Non-ocean surface?

[Lu]

I'm still translating a short story into Dutch. One character has an unusually large interest in the Pacific Ocean, and starts telling an anecdote by reciting some facts he memorised:

 

何东城好像对太平洋有着特别的研究，他很顺溜地报了一串数字。太平洋属海的面积是18000万平方公里，不属海的面积是16000万平方公里，跨越了177个经度、151个纬度，南北最长16000千米、东西最宽20000米，平均深度4000米，最深处马里亚纳海沟11000米之类的。

 

All very well, but what could he mean by 不属海的面积是16000万平方公里? I now have it as 'The Pacific Ocean has a water surface of 180 million square kilometers and a non-water surface of 160 million square kilometers', but that doesn't make sense. 不属海的面积 could conceivably mean: the combined surface of all the islands in the ocean, but then the number is much, much too high. (The total land area of all Pacific islands is only 2,114,618 km2, as I just calculated.)

 

What's going wrong here? I can just translate it to correct numbers (the exact numbers don't matter in the story, it's just to illustrate this character's obsession), but if someone can tell me what I'm missing, that's better.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Luxi]

A geologist would say that 不属海的面积 refers to the combined continental shelves area - which belongs to the adjacent country. The proper ocean area (beyong the continental slope) belongs to the world...in theory. 

https://www.bluehabitats.org/?page_id=1660

[Baihande]

Another possability: can 属海 mean parts of the pacific ocean that are considered oceans on their own like the east and south chinese sea?

[Publius]

属海 = 附属海 (e.g. 黄海, 东海, 日本海, 白令海, 南海, 爪哇海, 珊瑚海)

 

On 8/26/2022 at 6:40 PM, Lu said:

太平洋属海的面积是18000万平方公里，不属海的面积是16000万平方公里，

This is wrong. The writer didn't understand the term.

Correct statement: 太平洋包括属海的面积是……不包括属海的面积是……

 

Cf. https://baike.baidu.com/item/太平洋/118304#3 https://baike.baidu.com/item/大西洋/10883#4

[Lu]

Thank you all! This makes perfect sense, and I have now been able to easily resolve this. (The Dutch word for 附属海 turns out to be 'randzee', if anyone is ever interested.)