What Is Continental Shelf And Eez

The continental regime applies to shelf resources of states that have claimed an eez as well as states that have not done so and applies to the shelf resources beyond the 200 nautical mile limit.

What is continental shelf and eez.

Thus under the 1982 convention a continental shelf can exist without eez but there cannot be an eez without a corresponding continental shelf. Yellow new zealand extended continental shelf beyond the exclusive economic zone eez. An exclusive economic zone eez is a sea zone prescribed by the 1982 united nations convention on the law of the sea over which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles nmi from the coast of the state in question.

The continental shelf is a natural seaward extension of a land boundary. Whereas the eez includes the water column. The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a state has jurisdiction including internal waters the territorial sea the contiguous zone the exclusive economic zone and potentially the continental shelf in a narrower sense the term is used as a synonym for the territorial sea. This seaward extension is geologically formed as the seabed slopes away from the coast typically consisting of a gradual slope the continental shelf proper followed by a steep slope the continental slope and then a more gradual slope leading to.

This map shows the boundaries for new zealand s extended continental shelf confirmed by the united nations commission on the limits of the continental shelf. Country by country examples there are many countries which have their own exclusive economic zones. Boundary delimitation negotiations with fiji and tonga are still to be completed. Exclusive economic zone the eez is the area of ocean extending between 12 and 200 nautical miles from shore including the seabed and subsoil.

The area which is under the eez of a state gives them full rights to explore and exploit the marine resources in its adjacent continental shelf. According to the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf law which was amended in 2014 ν 97 ι 2014 the outer limit of the eez of the republic of cyprus is defined to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The continental shelf includes only the seabed and subsoil. Also while the maximum extent of the eez is 200 nautical miles the continental shelf may extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline depending on the depth shape and geophysical characteristics of the seabed and sub sea floor.