Maritime rights
An exclusive economic zone extends beyond the territorial sea to an outer limit no more than 200 nautical miles from the baseline, subject to delimitation with neighbouring coasts. It provides resource rights and specified jurisdiction, including fisheries, offshore energy, marine research and environmental protection. It is not the same as full territorial sovereignty; navigation and overflight rights remain relevant.
Commonwealth extent
The map combines published offshore zones for Australian jurisdictions, New Zealand and its recognised outliers, Papua New Guinea including Bougainville, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Vanuatu, East Timor and Singapore. Internal jurisdictional boundaries do not divide the national offshore economy into foreign states. Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are not included automatically by their negotiated association relationship. Malaysia, Vietnam and other allies retain their own zones.
West Papua and boundaries
The changed sovereignty of West Papua requires its own maritime delimitation. The hatched sector is an indicative coastal envelope clipped to the published Indonesian maritime geometry, not an agreed new treaty boundary. It is shown separately from sourced member zones and is not used to claim all Indonesian waters. Foreign neighbour zones and unresolved qualifications are preserved.
Antarctic and Southern Ocean position
Heard and McDonald and Macquarie offshore zones are shown as separate Southern Ocean components. The Antarctic territorial sector remains a qualified claim. It is not automatically added to the ordinary national EEZ, and the map does not invent a universally accepted Antarctic maritime boundary.
Source conventions
Marine Regions EEZ polygons include territorial, internal and archipelagic waters within their outer maritime polygons. The overview therefore shows offshore resource jurisdiction, including those nearshore waters, rather than a precise legal separation of every maritime band. Published joint areas and boundary qualifications are retained; the West Papua hatch is an explicitly derived sector. No exact national area or world ranking is asserted from these mixed layers.
Economy and fleet
Fisheries, sustainable marine production, offshore resources, shipping support and scientific observation connect the maritime system to education and industry. The Eastern and Western fleets supply patrol, deterrence, rescue and support across the dispersed jurisdictions. Fleet responsibilities are operational arrangements, not additional sovereign rights over every ocean route.
References
Flanders Marine Institute / Marine Regions, maritime boundaries and WFS geometry, retrieved 3 October 2026. Historical source
Geoscience Australia, maritime zones and the distinctions between territorial sea, EEZ and continental shelf. Historical source
The requested general reference is retained for further reading. Historical source
Source geography
Marine Regions / VLIZ methodology: Historical source
Geoscience Australia maritime boundaries: Historical source
Strict maritime enforcement
The national doctrine is commonly described as control with an iron fist: continuous surveillance, persistent patrols and decisive enforcement against unauthorised fishing, mineral extraction, drilling and damage to national infrastructure. Naval ships, maritime patrol aircraft, coastguard units and resource inspectors work through a common command picture. Authorities may inspect and detain offending vessels, seize illegally extracted resources and suspend licences, with offences brought before Commonwealth courts. The aim is reliable control of the national resource domain rather than an intermittent symbolic presence.
Timor Sea resource settlement
East Timor is an integrated CGSC territory. The oil and gas fields between it and Australia, including the Greater Sunrise and Bayu-Undan systems, are wholly within the Commonwealth’s national EEZ and associated seabed-resource jurisdiction. Their administration is domestic: the Darwin and East Timor authorities share national regulation, infrastructure and public-development finance. Indonesia has zero drilling, extraction, licensing, concession or revenue-sharing rights in these CGSC resources. There is no Indonesian joint-development entitlement to them. Neighbouring Indonesian territorial waters remain separate; ordinary lawful navigation is not a petroleum concession.
Seas and operational responsibility
| Sea or maritime area | National interest | Command responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Timor Sea | Entire Australia–East Timor national energy corridor and its resource fields | Western Fleet; Darwin and Dili support |
| Arafura Sea / Gulf of Carpentaria | CGSC coastal resources, northern fisheries and sea approaches | Western/Joint northern command |
| Coral Sea | North Queensland, PNG/Bougainville and Coral Sea island zones | Eastern Fleet |
| Bismarck / Solomon Seas | New Guinea, Bougainville and Solomon maritime zones | Eastern Fleet and Pacific stations |
| Tasman Sea | Australian and North/South Island offshore zones | Eastern Fleet |
| Fiji / Vanuatu Pacific waters | Member-island resource zones and connecting patrol routes | Eastern Fleet; Suva and Port Vila |
| Indian Ocean | Western Australia, Christmas and Cocos offshore zones | Western Fleet |
| Southern Ocean | Tasmanian, New Zealand and Heard/McDonald zones | Eastern/Western support; specialised southern patrols |
| Singapore approaches / Malacca Strait | Singapore’s national waters and treaty-supported maritime security | Western Fleet; Malaysian waters remain Malaysian |
Rights and sea names
A named sea may contain CGSC waters, another country’s waters and high seas. The Commonwealth exercises exclusive resource control inside its own zones; the sea’s name alone does not make the whole basin national territory. Territorial seas, EEZ resource rights, continental-shelf rights and treaty access remain distinct. The strict exclusion of Indonesian access concerns the CGSC resource fields and licences, not every Indonesian vessel on an otherwise lawful transit.