What Is Continental Shelf And 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.

What is continental shelf and eez. Yellow new zealand extended continental shelf beyond the exclusive economic zone eez. 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. Whereas the eez includes the water column.

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. 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. 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. The continental shelf includes only the seabed and subsoil.

Continental shelf cs according to article 76 of united nations convention on the law of the sea unclos iii 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. 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. Thus under the 1982 convention a continental shelf can exist without eez but there cannot be an eez without a corresponding continental shelf.

The continental shelf is the seabed and subsoil of submarine areas extending out to the continental margin. The continental shelf is a natural seaward extension of a land boundary. 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 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.