Continental Shelf Extension
The Continental Shelf Extension, foreseen in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, aims to increase the maritime territory under the jurisdiction of Coastal States. This results from the interpretation and application of legal concepts, through the acquisition of technical-scientific data (Hydrography, Geology and Geophysics) that allow defining the limit of Portugal's continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles measured from the coastline.
The Continental Shelf Extension Project (CSEP)
The Convention provides in paragraphs 7 and 8 of the same article 76 that the coastal State must draw the outer limit of its continental shelf. It also establishes that information about the limits beyond the 200 nautical miles of the baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is measured must be submitted by the coastal State to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Our mission is to gather scientific information to establish the outer limit of the Portuguese continental shelf and use this information to prepare, submit and update the Portuguese proposal.