exclusive economic zone
Enable an AI agent to identify an exclusive economic zone, assess the authority and uncertainty attached to its waters and resources, and determine the conditions governing a proposed activity.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to identify an exclusive economic zone, assess the authority and uncertainty attached to its waters and resources, and determine the conditions governing a proposed activity.
An exclusive economic zone is a maritime belt seaward of the territorial sea in which a coastal State has sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage living and non-living natural resources of the waters, seabed and subsoil, and jurisdiction over artificial islands, marine scientific research and environmental protection, while other States retain high-seas freedoms of navigation, overflight and the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, as set out in Part V of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
It can be Assess whether a proposed location or route intersects the zone, an overlapping claim or an uncertain boundary.; Identify the authority and evidence needed to assess fishing, resource extraction, research or offshore construction.; Distinguish resource use from navigation and other uses when screening proposed activities.; Flag conservation measures, competing uses and provisional arrangements affecting a proposed operation.; Compare successive boundary instruments and identify decisions requiring reassessment.; Prepare an evidence-linked assessment or refer unresolved jurisdictional questions for specialist review..
Distinguishing features
It lies beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea and carries specified sovereign rights and jurisdiction rather than territorial sovereignty. [UNCLOS Articles 55-56](https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part5.htm)
Its outer reach cannot exceed 200 nautical miles measured from territorial-sea baselines; a 200-mile buffer alone does not establish its actual boundary. [UNCLOS Articles 57 and 74-75](https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part5.htm)
It combines resource-related coastal-state rights with other states' navigation, overflight and cable/pipeline freedoms, subject to applicable conditions. [UNCLOS Articles 56-58](https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part5.htm)
Its water-column regime distinguishes it from the continental shelf, whose resource rights concern the seabed and subsoil, including sedentary species. [UNCLOS Article 77](https://static.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part6.htm)
Scope
+ The zone's legal identity, establishing instruments and relationship to its coastal state.
+ Baseline-dependent extent, published coordinates, maritime delimitations and overlapping claims.
+ Allocation of resource rights and jurisdiction by activity and marine component.
+ Navigation, overflight and other-state uses relevant to decisions within the zone.
+ Zone-level conservation obligations, permissions, enforcement competence and unresolved disputes.
- The coastal state's general government, territory and international legal personality.
- Territorial seas, internal waters, archipelagic waters and contiguous zones as separate maritime regimes.
- Continental-shelf entitlement and delimitation as independently maintained models.
- Individual vessels, offshore installations, cables, pipelines and their engineering condition.
- Individual fisheries, ecosystems, mineral deposits and their detailed scientific assessments.
- Complete permit, prosecution and litigation records, which are linked when relevant.
Characteristics
- Coastal state and competing claimants
- State references with asserted role, geographic coverage and effective dates Identifies whose authority is asserted without treating a contested claim as settled.
- Establishment and applicable legal basis
- Dated references to declarations, legislation, applicable international law and decisions Distinguishes an established or claimed zone from a calculated potential entitlement.
- Baseline-relative outer reach
- Nautical miles, identifying baseline version and calculation method Supports checks of asserted extent against its stated geographic and legal basis.
- Spatial representation
- Coordinates and polygons with geodetic datum, positional uncertainty and valid dates Allows location checks while exposing uncertainty near boundaries.
- Boundary segment status
- Claimed, agreed, adjudicated, provisionally arranged, disputed or undetermined; source and date required Prevents a single settled/disputed label from obscuring different conditions around the zone.
- Marine component affected
- Water column, seabed, subsoil, surface or overlying airspace; multiple values permitted Routes activity assessment to the relevant rights and neighbouring regimes.
- Activity-specific authority
- Activity-to-authority links recording legal basis, competence, conditions and exceptions Prevents geographic inclusion from being mistaken for unrestricted regulatory power.
- Operational assessment status
- Supported, conditional, contested, insufficient evidence or superseded; assessed per location, activity and date Makes the limits of an agent's decision explicit.
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 7 bundles · 13 layers · 20 findings · 32 questions.
EEZ identity and legal basis Establishes which zone is being modelled and what supports its asserted existence and legal regime.
A named maritime polygon does not by itself establish an EEZ or its governing authority.
Establishment and holder
Connects the zone to the state asserting it and the instruments establishing that assertion.
