For centuries, coastal nations have sought control over the oceans near their shores. These countries have also sought the right to control the ocean's valuable resources as coastal nations have long valued coastal waters with large amounts of fish. Fishing is important for food and trade. Coastal nations quickly realized that they must control and defend their coastal waters in order to protect their ocean resources. In modern day, countries have established exclusive economic zones, or EEZs. An EEZ gives a coastal nation the sole right to explore and extract all natural resources from the ocean for 200 miles (322 kilometers) off its shores. That nation also has the duty to conserve and responsibly use the ocean resources within its EEZ.

Establishing Territorial Waters

By the seventeenth century, laws governing the ocean began to develop. The ocean was divided into two categories: territorial waters and the...