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In June 2000 the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) under the auspices of the Department of Public Enterprise (later moved to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in 2002) awarded a contract to Global Ocean Technologies Limited (GOTECH) to undertake the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS), Zone 3 Hydrographic Survey. This area, of some 413,760 square Kilometres, stretches from the 200 metre water depth line on the Western Seaboard of Ireland, westward into the full oceanic depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The INSS mapped to approximately the 200m contour. The project was completed in 2006.
The INFOMAR programme is a joint venture between Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) and Marine Institute (MI) and is the successor to the Irish National Seabed Survey. INFOMAR aims to survey the remaining shelf and coastal waters between 2006 to 2026.
It is a vector dataset. Vector data portrays the world using points, lines and polygons (areas).
The zone data is shown as polygons. Each polygon holds information on the zone number, zone part, area (km2) and perimeter (m).
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. Articles 3 and 4 of UNCLOS sets out what a territorial sea is and what is permitted.
Territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it, or transit passage for straits; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. Adjustment of these boundaries is called, in international law, maritime delimitation.
A state's territorial sea extends up to 12 nm (22 km; 14 mi) from its baseline. A nautical mile is 1,852 metres. 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.
It is a vector dataset. Vector data portrays the world using points, lines and polygons (areas).
The data is shown as a line.
The exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in this Part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention.
An exclusive economic zone, as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.
It stretches from the outer limit of the territorial sea (22.224 Km or 12 NM from the baseline) out to a maximum of 370.4 Km (or 200 nautical miles) from the coast of the state in question. It is also referred to as a maritime continental margin and, in colloquial usage, may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a "sovereign right" which refers to the coastal state's rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters are international waters.
It is a vector dataset. Vector data portrays the world using points, lines and polygons (areas).
The data is shown as a line.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. Article 76 of UNCLOS sets out the definition of what the continental shelf is and what is permitted.
The Geoscience Regulatory Office (GSRO) (formerly Petroleum Affairs Division (PAD)) a division of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has statutory responsibility for Ireland’s Continental Shelf.
A state wishing to extend its shelf beyond 200 nautical miles must make a submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Ireland’s continental shelf physically extends beyond 200 nautical miles to the west and south of the country and, working together, the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of the Environment, Climate and Communications have in all made three submissions to the Commission – in 2005 in relation to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, then jointly with France, Spain and the UK for the seabed of the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay, and finally for the Hatton Rockall area of the North East Atlantic in 2009.
The submission concerning the Porcupine Abyssal Plain successfully resulted in the addition of 39,000 km² of seabed to the State’s continental shelf. The Commission has also made recommendations that would enclose an area of approx. 80,000 km² of seabed in the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay and the division of this area is currently under negotiation between the four countries concerned. In addition, regular discussions have taken place for a number of years between Ireland and the UK (who agreed continental shelf boundaries in 1988), Iceland and the Faroe Islands in relation to overlapping claims in the North East Atlantic.
It is a vector dataset. Vector data portrays the world using points, lines and polygons (areas).
The data is shown as a line.