Almost 64 years ago, the American President, Harry S. Truman, proclaimed that the natural resources of the subsoil and seabed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas but contiguous to the coasts of the United States as appertaining to the United States, subject to its jurisdiction and control.

He asserted that the United States preserves the rights to explore and exploit natural resource therein.

This monumental movement was then followed by other states in the world, which then became the inseparable part of the history of creeping maritime jurisdiction.

Since then, it has been viewed that a state should be able to exercise its sovereignty or sovereign rights not only over its land territory but also over its maritime area adjacent to the land.

Similarly, Indonesia claimed that maritime area within the area of the Indonesian archipelago is part of Republic of Indonesia.

The declaration is dated Dec. 13, 1957, and popularly known then as the Djuanda Declaration, named after the Indonesian Prime Minister who made the declaration.

This is the seed of the archipelagic state concept and also Wawasan Nusantara (archipelagic outlook).

In the twenty-first century, efforts to secure more maritime area or at least to confirm sovereign rights over larger maritime area remain no different.

The United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) gives an opportunity for coastal States to confirm their sovereign rights over continental shelf (seabed) beyond 200 nautical miles from its baseline (coastline).

This is often referred to as outer or extended continental shelf (ECS). To do this, coastal states should define the limits or their continental shelf and make submissions to the United Nations Commissions on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (the Commission).

Russia was the first state to submit its proposal to the Commission followed by other states.

Indonesia also took its part to confirm its ECS by making a partial submission for the area to the north west of Sumatra on June 16, 2008.

As per today, 16 submissions have been received by the Commission. Approaching the deadline for the majority of the States Party to UNCLOS, on May 13, 2009, more submissions are expected to arrive in the desk of the Commission at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, the United States.

One common reason for the submission is to secure rights to explore and exploit natural resources of the seabed beyond 200 nautical miles form baseline.

Australia is one of the states whose submission/proposal has been recommended by the Commission. Not less than 2.5 million square kilometers of ECS have now been confirmed under the new Australian sovereign rights out of its 3.4 million square kilometer proposal.

Now, the maritime area of Australia is significantly larger than it was before. Considering its enormous size of maritime area, Australia can be seen as a maritime nation.

Defining the outer limits of maritime jurisdiction and securing a larger maritime area is of course not the end of the story.

Serious efforts are then required to investigate what lies beneath the ocean.

Hopes and potentials of the ocean will remain a mystery until they are disclosed and revealed.

This is the reason for the research survey conducted by Australia in its jurisdiction in the Indian Ocean.

Through the "University of the Sea" program, I was lucky enough to be involved in a survey to map the ocean floor of the Wallaby Plateau to the west of Western Australia.

This research was undertaken to investigate the potential of living and non living resources of the seabed, and subsea areas.

Not only to identify the resources, the aim is also to properly manage the marine environment.

This is a sophisticated marine scientific research using a German research vessel, which involves considerable expense.

This opinion, is however not an official report of the research, which will be released in the near future.

Having closely observed the research survey for nearly a month, I can tell that to disclose what lies beneath the ocean is an important part of managing the maritime jurisdiction for the benefit of the nation.

It involves the use of sophisticated technology (hydrographic mapping, seismic survey, gravimetry survey etc.) with a well-planned survey design.

It is a challenging process that requires good team work and a large financial investment to be successful.

Regardless of its challenges, this is one of the only ways to know the ocean better.

It seems that the government of Australia through its technical institution, Geoscience Australia, has made an important decision to conduct the survey.

What Australia has been demonstrating can be a comparative study for Indonesia being the largest archipelagic state in the world. The declaration made by PM Djuanda 51 years ago should not be the end of the story. The most important challenge to face is how to discover the potentials of the ocean for the prosperity of people.

This requires not only a large amount of budget but the very first thing is commitment and understanding of the importance of the ocean resource to be managed. To sum up, securing a large maritime area is not end of the story. That large maritime area has great potential analogous to a sleeping giant.

To do this, dedicated, well-panned, visionary researches and surveys are required. The attention to ocean affairs should be one of the important focuses of academia, government and also industry.

The writer is a lecturer in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He is currently a PhD candidate in ocean affairs and the law of the sea at the University of Wollongong. These are his personal views.

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