The reason to pick up this almost prehistoric BP message, is that I
just (a couple of minutes ago) heard the mayor of Schiermonnikoog on
Dutch radio, saying that he wants a boundary correction between the
municipality of Schiermonnikoog (Frisia) and that of Eemsmond
(Groningen). The main reason for this is the responsability in the
area concerning the handling of calamities, according to the mayor.
The boundary change should be effective for a long time, and since
the island is persistently walking in an easterly direction, the
mayor mentioned the possibility (or desirability) to transfer the
island of Simonszand (an uninhabited piece of sand only slightly
higher than your average sand bank), in between the islands of
Schiermonnikoog and Rottumerplaat, from Eemsmond to Schiermonnikoog
(and thus from Groningen to Frisia).
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., peter.smaardijk@a... wrote:
> While on the subject of boundaries across islands:
>
> Islands can not only appear and dissappear, they can also move!
>
> The island of Schiermonnikoog, like all other West Frisian islands
in
> the Netherlands, has a tendency to move to the east. On the western
> side, they get smaller, but on the eastern side, they grow. It has
to
> do with tides and currents and stuff. Now east of Schiermonnikoog
is
> the Frisian-Groningen provincial border. Schiermonnikoog is in
> Frisia. Or is it?
>
> Apparently, not entirely. The island walked over, at least partly,
to
> the other side! It crossed the border sometime in the last ten
years
> or so, and now the provincial boundary runs over the island!
>
> A nice example of "boundary is fixed, but the land changed". One
has
> only to look at various river boundaries (e.g. the Mississippi) to
> see what meandering can do to the once logical boundary of your
> territory.
>
> Still, I expect the Dutch to be doing something about the
> Schiermonnikoog case. They did so in the past with the provincial
> boundary between Gelderland and North Brabant, where the boundary
was
> at places following an old riverbed of the river Meuse. The river
> changed course since the fixing of the boundary.
>
> No respect for boundaries, our lot.
>
> Peter S.