Jurisdictional Waters

Jurisdictional waters are the maritime zones over which a coastal state holds defined rights and authority under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982). Measured from the baseline, they run as internal waters, the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea (full sovereignty), the 24-mile contiguous zone (enforcement of customs and immigration), and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone, where the state controls living and non-living resources and is responsible for marine environmental protection. The continental shelf extends seabed rights, potentially beyond 200 miles. These limits set which government regulates fishing, pollution, dumping, and marine protected areas in a given patch of sea, the legal frame for marine spatial planning.