proclaimed its sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the EEZ in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act.
19 In
the EEZ, the coastal state has sovereign rights over exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing the natural
resources, whether living or non-living. This jurisdiction covers the seabed and subsoil, the water column and
the airspace.20 For commercial purposes, this translates mainly into the right to exploit fisheries and offshore
oil and gas. The coastal state also has jurisdiction, but not sovereignty, over artificial islands, installations,
marine scientific research and protection and preservation of the marine environment.21 The resources in the
EEZ are very important commercial assets to many coastal states, with Australia being foremost amongst them.
The continental shelf lies under much of the Australian EEZ but as the rights in the EEZ include all of the
natural resources, those rights are already covered so it is the outer continental shelf that then becomes
important.
The Outer Continental Shelf was first established as a maritime zone under the 1958 Continental Shelf