OCEAN · WHO OWNS THE OCEAN — EEZS

Who Owns the Ocean — EEZs

The 200-nautical-mile sea-borders that carve up the ocean — who owns the right to fish, drill and lay cable where. A handful of nations control vast ocean estates, mostly through tiny scattered islands: France’s EEZ is the world’s largest or second-largest at over 10 million km² (from a country that is 0.45% of Earth’s land), the United States about 11.4 million km², plus Australia, Russia, the UK, Japan and New Zealand. Beyond every EEZ lie the high seas — about 64% of the ocean — which belong to no nation. Plus the live disputes: the South China Sea nine-dash line, ruled to have no legal basis in 2016, and the race for the Arctic seabed. Tap a marker for its sourced area and story. The legal WHY behind where the live fishing fleets and ships may work.