Exclusive Economic Zone Totally Explained

Everything about Exclusive Economic Zone totally explained

Under the law of the sea, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources.

Definition

Generally a state's EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coast. The exception to this rule occurs when EEZs would overlap; that is, state coastal baselines are less than 400 nautical miles apart. When an overlap occurs, it's up to the states to delineate the actual boundary. Generally, any point within an overlapping area defaults to the most proximate state.
The Exclusive Economic Zone starts at the coastal baseline and extends 200 nautical miles out into the sea, perpendicular to the baseline. Thus, the EEZ overlaps both the contiguous zone and territorial waters. States also have rights to the seabed of the continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles from the coast, where this extends beyond the EEZ, but this doesn't form part of their EEZ.

Origin of EEZ

This concept of allotting nations EEZs to give better control of maritime affairs outside territorial limits gained acceptance in the late 20th century and was given binding international recognition by the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.
Part V, Article 55 of the Convention states:
ť :Specific legal regime of the Exclusive Economic Zone

The Exclusive Economic Zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in this Part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention. Fisheries management is a significant aspect of the resulting control.

EEZ disputes

Disputes over the exact extent of Exclusive Economic Zones are a common source of conflict between states over marine waters.

One well-known example of such a dispute is the Cod Wars between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
The South China Sea (and the Spratly Islands) is the site of an ongoing dispute between several neighboring nations.
There is an ongoing dispute over defining continental shelf and EEZ between Turkey and Greece.
Conflict of Croatia with Italy and Slovenia over Croatian ZERP in Adriatic sea. Regions where a permanent ice shelf extends beyond the coastline are also sources of potential dispute.

Rankings by area

List of countries' EEZ by area
Country	EEZ + Terr. Waters	EEZ only
United States	11,351,000 km²
France	11,035,000 km²
Australia	8 148 250 km²
Russia	7,566,673 km²
Canada	5,599,077 km²	2,755,564 km²
Japan	4,479,358 km²
New Zealand	4,083,744 km²
United Kingdom	3,973,760 km²
Brazil	3,660,955 km²
Chile	2,017,717 km²
Portugal	1,727,408 km²
India	1,641,514 km²
Madagascar	1,225,259 km²
Argentina	1,159,063 km²
China	877,019 km²

List of countries' EEZ plus territorial waters plus territories onshore area
Russia	24,641,873 km²
United States	20,982,418 km²
Australia	15,835,100 km²
Canada	15,583,747 km²
Brazil	12,175,831 km²
France	11,709,843 km²
China	10,476,979 km²
India	5,559,733 km²
Japan	4,857,193 km²
New Zealand	4,352,424 km²
Argentina	3,925,953 km²
Chile	2,773,813 km²
Portugal	1,819,799 km²
Madagascar	1,812,299 km²

By country

Argentina

1,159,063 km²

Australia

Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 Australia has the third largest Exclusive Economic Zone, behind the United States and France, but ahead of Russia, with the total area actually exceeding that of its land territory. As per UN convention, Australia's EEZ generally extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline of Australia and its external territories, except where a maritime delimitation agreement exists with another state. Australia has also claimed, in its submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, an EEZ of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its Antarctic Territory but has requested it not be considered, in accordance with the Antarctic Treaty. Nevertheless, Australia maintains the right to explore and exploit the seabed and water column within its EEZ.

EEZ	Area (km²)
Heard & McDonald Islands	410,722
Christmas Island	463,371
Cocos Islands	325,021
Norfolk Island	428,618
Macquarie Island	471,837
Australia	6,048,681
TOTAL	8,148,250

Brazil

Continental shelf: 3,191,827 km²

Trindade and Martim Vaz Island: 469,128 km²

total: 3,660,955 km² Source

Canada

Canada is unusual in that its Exclusive Economic Zone, covering 2,755,564 km², is slightly smaller than its territorial waters. The latter generally extend only 12 nautical miles from the shore, but also include inland marine waters such as Hudson Bay (about 300 nautical miles across), the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the internal waters of the Arctic archipelago.

