Exclusive economic zone

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The world's exclusive economic zones by boundary types and EEZ types

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is an area in the ocean where only one country gets the right and do economic activity, such as mining underwater resources and fishing. In the case of islands far from the mainland, EEZ starts at the coasts of the islands. Normally, EEZ goes out to 200 nautical miles (370 km), unless EEZs of two or more countries overlap. Many EEZs actually overlap; countries argue over where their outermost boundaries of EEZ should be. EEZ is prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).[1]

It is different from territorial waters in that ships and submarines from other countries can freely travel without any permission. However, this is under the condition that they are just passing by and not taking any resources. These zones were invented in the middle 20th century.

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "What is the EEZ?". oceanservice.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2021-11-05.