What is EEZ? Some people may be unfamiliar about the intent of the EEZ. EEZ stands for the Economic Exclusive Zone. In this article, we will learn more about the benefits of EEZ, but before knowing the benefits, we need to understand what the meaning of Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) is.
Definition of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
EEZ is a region or zone in a country that has an area of 200 nautical miles drawn from the coastline. In this zone, coastal countries have the full right to develop and exploit the natural wealth of the region and impose certain laws on the construction and manufacture of artificial islands, as well as conduct marine scientific research and protect and preserve the marine environment in the zone.
The Indonesian state has issued policies and rules regarding the EEZ boundary on March 1, 1980, along 200 miles measured from the baseline of the country’s sea territory. The measurement of the 200-mile ZEE is calculated at low tide. It turned out that before the policy on EEZ was issued, Indonesia had announced a declaration of the concept of archipelago insight where the contents of the declaration state of Indonesian area are located at 12 miles from the coastline to the outermost point of Indonesia. The boundary of the EEZ has benefits for coastal countries, including Indonesia.
Benefits:
- The coastal state has the right to use natural resources contained in the zone.
- Coastal countries can also manage and expand all the resources contained in these zones both at the bottom of the sea or under the waters.
- It prevents foreign countries from using or extracting natural resources in the region.
- It increases area of sea owned by a coastal country.
- The coastal state has the right to use legal policies, freedom to navigate or to plant cables and pipes in the area.
- Each coastal country can own at least 90% of the total fish stocks that can be sold, 84% of the world’s oil reserves, and 1% of manganese reserves.
- It can help maintaining and reinforcing the boundaries of a country.
- The state can conduct research and development of natural resources in the zone.
- It can increase state income if the region can be managed properly (Also read: 25 Beneficial Economic Uses of Ocean)
These benefits are only a few of the many other benefits of EEZ. For example in Indonesia, there has been a lot of news lately about foreign vessels from other countries sailing without permission in the territorial waters of the country. The foreign ships came to collect the wealth of the Indonesian sea without the permission of our country. Therefore, the government has the full right to use the legal policies governing this matter.
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- 8 Marine Protected Areas in Indonesia – Environment and Benefits