UPSC Express

Introduction

India has a 7,517-km coastline, which is dotted with 12 major ports and 187 minor or intermediate ports. India’s territorial waters end at 12 nautical miles while exclusive economic zone stretches to 200 nautical miles from the coast.

EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone

An Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a concept adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1982), whereby a coastal State assumes jurisdiction over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in its adjacent section of the continental shelf, taken to be a band extending 200 miles from the shore.

• The EEZ includes the contiguous zone. Countries also have rights to the seabed of what is called the continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles from the coastal baseline, beyond the EEZ. But such areas are not part of their EEZ.
• 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.