(e.g., fisheries and offshore oil and gas) and to protect the environment off their coasts with the interests of all States in preserving other high seas rights and freedoms.
Article 55 defines the EEZ as an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in Part V, which elaborates the jurisdiction, rights and duties of the coastal State and the rights, freedoms and duties of other States. Pursuant to article 56, the coastal State exercises sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources of the EEZ, whether living or non-living. It also has significant rights in the EEZ with respect to scientific research and the protection and preservation of the marine environment. The coastal State does not have sovereignty over the EEZ, and all States enjoy the high seas freedoms of navigation, overflight, laying and maintenance of submarine cables and pipelines, and related uses in the EEZ, compatible with other Convention provisions. However, all States have a duty, in the EEZ, to comply with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal State in accordance with the Convention and other compatible rules of international law.
Article 57 requires the seaward limit of the EEZ to be no more than 200 miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The United States declared its EEZ with this limit by Presidential Proclamation 5030 on March 10, 1983.
Congress incorporated the claim in amending the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., Pub. L. 99-659.
As of March 1, 1994, 93 States claim an EEZ. No State claims an EEZ beyond 200 miles from its coastal baselines, although, as discussed below in the section on navigation and overflight, several States claim the right to restrict activities within their EEZs beyond that which the Convention authorizes.
The EEZ of the United States is among the largest in the world, extending through considerable areas of the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, including those around U.S. insular territories. From the perspective of managing and conserving resources off its coasts, the United States gains more from the provisions on the EEZ in the Convention than perhaps any other State.
High Seas
Pursuant to article 86, the regime of the high seas applies seaward of the EEZ. The Convention elaborates the regime of the high seas, including the principles of the freedom of the high seas, as it developed over centuries, and supplementa the regime with new safety and environmental requirements and express recognition of the freedom of scientific research. As discussed below in connection with living marine resources, the Convention makes the right to fish on the high seas subject to significant additional requirements relating to conservation and to certain rights, duties and interests of coastal States.
Continental Shelf
Pursuant to article 76, the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the sea-bed 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 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. The coastal State alone exercises sovereign rights over the continental shelf for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources. The natural resources of the continental shelf consist of the mineral and other non-living resources of the sea-bed and subsoil together with the living organisms belonging to sedentary species. Substantial deposits of oil and gas are located in the continental shelf off the coasts of the United States and other countries.
The Sea-bed Beyond National Jurisdiction
The Convention defines as the Area the sea-bed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Possible exploration and development of the mineral resources found at or beneath the sea-bed of the Area are to be undertaken pursuant to the international regime established by the Convention, as revised by the Agreement, on the basis of the principle that these resources are the common heritage of mankind. The Area remains open to use by all States for the exercise of high seas freedoms for defense, scientific research, telecommunications and other purposes.
Airspace
The Convention does not treat airspace as distinct zones. However, its provisions affirm that the sovereignty of a coastal State extends to the airspace over its land territory, internal waters and territorial sea. The breadth of territorial airspace is necessarily the same as the breadth of the underlying territorial sea. International airspace begins at the outer limit of the territorial sea.
BASELINES
A State's maritime zones are measured from the baseline. The rules for drawing baselines are contained in articles 5 through 11, 13 and 14 of the Convention. These rules distinguish between normal baselines (following the low water mark along the coast) and straight baselines (which can be employed only in specified geographical situations). The baseline rules take into account most of the wide variety of geographical conditions existing along the coastlines of the world.
Baseline claims can extend maritime jurisdiction significantly seaward in a manner that prejudices navigation, overflight and other interests. Objective application of baseline rules contained in the Convention can help prevent excessive claims in the future and encourage governments to revise existing claims to conform to the relevant criteria.
