, and it came at the end of nine years of conferences, so there is an awful lot of work that went into this – they came up with the idea of exclusive economic zones. The aim of that was to establish the rights to the seabed and to reduce potential disputes. But it only applies to sovereign jurisdictions.
40 And that is a key point to recognise here, but we should also be aware that there does not appear to be any sound justification of why this only applies to sovereign nations. The simplest explanation appears to be that it was a decision reached by those who were around the table at that time, and they were sovereign nations. So it is a decision made that we were left outside at that point.
45 That does mean that we have got no legal right to claim that we should have an exclusive economic zone. We cannot just claim that. And I recognise that at this stage. I do also recognise that there are now 150 coastal countries that do have EEZs. Some of them are small islands. Indeed, 40% of the world’s seas – 42%, I think – are now inside somebody’s EEZ. This is a growth area, we are outside it. The UK and the Republic of Ireland have exclusive economic zones. The 50 Isle of Man does not.
I want to spend a couple of minutes now looking at the Irish Sea. We are in the Irish Sea. The right to wind development and giving access to that is handled through the Crown Estate. So in the UK the Crown Estate has the seabed rights. They started in 2001 with round one in the Irish Sea of the rights to put in wind farms. Indeed the first wind farm in the Irish Sea in 2001 was the 55 North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm off the Welsh coast. That was the first. And then in the 20 years since then, as we have travelled backwards and forwards to Heysham and to Liverpool from the Isle of Man, we have seen these wind farms growing and growing and growing. The wind farms are getting larger and they are getting closer. One wind farm in particular, currently still in the planning phase, is huge. It is almost 60 100 tur

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