What are EEZ and Continental Self?

Subject: Geography

Context:

Indian navy has stopped Chinese maritime research and survey vessels that entered Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (CS) of India without prior consent in 2018 and 2019

Concept:

• Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as generally extending 200 nautical miles from shore, within which the coastal state has the right to explore and exploit, and the responsibility to conserve and manage, both living and non-living resources.
• Within its EEZ, a coastal state has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, whether living or nonliving, of the seabed and subsoil and rights to carry out activities like the production of energy from the water, currents and wind.

Continental shelf

• The continental shelf is the extended margin of each continent occupied by relatively shallow seas and gulfs.
• It is the shallowest part of the ocean showing an average gradient of 1° or even less.
• The shelf typically ends at a very steep slope, called the shelf break.
• The width of the continental shelves varies from one ocean to another. The average width of continental shelves is about 80 km.
• The shelves are almost absent or very narrow along some of the margins like the coasts of Chile, the west coast of Sumatra, etc.
• On the contrary, the Siberian shelf in the Arctic Ocean, the largest in the world, stretches to 1,500 km in width.
• The depth of the shelves also varies. It may be as shallow as 30 m in some areas while in some areas it is as deep as 600 m.
• The continental shelves are covered with variable thicknesses of sediments brought down by rivers, glaciers, wind, from the land and distributed by waves and currents.
• Importance of continent shelves
• Marine food comes almost entirely from continental shelves.
• They provide the richest fishing grounds.
• They are potential sites for economic minerals