Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture

Unit 1 - Fishery Zones and Fishery resources

1.5. Territorial waters
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters that extends up to 12 nautical miles (22 km) from its baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state e. If this would overlap with another state's territorial sea, the border is taken as the median point between the states' baselines, unless the states in question agree otherwise. A state can also choose to claim a smaller territorial sea. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. The term "territorial waters" is also sometimes used informally to describe any area of water over which a state has jurisdiction, including also internal waters, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and potentially the continental shelf.