The Continental Shelf

In one line

The continental shelf is the seabed as an extension of the land, its rights exist whether or not anybody claims them, and it is where offshore drilling happens.

In exam wording: articles 76 to 81 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 define the continental shelf as comprising the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond the territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of the land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of two hundred nautical miles where the outer edge does not extend that far; confer on the coastal State sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources, which are exclusive and do not depend on occupation or express proclamation; preserve the legal status of the superjacent waters and the freedoms of navigation and overflight; and give the coastal State the exclusive right to authorise and regulate drilling for all purposes.

The provisions

Article 76: definition.

Paragraph 1: the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of two hundred nautical miles from the baselines where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.

Paragraph 3: the continental margin comprises the submerged prolongation of the land mass, consisting of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof.

Paragraphs 4 to 6 provide the technical formulae for a margin extending beyond two hundred miles, with an absolute limit of three hundred and fifty nautical miles from the baselines or one hundred nautical miles from the two thousand five hundred metre isobath.

Paragraph 8: information on the limits beyond two hundred nautical miles shall be submitted to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which makes recommendations, and the limits established by the coastal State on the basis of those recommendations shall be final and binding.

Article 77: rights of the coastal State.

Paragraph 1: the coastal State exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources.

Paragraph 2: those rights are exclusive in the sense that if the coastal State does not explore the shelf or exploit its resources, no one may undertake these activities without its express consent.

Paragraph 3: the rights do not depend on occupation, effective or notional, or on any express proclamation. This is what distinguishes the shelf from the exclusive economic zone, which must be claimed.