13 Maritime Sovereignty
What is a Jurisdiction?
A jurisdiction is an area governed by a single country. In this area, that country (also known as a State) can pass laws and the people that live there are citizens of that country. Australia’s jurisdiction is made up of land on two continents, thousands of islands, and millions of square kilometres of sea.
Figure 1 shows the full extent of Australia’s jurisdiction. The different colours illustrate the various zones in the jurisdiction. In some zones Australia is the only country that can govern the area, in other zones Australia only owns the resources (such as rights to fish, mining or oil reserves), and citizens from other countries are allowed to go to those areas as long as they do not interfere with Australia’s resources.
Text is from “Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Advice Project. 2011, Australia’s Maritime Jurisdiction: Teacher Notes and Student Activities. ” by Geoscience Australia which is licensed under CC BY 3.0
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an agreed set of rules for the Law of the Sea. The basic concept of creating maritime zones in UNCLOS is that it is the land, more specifically, the coastline creates the anchor point for the maritime zones. Therefore, the country’s rights over the sea reduce the further one moves from that country’s coastline. UNCLOS provided countries with a common method of determining the width of the maritime zones and the rules that apply within them. UNCLOS created a process by which countries could claim their maritime zones, it also emphasised the need for the country to manage and take a reasonable care of the sea in their zones.
Australia has taken a keen interest in its maritime jurisdiction and was an active participant in UNCLOS since the 1950’s. Australia signed the current treaty in 1994 and undertook a process to harmonise domestic legislation to align with UNCLOS where appropriate.
Text is from “Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Advice Project. 2011, Australia’s Maritime Jurisdiction: Teacher Notes and Student Activities. ” by Geoscience Australia which is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Australia’s Continental Shelf Jurisdiction 2008 by Geoscience Australia which is © Commonwealth of Australia and is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence and is subject to the disclaimer of warranties in section 5 of that licence.
Maritime Zones
UNESCO has defined 6 types of zones which outline the rights with distance from the coast (Figure 2):
• The territorial sea
• The contiguous zone
• The exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
• The extended continental shelf
• The high seas, and
• “The Area”
The following information is from Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Advice Project. 2011.
Activity: Maritime Zones
Explore each of the zones in the activity below.
Figure 2. Maritime Jurisdictional Zones and associated Rights (Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Advice Project, 2011) is from “Australia’s Maritime Jurisdiction: Teachers notes and student activities (Figure 7: Maritime Jurisdictional Zones and associated Rights)” by © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2011 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Activity Text Version
Activity: Maritime Zones
The Territorial Sea
The territorial sea is the inner-most zone, consisting of the first 12 nautical miles (nm)3 of sea from the baseline. A country’s jurisdiction is strongest in the territorial sea. In many respects this zone of sea is legally the same as land, except that foreign ships are allowed to travel through the territorial sea without permission. Nevertheless, in return the ship must not stop, fish, pollute or conduct any activity which could adversely affect the country.
Continuous Zone
The contiguous zone extends from the outer edge of the territorial sea for another 12 nautical miles (therefore the outer edge is 24 nautical miles from the baseline). This zone is an interesting one because it does not confer or concern the resource rights of the country, instead it is a legal zone where the country is allowed to pass laws which protect or punish violations of its customs, immigration or quarantine. Think of the contiguous zone as a buffer zone to protect the territorial sea.
Continental Shelf
Like the exclusive economic zone, the extended continental shelf zone is one that gives resource rights to the country. It is called an extended continental shelf because in this zone the continental shelf extends out beyond the EEZ. In the extended continental shelf the country has the sole rights to resources, but only those found on the seabed and the subsoil. This means the country owns the mineral deposits, plus any living resources, provided that they spend most of their time on the seabed (such as starfish, crayfish or seaweeds and sponges). Fish which do not live on the seafloor are not the property of the country and may be fished by vessels of any country.
The Area
These regions that don’t fall under the jurisdiction of any country are known as the high seas (when referring to the water column) and ‘the Area’ when referring to the seabed.
On the high seas the vessels of any country may extract resources (fish, wave power etc), conduct scientific research or lay submarine cables. Similarly, in the Area all countries may utilise the seabed and subsoil resources, however this region is managed by another body formed under UNCLOS, the International Seabed Authority located in Jamaica. Resources extracted from the Area are to be distributed equally to all States.
End Activity Text Version
Open the sections below to learn more about each of the Maritime Zones.
Territorial Sea
Territorial Sea
The territorial sea is the inner-most zone, consisting of the first 12 nautical miles (nm)3 of sea from the baseline. Remember that this zone is from all baselines, normal straight and river closing, regardless of whether they originate from the mainland or an island (some reefs too). For example, the territorial sea will be drawn from islands and reefs, such as in the Great Barrier Reef. All resources in the territorial sea belong to the country, including the subsoil below the seabed and the airspace above the water.
A country’s jurisdiction is strongest in the territorial sea. In many respects this zone of sea is legally the same as land, except that foreign ships are allowed to travel through the territorial sea without permission. Nevertheless, in return the ship must not stop, fish, pollute or conduct any activity which could adversely affect the country.
Waters that are situated on the landward side of the baseline, such as Port Phillip, Port Jackson or the Derwent River are termed ‘internal waters’. Under UNCLOS these waters are completely integrated into the jurisdiction of the country. When foreign vessels enter these waters the special privileges they had in the territorial sea no longer apply.
