12 January 2024 , 22:29
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Last month, the US quietly expanded by a massive 386,000 square miles, according to the US Department of State (DOS).
The DOS revealed that the geographical coordinates of America's continental shelf have been shifted, in areas more than 200 nautical miles from the coast. This part of the continental shelf, known as the "extended continental shelf" or ECS, is roughly twice the size of California.
It includes regions in the Atlantic, Bering Sea, Pacific Ocean, Mariana Islands and two areas in the Gulf of Mexico. In simple terms, the US has officially increased the amount of sea territory under its control.
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The Mariana Islands Region of the U.S. continental shelf is located in the western Pacific Ocean and includes the U.S. territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (DOS/SWNS)The Washington D.C.-based Wilson Center think tank suggests this move will have significant implications for securing US territorial rights in the Arctic. "It has long been clear that the United States has major economic interests in undersea territory rich in oil, natural gas, minerals and sea life to which it has sovereign rights under the law of the sea as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention," it explained.
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The Arctic ECS extends 350 nautical miles east and over 680 nautical miles west from the United States' territorial sea baselines. The DOS stated: "The continental shelf is the extension of a country's land territory under the sea. Like other countries, the United States has rights under international law to conserve and manage the resources and vital habitats on and under its ECS."
The Wilson Center highlighted that the US is a "major maritime nation with the largest exclusive economic zone in the world." This move helps to "protect its sovereign rights", it said. It added: "It is also an important milestone reflecting US engagement with the law of the sea as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and as an aspect of advancing major US interests in the Arctic and other regions. "
Despite potential territorial disputes with Russia, the Wilson Centre reassured there is "no need for a future negotiation." Both countries have "delineated the outer limit of its continental shelf consistent with the boundary established in 1990" in a bilateral agreement.
The Department of State (DOS) spearheaded the creation of the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) through the U.S. ECS Task Force, which included 14 agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) were tasked with gathering and examining the necessary data, a process that has been ongoing since 2003.
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