Documented EEZ identity
Record the official designation, coastal state, establishing act and effective dates, distinguishing documented status from inferred entitlement.
- What establishes that this area is asserted or maintained as an EEZ rather than another maritime zone? definition
- Which authoritative instrument identifies the coastal state, extent and commencement of that assertion? provenance
Applicable regime
Identifies the legal materials governing this particular zone and their temporal applicability.
Governing instruments
Record relevant treaty applicability, domestic implementation and authoritative decisions without assuming identical treatment across states.
- Which international and domestic legal instruments govern this EEZ for the date being assessed? provenance
- Which asserted rules are disputed, superseded or unsupported by an identified legal basis? boundary
Extent and delimitation Represents where the EEZ lies and how confidently each part of its boundary can be used.
Location-dependent decisions require more than an undifferentiated offshore distance buffer.
Baseline and geometry
Connects spatial representations to their baseline and coordinate evidence.
Reproducible spatial extent
Record inner and outer limits, generating baseline references, datum, geometry version and positional uncertainty.
- Which published charts or coordinates and baseline version support the mapped limits? provenance
- What method and uncertainty apply when determining a position's distance from the baseline or boundary? measurement
Overlaps and boundary settlement
Separates each claimant's extent from agreed boundaries and interim operating arrangements.
Segment-specific boundary status
Record agreements, decisions, competing claims and provisional arrangements against the particular segments or areas they affect.
- Which segments are agreed or adjudicated, and where do competing EEZ claims remain? boundary
- What provisional arrangements or dispute-related constraints affect an operation in an overlapping area? action
Resource rights and development Connects proposed economic uses to the relevant resource rights and decision authorities.
Fishing, seabed extraction and offshore energy require distinct assessments even at the same coordinates.
Resource and component classification
Identifies what an activity uses and which marine component supplies the resource.
Resource rights routing
Record whether the activity concerns living resources, seabed resources or energy, and link any continental-shelf assessment needed.
- What resource and marine component does the proposed activity exploit or investigate? definition
- Which parts of the assessment belong to EEZ resource rights and which require the linked continental-shelf model? boundary
Economic-use authorization
Identifies the zone-specific conditions relevant to resource access and development.
Development and access conditions
Link competent authorities, applicable access arrangements, licensing requirements and installation-related restrictions.
- Which authority and instruments govern this fishing, extraction or energy proposal? action
- Which access conditions, spatial restrictions or installation safety measures affect its proposed footprint? action
Other-state uses and coexistence Assesses activities whose treatment cannot be inferred from coastal-state resource rights alone.
An agent must distinguish economic exploitation from navigation, communications infrastructure and research.
Navigation and infrastructure uses
Classifies transit, overflight and cable or pipeline operations by what the activity actually entails.
Use-specific rights and constraints
Record the asserted freedom or right, applicable qualifications and potential interference with other lawful uses.
- Is the proposal transit, overflight, cable or pipeline work, resource exploitation, or a combination? definition
- Which conditions and due-regard considerations apply to each component of that proposal? action
Research and contested-use classification
Captures distinctions among marine scientific research, surveys and other information-gathering activities.
Research consent assessment
Record the activity's purpose, methods, applicable classification and any disagreement affecting consent requirements.
- What evidence supports classifying the proposed activity as marine scientific research, a survey or another use? definition
- What consent, notification or review is required under the applicable regime, and which interpretation remains contested? action
Conservation and environmental constraints Links resource and environmental conditions to measures affecting decisions in the EEZ.
Resource authority alone does not establish that exploitation is sustainable or currently permissible.
Living-resource management
Connects fisheries decisions to current management measures and relevant shared-stock arrangements.
Fishing opportunity and conservation
Record applicable catch limits, closures, access allocations and external stock assessments with their dates.
- Which current assessments and measures support the applicable catch limits, closures and access allocations? provenance
- Which shared or migratory stocks require coordination beyond this EEZ when evaluating fishing activity? action
Environmental measures
Identifies environmental restrictions affecting particular locations and activities.
Environmental operating conditions
Link applicable protected-area measures, pollution controls and assessment requirements to their authority and geographic coverage.
- Which environmental measures apply at the proposed location, to this activity and on this date? boundary
- What assessment, mitigation or operational conditions must be satisfied before proceeding? action
Enforcement and decision readiness Determines who may intervene and whether the evidence supports an operational conclusion.