Australia has a unique extra zone inside the territorial sea that is not part of UNCLOS. The first 3 nautical miles of territorial sea form the ‘coastal waters’. In this zone the Australian Government has given some of the jurisdictional duties to the adjoining state governments. The coastal waters do not exist off our external territories and have no international significance. Australia claims a territorial sea of 850 000 square kilometres of which 150 000 square kilometres are coastal waters.
Contiguous Zone
Contiguous Zone
The contiguous zone extends from the outer edge of the territorial sea for another 12 nautical miles (therefore the outer edge is 24 nautical miles from the baseline). This zone is an interesting one because it does not confer or concern the resource rights of the country, instead it is a legal zone where the country is allowed to pass laws which protect or punish violations of its customs, immigration or quarantine. Think of the contiguous zone as a buffer zone to protect the territorial sea.
For example, if a vessel is attempting to smuggle banned goods into Australia, Australia’s customs or naval vessels are permitted to arrest the vessel in the contiguous zone.
‘Ships Second Officer Looking at the Sextant’ by jefe king used under a Pexels License
Exclusive Economic Zone
Exclusive Economic Zone
The largest Australian zone is the exclusive economic zone; this zone is often referred to as the EEZ. The exclusive economic zone starts from the edge of the territorial sea and extends out to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the baseline. This of course means that the contiguous zone and the exclusive economic zone overlap. This is not a problem because as we found out earlier the contiguous zone is a legal zone and not a resource zone.
As the name suggests the exclusive economic zone is an area where a country has exclusive economic rights to any exploitable commodity. Exploitable commodities take many forms, for example, fish, mineral deposits on the seabed and subsoil beneath it, wind, wave and tidal power, and genetic data from living resources in the area. States also have the right to protect resources and the environment in the exclusive economic zone, such as protecting fish stocks from illegal fishing.
Australia’s exclusive economic zone is huge at 10 190 000 square kilometres (1.25 times the size of mainland Australia and Tasmania). Whilst we are entitled to all the resources in this area, foreign vessels also hold rights. Australia may not hinder the passage of ships in the exclusive economic zone unless they are interfering with Australia’s resources. Foreign vessels can extract resources only if they receive permission from Australia and pay the appropriate royalties.
Extended Continental Shelf
Extended Continental Shelf
Like the exclusive economic zone, the extended continental shelf zone is one that gives resource rights to the country. It is called an extended continental shelf because in this zone the continental shelf extends out beyond the EEZ. In the extended continental shelf the country has the sole rights to resources, but only those found on the seabed and the subsoil. This means the country owns the mineral deposits, plus any living resources, provided that they spend most of their time on the seabed (such as starfish, crayfish or seaweeds and sponges). Fish which do not live on the seafloor are not the property of the country and may be fished by vessels of any country.
The High Sea and ‘The Area’
The High Sea and ‘The Area’
What about all those regions of sea that do not fall under the jurisdiction of any country? These regions are known as the high seas (when referring to the water column) and ‘the Area’ when referring to the seabed. Remember that in the extended continental shelf area a country only has resource rights to the seabed and subsoil. Therefore, the water above an extended continental shelf is also high seas.
On the high seas the vessels of any country may extract resources (fish, wave power etc), conduct scientific research or lay submarine cables. Similarly, in the Area all countries may utilise the seabed and subsoil resources, however this region is managed by another body formed under UNCLOS, the International Seabed Authority located in Jamaica. Resources extracted from the Area are to be distributed equally to all States. At the present time no resource extraction permits have been issued by the Authority, mainly because economically extracting the resource is difficult at the average water depths found in the Area.
Text in accordions is from “Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Advice Project. 2011, Australia’s Maritime Jurisdiction: Teacher Notes and Student Activities. ” by Geoscience Australia which is licensed under CC BY 3.0, except for ‘Maritime Zones’ introductory text, which has been added by Trish Corbett.
Activity: Maritime Sovereignty
Complete the activity below to test your knowledge on maritime sovereignty.
Activity Text Version
Activity: Maritime Sovereignty
This exercise invites readers to answer questions to test their knowledge, based on the chapter content. Questions and answers are listed below
Question 1
Fill in the missing words activity – full statement answer provided below.
Answer to question 1
Jurisdiction refers to an area governed by a single country.
Question 2
Select each of the following statements that refer to the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of a country.
- Extends up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline
- Extends 600 nautical miles from the baseline
- Any country that has rights to extract resources within the EEZ
- Begins at the edge of the territorial sea
Answer to question 2
- Extends up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline
- Any country that has rights to extract resources within the EEZ
- Begins at the edge of the territorial sea
Question 3
Select the best option describing the territorial sea. The territorial sea:
- is the first 12 nautical miles from the countries baseline where all resources belong to that country
- is the first 24 nautical miles from the countries baseline where all resources belong to that country
- extends up to 200 nautical miles from the countries baseline where the country has exclusive rights to all resources
- is an area where vessels from any country can utilise resources
Answer to question 3
The territorial sea is the first 12 nautical miles from the countries baseline where all resources belong to that country.
End Activity Text Version
References
Australian Institute of Marine Science. (2025). Australian Institute of Marine Science Strategy 2025. Australian Institute of Marine Science and The Australian Government. https://www.aims.gov.au/sites/default/files/AIMS_Strategy-2025-Web.pdf
Geoscience Australia, Oceans and Seas. (2023). https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/oceans-and-seas extracted June 7 2023.
Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundary Advice Project. (2011). Australia’s Maritime Jurisdiction: Teacher Notes and Student Activities. Record 2011/24. Geoscience Australia, Canberra.
