Exclusive Economic Zone

In international maritime law, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. Generally a state's EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coast, except where resulting points would be closer to another country. Technically it does not include the state's territorial waters, so the EEZ's inner boundary follows the borders of the state's territorial waters (usually 12 nautical miles from the coast).

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:

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.

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 is the site of an ongoing dispute between several neighboring nations.

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
Argentina	1,159,063 km²
Madagascar	1,225,259 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 Martin 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.

France

Due to its numerous overseas departments 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.

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, China and Taiwan). The relevant maps at the Sea Around Us Project [http://www.seaaroundus.org/eez/summaryInfo.aspx?EEZ=392B indicate that the above figures are the most favourable possible to Japan; i.e. they take the Japanese side of every dispute.

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 do not include the EEZs of other territories in the Realm of New Zealand.

Portugal

Main land 327,667 km²
Azores Islands 953,633 km²
Madeira Islands 446,108 km²
total : 1,727,408 km²

Russia

Asia: 6,382,530
Baltic: 24,549
Barent Sea: 1,159,594
total 7,566,673 km²