Snake Island (Black Sea)

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For the Bulgarian island in the Black Sea and often referred to as Snake Island see St. Thomas Island.

Snake Island

Native name: Острів Зміїний Ostriv Zmiyinyi
Aerial view of Snake Island
Geography
Snake Island (Black Sea) (Ukraine)
Location	Black Sea
Coordinates	45°15′N 30°12′E / 45.25°N 30.2°E / 45.25; 30.2
Area	0.17 km2 (0.066 sq mi)
Length	662 m (2,172 ft)
Width	440 m (1,444 ft)
Highest point	unnamed (41 m/135 ft)
Country
Ukraine
Oblast	Odessa
Raion	Kiliya
Demographics
Population	100
Density	588.24 /km2 (1,523.5 /sq mi)

Coordinates: 45°15′18″N 30°12′15″E / 45.255°N 30.20417°E / 45.255; 30.20417 Snake Island, also known as Serpent Island (Ukrainian: Острів Зміїний, Ostriv Zmiinyi; Romanian: Insula şerpilor), located in the Black Sea near the Danube Delta. The island is Ukrainian island and is part of the Kiliya Raion (district) of Odessa Oblast, Ukraine. The territorial limits of the continental shelf around Snake Island were delineated by the International Court of Justice.^[1]

Contents 1 Geography 2 Population and infrastructure 2.1 Lighthouse 3 History 3.1 Modern history 4 Maritime delimitation 5 References and footnotes

[edit] Geography

The island is a igneous rock formation located 35 km from the coast, east of the mouth of the Danube River. The island's coordinates are 45°15′18″N 30°12′15″E / 45.255°N 30.20417°E / 45.255; 30.20417. The island is X-shaped, from S-W to N-E 690 meters by 682 meters from N-W to S-E, covering an area of 0.205 km². The highest point is 41 m above sea level.

The nearest coast location to the Snake Island (35 km) is Kubanskyi Island on the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta, located between Bystroe Channel and Vostochnoe Channel. The closest Romanian coast city, Sulina is 45 km away. The closest Ukrainian cities, Ust-Dunaisk port is 44 km; Vylkove is 50 km away. On coastal waters live 50 fish species and 6 crabs species, 3 and 4 of which included in Red Book of Ukraine. Decree of President of Ukraine (09.12.1998, № 1341/98) appoint the status of island and coastal waters as state level protected area "Zmiiniy island". Total square of this protected area is 232 hectares.

[edit] Population and infrastructure

About 100 inhabitants live on the island, mostly frontier guard servicemen with their families and technical personnel. Since 2003 from the initiative of the Odessa National University of I.I. Mechnikov on the island was created the marine research station "Zmiiniy island" in which scientists and students from University every year conduct a research of local fauna, flora, geology, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, hydrobiology etc.

The island is currently demilitarized and under rapid development. In accordance with 1997 Treaty between Romania and Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities withdrew an army radio division, demolished a military radar, and transferred all other infrastructure to civilians.

In addition to a helicopter platform, in 2002 a pier has been built for ships with up to 8 meter draught, and a harbor construction is underway. The island is supplied with navigation equipment, including a 150-year old lighthouse. Electric power is provided by a dual solar/diesel power station. The island also has an adequately developed civil infrastructure such as the marine research station, a post office, a bank (branch of the Ukrainian bank "Aval"), the first-aid station, a satellite television provider, a phone network, a cell phone tower, and an Internet link.

[edit] Lighthouse

The Snake Island Lighthouse was built in the summer of 1843 by the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Empire. The lighthouse is an octahedral-shaped building, 12 meters tall, located at the highest point of the island, 40 meters above the sea level. The lighthouse is adjacent to a housing building.

As lighthouse technology progressed, in 1860 new lighthouse lamps were bought from England, and one of them was installed in Snake Island Lighthouse in 1862. In the early 1890s a new kerosene lamp was installed, with lamp rotating equipment and flat lenses. It improved the lighthouse visibility to up to 20 miles.

The lighthouse was heavily damaged during World War II by Soviet aviation and German retreating forces. It was restored at the end of 1944 by the Odessa military radio detachment. In 1949 it was further reconstructed and equipped by the Black Sea Fleet. The lighthouse was further upgraded in 1975 and 1984. In 1988 a new radio beacon "KPM-300" was installed with radio signal range of 150 miles.

In August 2004, the lighthouse was equipped with a radio beacon "Yantar-2M-200", which provides differential correction signal for global navigation satellite systems GPS and GLONASS.

