The Exclusive Economic Zone: U.S. Rights to Ocean Resources Out to 200 Nautical Miles

A country's control of the sea does not stop at its beaches. Out to 200 nautical miles, the United States and other coastal nations have jurisdiction over natural resources in what is called the exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.

A NOAA map of the U.S. exclusive economic zone. Credit: NOAA.

Where the zone lies

The U.S. EEZ extends no more than 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline. It sits next to the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of the United States — including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory or possession over which the U.S. exercises sovereignty.

What the U.S. controls there

Within the EEZ, the United States has:

• Sovereign rights over natural resources — to explore, exploit, conserve and manage living and nonliving resources of the seabed, the subsoil and the waters above, and to carry out other economic activity in the zone, such as producing energy from water, currents and winds.
• Jurisdiction over certain activities, as set out in international and domestic law: building and using artificial islands, installations and structures; marine scientific research; and protecting and preserving the marine environment.
• Other rights and duties provided for under international and domestic law.

A different line for fisheries

Some U.S. fisheries laws, such as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, define the zone differently. Its outer limit is the same as the EEZ shown on NOAA charts, but its inner limit starts where each coastal state's waters end:

Sources

Based on "What is the EEZ?" from NOAA's National Ocean Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain.