It's hard to overestimate the importance of water to human societies. We not only require clean water to drink, but towns and cities have long depended on water for farming, fishing, waste management, trade and transportation, and warfare. More recently, the shoreline has become the most sought-after real estate, and technology has granted us access to the deep seabed, home to valuable minerals and fossil fuels.

But while humans have constructed elaborate customs and legal systems governing ownership and use of land, water rights have always been a much murkier affair. Who owns the sea, who regulates access to it and who can lay claim to migratory fish? Since World War II, nations and non-governmental organizations have been hammering out fair and reasonable international rules. In the meantime, individual countries scramble to use, manage and protect resources and national interests. In 2002, officials in the United States made some important decisions on the local, federal and international levels.

Click on the image below to learn more about these rulings, which affect water rights, beach access, shipping, and fishing and marine mammals.

Photos: NOAA