The lighthouse is listed as UKR 050 by ARLHS, EU-182 by IOTA, and BS-07 by UIA.

[edit] History

The island was named, by the Greeks, Λευκός, Leuce Island ("White Island"), similarly known by Romans as Alba, probably because of the white marble formations that can be found on the isle. The uninhabited Isle Achilleis ("of Achilles") was the major sanctuary of the Achaean hero, where "seabirds dipped their wings in water to sweep the temples clean" (Kyriazis). Several temples of Thracian Apollo can be found here, and there are submerged ruins.

According to an epitome of the lost Trojan War epic of Arctinus of Miletus, the remains of Achilles and Patroclus were brought to this island by Thetis, to be put in a sanctuary. Ruins believed to be of a square temple dedicated to Achilles, 30 meters to a side, were discovered by Captain Kritzikly in 1823. Ovid, who was banished to Tomis, mentions the island; so do Ptolemy and Strabo.^[2] The island is described in Pliny's Natural History, IV.27.1.

Several ancient inscriptions were found on the island, including a 4th century BC Olbiopolitan decree which praises someone for defeating and driving out the pirates that lived on the "holy island".

[edit] Modern history

The Greeks during the times of Ottoman Empire renamed it Fidonisi (meaning in Greek "Snake island") and the island gave its name to the naval Battle of Fidonisi. The battle between Ottoman and Russian fleets took place near the island in 1788 in the course of Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792.

In 1829, following the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, the island became part of the Russian Empire until 1856.

In 1877, following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Ottoman Empire gave the island and Northern Dobrudzha region, as a reimbursement for the Russian annexation of Romania's southern Bessarabia region.

The Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 between the protagonists of World War II ceded Northern Bukovina, the Hertza region, Budjak, and Bessarabia to the USSR but made no mention of the mouths of the Danube and Snake Island.

Until 1948, Snake Island was considered part of the Romanian coastal city of Sulina. In 1948, the Soviets forced the Romanian side (occupied by Soviet troops) to accept the "transfer" of Snake Island to the USSR, as well as to accept to move the Romanian border in the Danube Delta towards the west, in favour of the USSR (resulting in the annexation of Limba Island by the USSR). Romania has strongly disputed the validity of this "treaty", since it was never ratified by any of the two countries, which would make the Limba and Snake islands de jure Romanian territory.

The same year, in 1948, during the Cold War, a Soviet radar post was built on the isle (for both naval and anti-aircraft purposes).

The Soviet Union's possession of Snake Islands was confirmed in the Treaty between the Government of the People's Republic of Romania and the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics on the Romanian-Soviet State Border Regime, Collaboration and Mutual Assistance on Border Matters, signed in Bucharest on February 27, 1961.

Between 1967 and 1987, the USSR and Romanian side were negotiating the delimitation of the continental shelf. The Romanian side refused to accept a Russian offer of 4000 km² out of 6000 km² around the island in 1987.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine inherited control over the island. A number of Romanian parties and organizations consistently claimed it should be included in its territory. According to the Romanian side, in the peace treaties of 1918 and 1920 (after WWI), the isle was considered part of Romania, and it was not mentioned in the 1947 border-changing treaty between Romania and the Soviet Union.

In 1997, Romania and Ukraine signed a treaty in which both states "reaffirm that the existing border between them is inviolable and therefore, they shall refrain, now and in future, from any attempt against the border, as well as from any demand, or act of, seizure and usurpation of part or all the territory of the Contracting Party". However, both sides have agreed that if no resolution on maritime borders can be reached within two years, then either side can go to the International Court of Justice to seek a final ruling.

[edit] Maritime delimitation

The status of Snake Island was important for delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zones between the two countries. If Snake Island were recognized as an island, then continental shelf around Snake Island should be considered as Ukrainian water. If Snake Island were not an island, but a cliff, then in accordance with international law the maritime boundary between Romania and Ukraine should be drawn without taking into consideration the isle location.

On 16 September 2004 the Romanian side brought a case against Ukraine to the International Court of Justice in a dispute concerning the maritime boundary between the two States in the Black Sea.^[3]

On February 3, 2009, the court delivered its judgment,^[4] which divided the sea area of the Black Sea along a line which was between the claims of each country. The court concluded that Snake Island is an island^[5] but this "should have no effect on the delimitation in this case, other than that stemming from the role of the 12-nautical-mile arc of its territorial sea".

[edit] References and footnotes

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