Our Land is Girt by Sea!

Australia is, uniquely, the only continental land mass on the planet that comprises a single nation state. Consequently, the oceans and seas surrounding Australia provide that essential highway which sustains our trade and our economic well being1. Australia’s marine environment is vast- larger than the continent itself, our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 11 square kilometres (km2). Beyond the EEZ our Legal Continental Shelf (LCS) off the mainland and the Australian Antarctic Territory extends for a further 5.1 km2. A submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to claim Australia’s extended continental shelf is planned for late 2004. If successful, at 16.1 km2, Australia will have one of the largest marine jurisdictions in the world (Fig. 1) and some 70 % of our sovereign territory will be under the sea. A large marine jurisdiction naturally brings with it ‘large ’ obligations and opportunities inherent under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS). Under UNCLOS Australia has sovereign rights to explore and exploit, conserve and manage, the living and non-living natural resources within its EEZ. It also has jurisdiction over, and responsibility for, offshore installations, marine scientific research and th