Location
Key Information
| 192,936 km2 | MARINE AREA |
| 192,939 km2 | TOTAL AREA i |
Boundary: Flanders Marine Institute (2023). Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM), version 11. Available online at https://www.marineregions.org/ (Unmodified)
2.0
January 2025
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Purpose
To claim sovereign rights and exclusive fishery management authority over all fish, and all Continental Shelf fishery resources. Under the international convention on the Law of the Sea, every nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends from the shoreline to the 200 nautical mile line. However, under U.S. law, each coastal state has concurrent jurisdiction over waters extending to the 3 nautical mile line.
Species of Concern: Multiple
Regulations Summary
Restrictions
It is illegal to take any marine mammal or endangered and threatened species. For a complete list, consult NOAA's website.
Recreational and commercial fishing limits, particularly for highly migratory species (including tunas, swordfish, sharks, and billfish), and fishing gear restrictions apply throughout this area.
Speed and approach restrictions apply for certain designated marine mammals (see 50 CFR 224.103).
Note that these restrictions apply to all foreign flagged vessels and US vessels in the high seas up to the territorial seas of other nations.
Fish and fish products from fisheries identified by the Assistant Administrator in the List of Foreign Fisheries can only be imported into the United States if the taking nation has applied for and received a comparability finding under the MMPA from NOAA, NMFS that shows that the nation's regulatory program addresses incidental and intentional mortality and serious injury of marine mammals by the exporting fisheries. The Port State Measures Agreement requires member states (Australia, Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, the European Union, Gabon, Guinea, Guyana, Iceland, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Palau, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Tonga, the United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu) to implement measures for foreign vessels at their ports to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Each member state has their own measures.
Allowed
NOAA permits are required for commercial fishing or scientific collection of Highly Migratory Species, Coastal Pelagic Species, and Groundfish.