European Union

The EEZ of the European Union is shared, so vessels or a national from one country can fish in another country's EEZ. The combined zone amounts to 25 million km², making it larger than the United States' zone, the largest of any single country. '"See: Common Fisheries Policy.
France
Due to its numerous overseas départements and territories scattered on all oceans of the planet, France possesses the second-largest EEZ in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 mi²), just behind the EEZ of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 mi²), but ahead of the EEZ of Australia (8,232,000 km² / 3,178,000 mi²). According to a different calculation cited by the Pew Research Center, the EEZ of France would be 10,084,201 km² (3,893,532 mi²), behind the United States (12,174,629 km² / 4,700,651 mi²), but ahead of Australia (8,980,568 km² / 3,467,416 mi²) and Russia (7,566,673 km² / 2,921,508 mi²).
The EEZ of France covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world, whereas the land area of the French Republic is only 0.45% of the total land area of the Earth.
Greece
Greece hasn't yet claimed an exclusive economic zone, although it's entitled to do so, as per UNCLOS 1982 as well as customary international law. The reason for its inaction is the direct Turkish threat of casus belli.
Turkey's declaration of casus belli isn't related to the EEZ issue. Turkey claims that the Aegean Sea's status as a semi-closed sea affords it a special nature (unlike other semi-closed seas as the Adriatic or even fully enclosed seas as the Black Sea). Moreover, Turkey isn't among the signatories of UNCLOS which allows countries to expand the width of their territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles. Even though Turkey is a persistent objector to the relevant article of UNCLOS, it has expanded its own territorial waters in the Black Sea to 12 nautical miles. In 1995, just after Greece's ratification of UNCLOS, Turkey declared that if Greece expands the width of her territorial waters over 6 nautical miles, Turkey would conceive this action as a containment attempt and a direct offence to her sovereignty. So, the Turkish Parliament decided that if Greece attempts to expand the width of her territorial waters it would be a cause of war (casus belli).
Portugal

Main land 327,667 km²

Azores Islands 953,633 km²

Madeira Islands 446,108 km²

total : 1,727,408 km² Portugal has the 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of the EU and the 11th in the world.
Slovenia
Slovenia has one of the most peculiar Exclusive Economic Zones in the world. Every point of its self-proclaimed EEZ (disputed by Croatia) is closer to Croatia than to Slovenia.
According to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, EEZ should be connected with territorial waters. Slovenian EEZ starts as far as 15 miles from its coast. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Slovenia ratified, Slovenia has no right to extend its territorial waters more than 12 miles from the coast and thus has no access to open sea (15 miles from their coats). Proclaiming the EEZ, Slovenia violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The dispute with Croatia is part of a wider border dispute in the gulf of Piran.
United Kingdom

Great Britain and Northern Ireland: 764,071 km²

Ascension Island: 443,844 km²

British Indian Ocean Territory (UK): 636,600 km²

Channel Islands (UK): 6,517 km²

Gibraltar (UK): 331 km²

Montserrat (UK): 8,247 km²

Pitcairn (UK): 837,221 km²

Saint Helena (UK): 446,616 km²

Tristan da Cunha (UK): 749,612 km²

Virgin Islands (UK): 80,701 km²

total: 3,973,760 km²
India

1,641,514 km²

Andaman Islands, 663,629 km²

Total: 2,305,143 km²
Japan

Marcus Island: 428,875 km²

Ogasawara Islands: 862,782 km²

Pacific Ocean (Japan): 1,162,334 km²

Ryukyu Islands: 1,394,676 km²

Sea of Japan: 630,721 km²

total: 4,479,358 Japan has disputes over its EEZ boundaries with all its Asian neighbours (Russia, South Korea, PRC and ROC). The above and relevant maps at the Sea Around Us Project both indicates Japan's claimed boundaries, and doesn't take into account neighbouring power's claims.
South Korea
Area: 300,851 (225,214) km²
New Zealand
New Zealand's EEZ covers 4,083,744 km², according to the Sea Around Us Project, which is approximately fifteen times the land area of the country. Sources vary significantly on the size of New Zealand's EEZ; for example, a recent government publication gave the area as roughly 4,300,000 km². These figures are for the EEZ of New Zealand proper, and don't include the EEZs of other territories in the Realm of New Zealand (Tokelau, Niue, the Cook Islands and the Ross Dependency).
Norway
Norway has a large exclusive economic zone of 819 620 km² around its coast. The country has a fishing zone of 1,878,953 km², including fishing zones around Svalbard and Jan Mayen . The fact that the European Union shares its economic zones was a big reason why Norway didn't entere the EU as a member.
Pakistan

201,520 km²
Philippines
Philippines' EEZ covers 1,590,780 (272,921) km² according to this website.
Russia

Asia: 6,382,530

Baltic: 24,549

Barents Sea: 1,159,594

total 7,566,673 km² Source
United States
information needed Largest EEZ in the world: 11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 mi²

Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976Further Information
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