NZ Lodges seabed boundary

New Zealand has lodged its seabed boundary with a special United Nations Commission, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today.

"This is the result of a decade's worth of work and scientific research, and fulfils New Zealand's obligation under the UN Law of the Sea Convention," Mr Peters said.

The boundary contained in the submission encompasses approximately 1.7 million square kilometres of seabed outside New Zealand's existing 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The seabed in this area is known as the 'continental shelf'.

"This area is more than six times the size of New Zealand itself. The submission will enable New Zealand to exercise its rights over the continental shelf with certainty, including its rights to valuable resources such as minerals and petroleum," said Mr Peters.

New Zealand is entitled to the undersea resources of the continental shelf. The seas above the continental shelf are international waters, so New Zealand has no special rights to the fisheries in this area.

The submission is the product of a $44 million Government project, carried out over 10 years by officials and scientists. Special surveys were carried out to provide the information required to identify the continental shelf boundary.

The submission will be considered by the 21-member United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, based in New York, and once confirmed, the boundary will be binding on other countries.

A boundary will be negotiated with Fiji and Tonga over the continental shelf to the north of New Zealand. A continental shelf boundary was agreed with Australia in July 2004.