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Canada’s Extended Continental Shelf
Overview
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) governs the delineation of the continental shelf where it extends beyond the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). A coastal state with a continental shelf extending beyond 200 nautical miles has 10 years from its ratification of UNCLOS to make a submission to the United Nations Commission for the Limits of the Continental Shelf (the Commission). Canada ratified UNCLOS in 2003 and has until 2013 to present a submission to the Commission.
Canada has begun scientific work in both the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to establish the maximum extent of its continental shelf, in accordance with international law. Doing so confirms the full extent of the area over which Canada has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting the natural resources of the seabed and subsoil. In the Arctic Ocean, Canada’s program is carried out in cooperation with Denmark, Russia and the United States.
Particulars of the outer limit of Canada’s continental shelf will be submitted to the Commissionby the end of 2013. The Departments of Natural Resources, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and Fisheries and Oceans are working together on this initiative.
UNCLOS outlines many aspects of ocean governance, including: navigational rights, territorial sea limits, economic jurisdictions, the legal status of resources on the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, passage of ships through narrow straits, management of living and non-living marine resources, protection of the marine environment, a marine scientific research regime, as well as a binding procedure for settling disputes between nations.
Pursuant to UNCLOS, the coastal state must officially define the outer limit of its extended continental shelf and thus determine conclusively the shelf area over which it enjoys sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring the shelf and exploiting its natural resources. The coastal state’s sovereign rights are limited to natural resources of the shelf. Oil and gas are included, as are sedentary species such as clams, oysters and crabs.
Canada enjoys many other benefits of UNCLOS, including:
- the right to apply national marine pollution laws in ice-covered areas under Article 234, the so-called“Arctic clause”;
- the ability to exercise sovereign rights in a 200 nautical mile EEZ;
- the right to play a full role in shaping and applying the law of the sea through UNCLOS institutions, including the International Seabed Authority , the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; and
- the right to influence future developments of the law of the sea through Meetings of State Parties to UNCLOS and the General Assembly of the United Nations.
More information
- 2009-07-28 | Canada and US to Conduct Second Joint Survey of Extended Continental Shelf in the Arctic
- Follow our scientists and read videographer Lawrence Taylor's log
- The US Extended Continental Shelf Project
- Ward Hunt Ice Camp
- 2008-08-08 | Government of Canada Welcomes New Mapping Data on Canada's North
