New Zealand optimistic on Continental Shelf Claim
10th September
New Zealand is expecting a positive response to a continental shelf claim lodged in 2006, and which if successful would entitle the country to some 1.6 million square kilometres of seabed. According to NZ press reports, New Zealand officials are expecting word from the UN Law of the Sea Commission “any day now.”
In its claim, the NZ says the continental shelf north of New Zealand comprises “a series of ridges and basins that are morphologically and geologically the continuous prolongation of the New Zealand land mass,” and describes its major features as the Kermadec Trench, Kermadec Ridge, Havre Trough, Colville Ridge, and Three Kings Ridge. The continental margin described in this part of the submission covers an area that extends without a break for up to 2,700 km north from the North Island along the Kermadec-Colville ridge systems, and for more than 800 km north from the North Island along the Three Kings Ridge.
Maritime boundaries yet to be finalized
The claim takes account of the fact that it has yet to finalise its sea boundaries with neighbours. It extends along, for example, the Kermadec and Colville ridges, “to an intersection with the lines 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baselines of Fiji and Tonga,” but as per Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea the submission has been made “without prejudice to the eventual delimitation [of its boundaries with those two countries.]”
The claim does not include “those areas of the continental shelf appurtenant to Antarctica,” but would give the country control entitlement to what are believed to be very substantial mineral resources, including oil and gas, gold, and manganese deposits.
New Zealand took 10 years, and spent an estimated US$44 million in compiling the data required to make its claim, an executive summary of which can be found here.
New Zealand is expecting a positive response to a continental shelf claim lodged in 2006, and which if successful would entitle the country to some 1.6 million square kilometres of seabed. According to NZ press reports, New Zealand officials are expecting word from the UN Law of the Sea Commission “any day now.”
In its claim, the NZ says the continental shelf north of New Zealand comprises “a series of ridges and basins that are morphologically and geologically the continuous prolongation of the New Zealand land mass,” and describes its major features as the Kermadec Trench, Kermadec Ridge, Havre Trough, Colville Ridge, and Three Kings Ridge. The continental margin described in this part of the submission covers an area that extends without a break for up to 2,700 km north from the North Island along the Kermadec-Colville ridge systems, and for more than 800 km north from the North Island along the Three Kings Ridge.
Maritime boundaries yet to be finalized
The claim takes account of the fact that it has yet to finalise its sea boundaries with neighbours. It extends along, for example, the Kermadec and Colville ridges, “to an intersection with the lines 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baselines of Fiji and Tonga,” but as per Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea the submission has been made “without prejudice to the eventual delimitation [of its boundaries with those two countries.]”
The claim does not include “those areas of the continental shelf appurtenant to Antarctica,” but would give the country control entitlement to what are believed to be very substantial mineral resources, including oil and gas, gold, and manganese deposits.
New Zealand took 10 years, and spent an estimated US$44 million in compiling the data required to make its claim, an executive summary of which can be found here.