Maritime zones


Territorial waters

bullet The sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyond its land territory and internal waters and, in the case of an archipelagic State, its archipelagic waters, to an adjacent belt of sea, described as the territorial sea.
bullet This sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil.
bullet The sovereignty over the territorial sea is exercised subject to this Convention and to other rules of international law.
bullet Every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with UNCLOS.
bullet A list of known claims of territorial seas published in annual notices to mariners No-12.

Source:

UNCLOS Article-2 & 3

Annual summaries of Admiralty Notices To mariners Sec-12.

 

 

 

 

 

Contiguous zone

bullet In a zone contiguous to its territorial sea, described as the contiguous zone, the coastal State may exercise the control necessary to:
bullet Prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea;
bullet Punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.
bullet The contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
 

Source: UNCLOS Article33
 

 


 

 

Exclusive Economic Zone - EEZ

bullet The exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea.
bullet In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State has:
bullet Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds;
bullet Jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant provisions of this Convention with regard to:
bullet (i) the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures;
bullet (ii) marine scientific research;
bullet (iii) the protection and preservation of the marine environment;
bullet The exclusive economic zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
bullet A list of known claims of EEZ published in annual notices to mariners No-12.

Source: UNCLOS Article-55, 56 & 57

 

 

 

 

 

Continental shelf

bullet The continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.
bullet The continental margin comprises the submerged prolongation of the land mass of the coastal State, and consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof.
bullet For the purposes of this Convention, the coastal State shall establish the outer edge of the continental margin wherever the margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines.
bullet The fixed points comprising the line of the outer limits of the continental shelf on the seabed, either shall not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baselines or shall not exceed 100 nautical miles from the 2,500 meter isobath, which is a line connecting the depth of 2,500 metres.
bullet The coastal State exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources.
bullet The rights are exclusive in the sense that if the coastal State does not explore the continental shelf or exploit its natural resources, no one may undertake these activities without the express consent of the coastal State.
bullet The natural resources referred to in this Part consist of the mineral and other non-living resources of the seabed and subsoil together with living organisms belonging to sedentary species.

 

Source: Part-VI of UNCLOS.

 

 

 

 

 

High sea

bullet All parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State, or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State.
bullet The high seas are open to all States, whether coastal or land-locked.
bullet Freedom of the high seas:
bullet Freedom of navigation;
bullet Freedom of overflight;
bullet Freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines, subject to Part VI of UNCLOS.
bullet Freedom to construct artificial islands and other installations permitted under international law, subject to Part VI of UNCLOS;
bullet Freedom of fishing, subject to the conditions laid down in section 2 of UNCLOS;
bullet Freedom of scientific research, subject to Parts VI and XIII of UNCLOS.
bullet No State may validly purport to subject any part of the high seas to its sovereignty.

 

Source: Part-VII of UNCLOS.

 

Updated: 29-Sep-2007