Tuesday, May 12, 2009

UNCLOS Sea Bed filing deadline

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) stipulates that all claims to be made for sea bed or continental shelf extensions to Exclusive Economic Zones allowed under the treaty be filed by 13.May 2009. (excepting Antarctic Claims, which remain deferred)

Well, that's tomorrow and it seems that the claims are pouring in.

The ones to watch are: the Russian claims (all of them); the Argentine vs. U.K. counter-claims in the South Atlantic, and; the various mid-ocean claims extending from singular or limited island holdings... France and the U.K. have a lot of these.

The "good neighbor" award already went to Norway for filing early and in agreement with most all its neighboring states, but a close second goes to the Irish / U.K. / French / Spanish joint filing over the division of rights in the Bay of Biscay and the extended continental shelf west from there. Bravo!

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