Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone

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Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone
Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone

Portugal has the 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of the EU and the 11th in the world.

Contents

[edit] Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone

[edit] Dispute with Spain

Spain defends that the southernmost EEZ border between Spain and Portugal should consist on an equidistant line drawn halfway between Madeira and the Canary Islands. But Portugal exercises sovereignty over the Savage Islands (a small archipelago north of the Canaries) thus pushing the EEZ border further south.

Spain objects on the basis that the Savage Islands do not have a separate continental shelf[1], according to the article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea:

"Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf."[2]

The status of the Savage Islands as islands or rocks is thus at the core of the current dispute. Today the Savage Islands constitute a natural reserve whose only year-round inhabitants are two wardens of Madeira's Natural Park. Over the years the Portuguese authorities have seized some Spanish fishing boats around the area for illegal fishing.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lacleta Muñoz, José Manuel: "Las fronteras de España en el mar". Documentos de trabajo 34-2004, Real Instituto Elcano
  2. ^ United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part VIII, Article 121
  3. ^ Carvalho, Luis and Leitão, Nuno, A Noção "Estratégica" das Ilhas Selvagens (in Portuguese)

[edit] External links

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