U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS)
Created on May 15, 2012
Exclusive Economic Zone
Boundary lines negotiated between U.S., Mexico, and Cuba
Boundary lines to be negotiated
200 nautical miles (nm)
U.S. Extended Continental Shelf in Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico contains two areas of submerged continental shelf that extend beyond the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of Mexico and the United States—the “western gap” and the “eastern gap.” The U.S. and Mexico signed a treaty in June 2000 that divides the area of extended continental shelf within the “western gap” between the two nations.
Sources: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, “Treaty on Maritime Boundaries Between the United Mexican States and the United States of America,” May 4, 1978, http://www.boem.gov/uploadedFiles/BOEM/Regulations/Treaties/ 1978_0504-Treaty-MaritimeBoundariesMexicoandUS.pdf (accessed April 17, 2012); U.S. State Department, “Maritime Boundary Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba,” December 16, 1977, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/125389.pdf (accessed May 8, 2012); and United Nations, “Executive Summary: A Partial Submission of Data and Information on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf of the United Mexican States Pursuant to Part VI of and Annex II to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” December 2007, http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/ mex07/part_i_executive_summary.pdf (accessed May 8, 2012).