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  • Title V of Volume IX of rural and sea fisheries laws defines the measures related to Overseas territories. Articles R951-14 and R953-5 in particular define for specific Overseas territories a limit located at 100 nautical miles from the in force baselines. Inside this limit, fisheries are limited to the ships registered in the ports of those Overseas territories, except dispensation allowed by State. Those restrictions are not applied to ships registered in the European Union which are traditionally fishing in those waters, as long as they do not exceed the fisheries effort which is traditionally applied.

  • The United Nations Convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) introduced a new definition of the continental shelf which can extend “to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.” Coastal States can thus have a continental shelf of 200 nautical miles even in the absence of a geomorphological continental shelf, and a continental shelf extending beyond that limit where the presence of certain geomorphological and sedimentary criteria have been recognized by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The rights coastal State can exercise over the continental shelf are specified in Part VI of the UNCLOS. These rights are sovereign and exclusive over the seabed and subsoil, for exploration and exploitation of natural mineral, fossil and biological resources. The French authorities also hold competence recognized by the UNCLOS for: - construction, operation and use of artificial islands and installations; - marine scientific research; - issuing consent for the course of any pipeline; - issuing consent for the course of cables installed or used for exploitation of the continental shelf or of its resources.

  • Compilation of marine gravity surveys acquired in the Northeast Atlantic by Shom between 2001 and 2016. These surveys were compiled to perform a quantification of the error of the gravity anomaly models derived from satellite altimetry. This dataset represents more than 22,000 measurement points distributed in 9 ascii survey files sampled at 1 kilometer. The file’s format is as follows: longitude latitude Gravity_anomaly error line_label.

  • In the absence of a maritime boundary agreement with a neighbouring State, the French Republic can unilateraly claim a delimitation. This boundary has indeed a provisional aspect pending the ratification of a boundary agreement. The theme "Maritime limits unilaterally claimed" gathers those limits unilaterally claimed by France. Some of those elkements are published by decree.

  • In the Law of the Sea, the continental shelf located beyond 200 nautical miles affects the seabed and its subsoil on which the coastal State exerts sovereign rights for purposes of exploration and exploitation of its natural ressources. In those areas, the wealth generated by the exploitation of the natural ressources are shared via the International Seabed Authority between the States which have signed UNCLOS (in particular with the developping States or the ones which do not have access to the sea). The outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is determined in compliance with the criterias of Article 76 of UNCLOS and notably by the examination of a submission deposited by the Coastal State to the Commission for the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). the outer limit of the French continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is the final result of the national program EXTRAPLAC after the adoption of recommandations by CLCS, the delineation of the attributed areas with neighbouring States if necessary and the publication by decree. The theme "Outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles" gathers the limits of the extended continental shelf which has been recommended by CLCS and published by a decree of the French Republic.

  • The regulatory part of Volume IX of rural and sea fisheries laws is defined by the decree No 2014-1608 of 26 December 2014. In particular, Article D922-16 of the appendix to the decree defines a limit related to fisheries located at 3 nautical miles from the low waterline of the continent and islands and islets which are always dry. In the particular case of Mayotte Island, in compliance with Article 61 of the prefectural decree No 2018-681 of 30 July 2018 which regulates the exercise of sea fisheries at Mayotte department, this limits is located at 3 nautical miles from the in force baselines.

  • The contiguous zone is adjacent to the territorial sea and may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The coastal State may exercise the control necessary to: - prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea; - punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.

  • The combined error grid of the SIO V31 gravity anomaly model (D. T. Sandwell, H. Harper, B. Tozer et al., Gravity field recovery from geodetic altimeter missions, Advances in Space Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2019.09.011) is computed with a method described in a paper submitted to Earth and Space Science (AGU). The model’s extension is North Atlantic.

  • In compliance with Article 33 of UNCLOS, the outer limit of the contiguous zone is located at 24 nautical miles from the baselines. The objects of the theme "Outer limit of the contiguous zone" result from Shom computations and are compliant with Article 10 of the French Order No 2016-1687 of 8 December 2016.

  • The product “Maritime limits and boundaries” (French: “Délimitations maritimes”) gathers all the elements used for the definition of the maritime spaces under the French sovereignty or jurisdiction through the world. Those spaces are defined by the Ordonnance n° 2016-1687 of 8 December 2016 relating to maritime spaces under sovereignty or jurisdiction of the French Republic. This ordonnance is the transcription in the French legislation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was signed in Montego Bay (Jamaica) on 10 December 1982 end ratified by France on 11 April 1996. These elements of maritime limits and boundaries come from the limits computed by Shom on the basis of International Law, from the international agreements relating to maritime boundary and the technical conventions ratified between France and other States, from the decisions of international juridical bodies, from the recommendations of the Commission of the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNO) or from unilateral claims from France in the absence of agreement. The elements are divided into seven themes: 1- Straight baselines 2- Outer limits of the territorial sea (12 nautical miles) 3- Outer limits of the contiguous zone (24 nautical miles) 4- Outer limits of the exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles) 5- Maritime boundaries established by a bilateral agreement or decided by an international juridical body 6- Maritime boundaries unilaterally claimed by France in the absence of agreement 7- Outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles December 2022 version