the united states and canada share the
longest undefended border in the world
most of the time it’s as peaceful as it
sounds but not always since the 1700s a
tiny turf war has been smoldering
between the two countries the
grand-prize an uninhabited island in the
Atlantic Ocean and a nearby Rock welcome
to Machias Seal Island the island lies
just off the coast of Maine and Canada’s
Grand Manan Island it’s so small that it
could fit into New York City’s Central
Park more than 40 times over but this
area of the sea is known as the gray
zone because the US and Canada both
claim it and neither one seems ready to
back down why old paperwork national
pride and lobsters lots of lobsters in
1783 the treaty that ended the
Revolutionary War
put Machias seal island under US control
but Canada said not so fast according to
the land grant that founded Nova Scotia
the island belonged to Canada the
countries have been quietly jockeying
for island supremacy ever since
Canada’s made the biggest land grab so
far building a lighthouse there in the
1830s the US meanwhile pretends that the
lighthouse isn’t there because gray zone
this all sounds pretty polite but
sometimes the tension escalates the u.s.
Border Patrol stopped a lot of Canadian
fishing boats in the area in 2018 it
said it was enforcing immigration laws
and other violations of federal law the
Border Patrol didn’t arrest anyone and
claims the stops were routine but some
Canadians ID them as a potential flexing
of American muscle and Canada’s
fisheries minister expressed concerns
saying that lobstermen from the two
countries have happily worked
side-by-side that’s mostly the case the
gray zone is chock-full of valuable
lobsters lobstermen tempers have
sometimes risen and ebbed with the price
of the catch over the years lobstering
squabbles have occasionally rocked the
boat in the gray zone especially when
market prices are going up but things
are generally copacetic it’s all the
same to the puffins and other birds that
live on the island which is an important
seabird colony they’re studied by a
handful of researchers and visited by up
to 30 tourists a day 15 from Canada and
15 from the US but until the neighboring
nations decide that this dispute is for
the birds
things in the gray zone are likely to
stay gray
locals holding their breath for the next brews national ego
longest undefended border in the world
most of the time it’s as peaceful as it
sounds but not always since the 1700s a
tiny turf war has been smoldering
between the two countries the
grand-prize an uninhabited island in the
Atlantic Ocean and a nearby Rock welcome
to Machias Seal Island the island lies
just off the coast of Maine and Canada’s
Grand Manan Island it’s so small that it
could fit into New York City’s Central
Park more than 40 times over but this
area of the sea is known as the gray
zone because the US and Canada both
claim it and neither one seems ready to
back down why old paperwork national
pride and lobsters lots of lobsters in
1783 the treaty that ended the
Revolutionary War
put Machias seal island under US control
but Canada said not so fast according to
the land grant that founded Nova Scotia
the island belonged to Canada the
countries have been quietly jockeying
for island supremacy ever since
Canada’s made the biggest land grab so
far building a lighthouse there in the
1830s the US meanwhile pretends that the
lighthouse isn’t there because gray zone
this all sounds pretty polite but
sometimes the tension escalates the u.s.
Border Patrol stopped a lot of Canadian
fishing boats in the area in 2018 it
said it was enforcing immigration laws
and other violations of federal law the
Border Patrol didn’t arrest anyone and
claims the stops were routine but some
Canadians ID them as a potential flexing
of American muscle and Canada’s
fisheries minister expressed concerns
saying that lobstermen from the two
countries have happily worked
side-by-side that’s mostly the case the
gray zone is chock-full of valuable
lobsters lobstermen tempers have
sometimes risen and ebbed with the price
of the catch over the years lobstering
squabbles have occasionally rocked the
boat in the gray zone especially when
market prices are going up but things
are generally copacetic it’s all the
same to the puffins and other birds that
live on the island which is an important
seabird colony they’re studied by a
handful of researchers and visited by up
to 30 tourists a day 15 from Canada and
15 from the US but until the neighboring
nations decide that this dispute is for
the birds
things in the gray zone are likely to
stay gray
locals holding their breath for the next brews national ego
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