Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction and Continental Shelf Boundaries

Twenty-seven constituent maps define Australia's maritime jurisdiction, excluding subantarctic territories. The series depicts the continental shelf as proclaimed under the 2012 Seas and Submerged Lands Proclamation. Geoscience Australia updated the data in April 2021 to conform with the Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020 dataset.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial extent of Australia's proclaimed continental shelf for legal or resource assessment.
• Integrate maritime boundary lines with bathymetric data derived from the 2009 9 arc second grid.
• Use jurisdictional boundaries as a base layer for marine spatial planning or environmental regulation mapping.
• Compare maritime limits around the Australian continent with other geospatial datasets for policy research.

Strengths

• Data is part of a formal 27-map series (GeoCat 71789) maintained by Geoscience Australia.
• Background incorporates bathymetric imagery from a 2009 9 arc second grid and a 1997 Smith and Sandwell grid.

Limitations

• Dataset excludes Cocos Island and Australia's subantarctic territories, limiting full jurisdictional coverage.
• Primary bathymetric reference data is from 2009, which may not reflect recent seafloor changes.
• Sample data and specific row/column counts are unavailable for technical assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Derived from the 'Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020' data and legal proclamations.

Time Range

Boundaries reflect the legal status as of the 2012 proclamation, updated in 2021.

Freshness

Updated in April 2021; platform record shows a metadata update in April 2026.

Geography

Maritime jurisdiction around the Australian continent.