CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

JAN ONDŘEJ migratory species in areas under their national jurisdiction and in the adjacent areas of the high seas. 33 Illegal, unregulated fishing is considered a bigger problem in relation to the exclusive economic zone. Many developing coastal states do not have the means to prevent foreign fishing vessels from plundering their fish stocks. Some of them do not even have the means to control their own fishing fleets or sustainably manage their own fishing resources. 34 3. Continental shelf It was stated above that the question of delimiting the continental shelf in the Convention on the Continental Shelf from 1958 proved to be unsatisfactory, especially given the new development of technologies and the possibilities of using the seabed at great depths as well as distances from the coast. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea therefore contains new rules for the delimitation of the continental shelf, different from the 1958 Convention. The new delimitation is particularly important in relation to the seabed beyond the borders of the national jurisdiction of states, meaning essentially beyond the borders of the continental shelf. According to Article 76(1) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: [The] continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. As noted by Churchill and Lowe, 35 this legal definition of a shelf is different from the geological definition. Areas of the sea that lie beyond the physical continental margin are included within a distance of 200 nautical miles from the coast. However, Article 76 also defines the outer limit of the continental shelf where the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles. The continental shelf must not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baseline, from which the width of the coastal sea is measured, or 100 nautical miles from the isobath of 2,500 meter, which is a line connecting points in a depth of 2,500 meters. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridge or its subsoil. The delimitation of the border of the continental shelf, which exceeds 200 nautical miles, is nevertheless not left only up to individual states. Based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, there was established the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, 36 it has 21 members. According to Article 76(8) of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, 33 Ibid. 34 BECKMAN, R., DAVENPORT, T. The EEZ Regime: Reflections after 30 Years. LOSI Conference Papers 2012 “Securing the Ocean for the Next Generation”, p. 28. In: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Beckman-Davenport final.pdf, (accessed on 10. 4. 2024). 35 CHURCHILL, R., R. and LOWE, A. V. The law of the sea . Third edition. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999, p. 148. 36 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 10 December 1982, No. UNTS 1833, Annex II.

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