Question

Write short notes on:

EEZ

Answer 1

1. Generally, a state's exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, extending seaward to a distance of no more than 370 km out from its coastal baseline.
2. The exception to this rule occurs when exclusive economic zones would overlap; that is, state coastal baselines are less than 740 km apart. When an overlap occurs, it is up to the states to delineate the actual maritime boundary.
3. The exclusive economic zone stretches much further into sea than the territorial water, which ends at 22 km from the coastal baseline (if following the rules set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea). Thus, the exclusive economic zones include the contiguous zone.
4. States also have rights to the seabed of what is called the continental shelf up to 650 km from the coastal baseline, beyond the exclusive economic zones, but such areas are not part of their exclusive economic zones.
5. The legal definition of the continental shelf does not directly correspond to the geological meaning of the term, as it also includes the continental rise and slope, and the entire seabed within the exclusive economic zone.
6. The idea of allotting nations with EEZs is to give them more control of maritime affairs outside territorial limits, gained acceptance in the late 20th Century.