Chilean Sea

The official Chilean usage for Chilean Sea was defined on 30 May 1974 when the Diario oficial de la Republica de Chile published Supreme Decree #346, which declared that "the waters surrounding or touching the shores of the national territory shall be known as Mar Chileno.

"[1] The Chilean Sea contains significant amounts of phosphorite and manganese-iron nodules, which may be potential targets for future seafloor mining.

[5][6] The delimitation of Chile's continental shelf follows principles established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which sets guidelines for the delineation of continental shelves by coastal states.

Chile has submitted claims to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Without claims of sovereignty, by making a delimitation that includes the effective occupation of the high seas contiguous to its respective oceanic territory, the coastal state shows the interest in preserving said area from abusive uses or from certain activities that, due to its proximity, may affect the marine resources that inhabit its waters, especially, guarding the highly migratory straddling fishery resources from predation, and pollution of the marine habitat.