page_title: Exclusive economic zone
section_title: South Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Exclusive economic zone / By country / South Africa
context_page_description: An exclusive economic zone is a sea zone prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nmi limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a "sovereign right" which refers to the coastal state's rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters.
context_section_description: South Africa's EEZ includes both that next to the African mainland and that around the Prince Edward Islands, totalling 1,535,538 km².
  Mainland – 1,068,659 km²
  Prince Edward islands – 466,879 km²
caption: South Africa's maritime zones, including the exclusive economic zone