Australian Maritime Boundaries and Jurisdictional Limits

Geoscience Australia's Australian Maritime Boundaries (AMB) 2014a dataset provides a digital representation of Australia's maritime zones established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The data includes territorial baselines, outer limits of maritime zones, and boundaries from treaties with neighboring countries. Coverage spans Australia's marine jurisdiction from approximately 7°S to 70°S latitude and 40°E to 175°E longitude.

Use Cases

• Delineate Australia's territorial sea baseline and exclusive economic zone limits for legal and regulatory mapping.
• Analyze scheduled area and graticular block limits under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 for resource exploration planning.
• Model maritime boundaries from treaties with neighboring countries for international relations and dispute resolution studies.
• Integrate the harmonized maritime boundaries in block SC51 with other marine spatial datasets for coastal zone management.

Strengths

• Coverage includes Australia's entire marine jurisdiction, including external territories.
• Coordinates are supplied in the standardized GDA94 datum, functionally equivalent to WGS84.
• Data incorporates technical amendments based on user feedback for specific regions like block SC51.

Limitations

• Data currency is May 2014, which may not reflect recent coastline changes or treaty updates.
• The dataset's accuracy is constrained by the source material available at the time of its 2014 production.
• In the event of inconsistency, the legal limits under legislation prevail over this digital representation.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, developed in consultation with the Attorney-General's Department, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Hydrographic Office.

Collection Method

Digital delineation based on the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973, associated proclamations, and international treaties.

Time Range

Snapshot as of May 2014.

Freshness

null

Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction, including waters adjacent to the mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories (approx. 7°S to 70°S, 40°E to 175°E).