Determination of Tidal Datum for Delineation of Littoral Zone for Marine Cadastre in Malaysia

Abstract

The rapid development of coastal areas in Malaysia for economic generation activities and public interests has triggered the need for a new system of marine administration. Marine cadastre is the key in managing a complex marine administration that covers horizontal and vertical components. A tidal datum is a standard elevation defined by a certain phase of the tide. Tidal datum is also the basis for establishing privately owned land, state owned land, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and high seas boundaries. This chapter reviews some concepts and issues pertaining to the delineation of the tidal line for marine cadastre in Malaysia. This study analyzed the use of Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) as reference datum in marine cadastre. Localized hydrodynamic approach was used for generating the tidal model due to suitability and availability of global tidal model. Tide datasets acquired from Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (DSMM) has been processed using tidal analysis software for computing the LAT as the reference datum for marine cadastre. Output from the tidal data observed are tidal analysis can be made on sea levels, chart datum, types of tide and tidal constituents. This chapter aims to produce the tidal lines and littoral zone for use in marine cadastre procedures and practices. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the LAT is consistent and can potentially be used for marine cadastre reference level in order to improve the effectiveness of implementing the marine cadastre.