Ruling the waves – regulating Australia’s offshore waters

Extension of some economic rights – the continental shelf
International law 
A continental shelf is a geological feature comprising the ‘natural prolongation of [the] 
land territory’ of the coastal nation beyond its territorial sea (UNCLOS, Art 76). It consists 
of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep 
ocean floor, its oceanic ridges or its subsoil, which are instead part of the international 
seabed (the Area).
Article 76(1) of UNCLOS accords a coastal nation a 200 nautical mile continental shelf, 
whether or not it actually possesses a geological continental shelf. 
Where a coastal nation has a geological continental shelf that extends more than 
200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline, under UNCLOS it can claim a 
continental shelf that is up to 350 nautical miles from the baseline by submitting 
information on the areas of continental shelf that extend beyond 200 nautical miles 
to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLOS, Art 76, paras 
4–7).
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The Commission examines this information and then makes recommendations 
on establishing the limits of the continental shelf. The limits of the continental shelf 
established by the coastal nation based on the Commission’s recommendations are final 
and binding. 
A coastal nation has exclusive rights over its continental shelf for the purposes of: 
• exploring it and exploiting its natural resources (UNCLOS, Art 77)
• authorising and regulating the construction of installations, structures and artificial 
islands (UNCLOS, Art 80)
• authorising and regulating drilling on the continental shelf (UNCLOS, Art 81).
12 Note that, under para 5 of Art 75 of UNCLOS, the continental shelf can extend beyond 350 nautical miles in certain circumstances.

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Ruling the waves – regulating Australia’s offshore waters