Exclusive economic zone of Portugal

Portugal's exclusive economic zone

• Continental Portugal 327,667 km2
• Madeira Islands 446,108 km2
• Azores Islands 953,633 km2
• Total: 1,727,408 km2

Portugal submitted a claim to extend its jurisdiction over additional 2.15 million square kilometers of the neighboring continental shelf in May 2009, which would result in a marine territory of more than 3,877,408 km2.

Resolved Dispute with Spain

Until 2015, Spain disputed the EEZ's southern border, maintaining that it should be drawn halfway between Madeira and the Canary Islands. Portugal exercises sovereignty over the Savage Islands, a small archipelago north of the Canaries, hence claiming an EEZ border further south. Spain had objected by arguing that the Savage Islands do not have a separate continental shelf, citing article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. On the basis of this article, Spain claimed that the Savage Islands were not islands, but instead uninhabitable rocks. The Savage Islands are a protected Portuguese natural reserve, and thus its only year-round inhabitants are workers of Madeira Natural Park who look over the isolated natural reserve, protecting its wildlife. Over the years, the Portuguese authorities have seized some Spanish fishing boats around the area for illegal fishing.

References

References

1. [http://www.seaaroundus.org/eez/eez.aspx Seaaroundus.org] {{webarchive. link. (29 December 2006)
2. [https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/prt44_09/prt2009executivesummary.pdf Portugal applies to UN to Extend Its Continental Shelf Zone]. Accessed 3 July 2011
3. [https://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/esp77_14/prt_re_esp77_en.pdf Communications received with regard to the submission made by Portugal to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf]
4. "Lacleta Muñoz, José Manuel: "Las fronteras de España en el mar". Documentos de trabajo 34-2004, ''Real Instituto Elcano''".
5. [https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part VIII, Article 121]
6. [http://tercud.ulusofona.pt/Publicacoes/2005/LeitaoN_CarvalhoL_Text.pdf Carvalho, Luis and Leitão, Nuno, ''A Noção "Estratégica" das Ilhas Selvagens'' (in Portuguese)] {{webarchive. link. (23 February 2008)