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Dieren en planten

Mens en Milieu

Man and the environment   Mineral exploitation   Mining at sea   Oil exploitation   International maritime law   Dutch Continental Plate   
Dutch section of the Continental Plate, in dark blue, Ecomare

Dutch Continental Plate

The Continental Plate consists of the area lying between the low water line and a water depth of 200 meters, however no further away than 200 miles from the coast. Within the boundaries of the Continental Plate, the coastal State has exclusive rights for exploitation of mineral resources, in as well as on the sea floor. In reality, it concerns particularly: oil, gas, sand and gravel.

  • Waterland

    The Dutch part of the continental plate consists of 60,000 square kilometers. The land surface of the Netherlands is around 35,000 square kilometers; when including freshwater bodies, the surface area comes to 41,500 square kilometers. This means that 60% of the Netherlands consists of sea.
    Between 1960 and 1975, the North Sea countries negotiated mutual treaties to determine the country borders on the Continental Plate.
    The oldest treaty is between the Netherlands and Germany (1964), where the border was only partially established (over a section of 26 sea miles). Further agreement was not possible because there was disagreement between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark concerning the proper division criteria. Germany was afraid of being totally enclosed by the other two countries due to the shape of the coast. Up till the present, the boundary between the Netherlands and Germany in the Ems-Dollard region has still not been established.