A coastal-state claim, an enforcement presence and lawful competence are different inputs to a decision.
Activity-specific enforcement
Connects enforcement measures to the alleged conduct and its governing regime.
Competence and procedural limits
Record the responsible body, asserted legal power and applicable procedural limits for the particular intervention.
- Which body has an identified legal basis to inspect, board, detain or otherwise intervene in this activity? action
- Which safeguards, notifications, release conditions or limits govern the proposed intervention? action
Evidence currency and escalation
Determines whether boundary and jurisdictional evidence remain adequate for the decision requested.
Qualified operational conclusion
Record the assessment date, supporting instruments, unresolved conflicts and events that would invalidate the conclusion.
- Are the boundary, authority and activity restrictions supported by current authoritative evidence? provenance
- Which unresolved claim, missing instrument or conflicting interpretation requires withholding a conclusion or specialist review? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Declared EEZ under UNCLOS Part V (up to 200 nautical miles from baselines)
- Provisional or de facto EEZ pending delimitation or treaty entry into force
- Joint or shared EEZ / joint development zone where overlapping claims are managed by agreement
- Archipelagic-State EEZ measured from archipelagic baselines
- EEZ adjacent to a continental shelf extending beyond 200 nm (resource rights split: water column vs. seabed)
- Ice-covered or polar EEZ subject to additional UNCLOS Article 234 coastal-State environmental rules
- Overseas-territory or remote-island EEZ generating large ocean space from small land features
- Claimed EEZ around rocks or low-tide elevations whose entitlement is disputed under Article 121
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q194428 - Item 'exclusive economic zone' (instance of maritime zone / legal concept)
- UNCLOS article - Articles 55-75 (Part V) - Treaty definition and regime
- Marine Regions / VLIZ MRGID - gazetteer identifiers per national EEZ polygon (e.g. Marine Regions EEZ dataset) - Each State's EEZ is a named geographic object, not a single global code
- ISO 3166-1 (coastal State) - alpha-2 / alpha-3 of the claiming State, often paired with an EEZ polygon - Used in fisheries, AIS and maritime-boundary datasets to attribute an EEZ to a State
- UN DOALOS maritime-zone deposit - charts and lists of geographical coordinates deposited under UNCLOS Articles 75 and 84 - Official outer-limit and delimitation records, not a compact numeric code
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982), Part V - United Nations
- UNCLOS Article 76 and Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) procedure - for shelf beyond 200 nm, which is not the EEZ water column
- UNCLOS Articles 74 and 83 - delimitation of EEZ and continental shelf between States with opposite or adjacent coasts; equitable-solution standard, often via ICJ, ITLOS or annexes
- FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and related RFMO measures - FAO and regional fisheries management organisations, applying inside and straddling EEZs
- IMO conventions (SOLAS, COLREGs, UNCLOS Articles 58/87 freedoms) - International Maritime Organization; navigation in the EEZ remains a high-seas freedom subject to due regard
- National implementing statutes (e.g. U.S. Magnuson-Stevens Act and Presidential Proclamation 5030 of 1983; EU Common Fisheries Policy in Member State EEZs) - coastal States
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Coastal States license foreign and domestic fishing, oil and gas, seabed minerals, and offshore wind inside the EEZ
- Navies and coast guards patrol EEZs for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, smuggling and environmental offences without treating the zone as territorial waters
- Shipping, overflight, and cable/pipeline laying continue as high-seas freedoms; operators still plot EEZ boundaries for licensing, reporting and due-regard duties
- Marine spatial planning, MPAs and environmental impact assessment are drawn against EEZ polygons (e.g. NOAA, EMODnet, national hydrographic offices)
- Bilateral delimitation treaties and joint development zones allocate hydrocarbon and fish stocks where claims overlap (South China Sea, eastern Mediterranean, Gulf of Guinea, Arctic)
- Small-island developing States treat large EEZs as the main national resource estate (tuna, seabed minerals, blue-economy licensing)
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Breadth from territorial-sea baselines - up to 200 - nautical mile (M / nmi); 370.4 km
- Inner edge - outer limit of the territorial sea, normally 12 - nautical mile from baselines
- Surface area of a national EEZ - from tens of thousands (short-coastline States) to several million (France, U.S., Australia, Russia, Kiribati, etc.) - km²
- Water-column living-resource jurisdiction vs. seabed - EEZ water column ends at 200 nmi; continental shelf seabed may extend further under Article 76 - nautical mile / juridical distinction
- Allowable catch / TAC inside an EEZ - stock-specific; surplus may be allocated to other States under Articles 62, 69-70 - tonnes per year
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Overlapping claims and undelimited EEZs produce confrontations, vessel seizures, and resource-sterilisation (no development pending title)
- Article 121 disputes: treating rocks or low-tide elevations as islands to generate a 200 nmi EEZ
- IUU fishing and distant-water fleets exhausting stocks the coastal State is obliged to conserve (Articles 61-62)
- Confusion of EEZ sovereign rights with full sovereignty, leading to unlawful interference with navigation or overflight
- Pollution, dumping, and poorly regulated offshore energy or mining inside the EEZ, including transboundary harm
- Straddling and highly migratory stocks unmanaged at the EEZ/high-seas boundary
- Baseline manipulation (straight baselines, historic bays) inflating EEZ area contrary to UNCLOS
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- United States: not a UNCLOS party but claims a 200 nmi EEZ by proclamation (1983) and treats UNCLOS Part V as customary international law
- European Union: Member State EEZs exist, but many fisheries, environment and energy competences are exercised at EU level
- East and Southeast Asia: numerous unresolved island and baseline disputes (South China Sea nine-dash line vs. UNCLOS EEZs; East China Sea median-line vs. natural-prolongation arguments)
- Arctic: UNCLOS Article 234 ice-covered-area rules plus extended-shelf submissions; some coastal States emphasise environmental jurisdiction
- Pacific small-island States: EEZs vastly larger than land area; Parties to the Nauru Agreement and similar arrangements pool tuna licensing
- Latin America: several States asserted 200 nmi patrimonial seas before UNCLOS; practice has largely been aligned to the EEZ formula
- Mediterranean and Black Sea: semi-enclosed seas with many undeclared or recently declared EEZs and ecological-protection zones instead of full EEZs
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Territorial sea - Full sovereignty (subject to innocent passage) out to 12 nmi; the EEZ begins seaward of that belt and confers only sovereign rights and specified jurisdiction, not sovereignty
- Contiguous zone - A 24 nmi enforcement belt for customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary laws; it is not a resource zone and may overlap the inner EEZ without replacing it
- Continental shelf - Seabed and subsoil rights that exist ipso facto; they coincide with the EEZ to 200 nmi but may extend beyond it, while the water column beyond 200 nmi is high seas, not EEZ
- High seas - Areas beyond national EEZ (and not territorial sea); all States enjoy the freedoms in Article 87. Inside an EEZ those freedoms survive only as qualified by Part V
- Fishery zone / exclusive fishery zone - Pre-UNCLOS or residual national claims limited to living resources; an EEZ is broader (non-living resources, artificial islands, MSR, environment)
- Patrimonial sea - 1970s Latin American political concept of a 200 nmi resource sea; superseded in law by the UNCLOS EEZ, which preserves navigation freedoms more clearly
- Marine protected area (MPA) - A management designation that may be declared inside an EEZ; the MPA is not itself a maritime zone of title
- Internal waters / archipelagic waters - Landward of baselines (or within archipelagic closing lines); coastal-State sovereignty is complete there, whereas the EEZ is seaward of the territorial sea
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of exclusive economic zone this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part V (Exclusive Economic Zone), Articles 55-75 - Legal definition, breadth, coastal-State rights and duties, residual high-seas freedoms, and delimitation rules
- The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (overview of maritime zones) - Placement of the EEZ among territorial sea, contiguous zone, continental shelf and high seas
- What is the EEZ? - Operational U.S. description of the 200-nautical-mile zone and resource jurisdiction
- The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the exclusive economic zone - Fisheries management use of the EEZ and coastal-State sovereign rights over living resources
What the second pass must settle
- What criteria should govern separate modelling of geographically disconnected EEZ components associated with one state?
- How should changing coastlines, revised baselines and claims to preserved maritime limits be represented without assuming a settled legal outcome?
- Which jurisdiction-specific interpretations govern military activities, hydrographic surveys and marine scientific research in each instantiated zone?
- How should conflicting official coordinates, third-party datasets and judicial descriptions be reconciled while preserving each source's claim?
- Which existing Vercy world models already own maritime entitlement, continental-shelf rights or boundary disputes and must be linked to avoid duplicate sources of truth?