Sovereign rights in respect of continental shelf 11 it is by this act declared and enacted that the sovereign rights of australia as a coastal state in respect of the continental shelf of. The united nations convention on the law of the sea unclos using the customary international law principle of a nations right to protect its natural resources president harry s truman in 1945 extended united states control to all the natural resources of its continental shelf other nations were quick to follow suit between 1946 and 1950 chile peru and ecuador extended their . Fineman and pappas law libraries frederick s pardee management library howard gotlieb archival research center mugar memorial library music library pikering educational resources library school of theology library science engineering library stone science library. The law of the sea national legislation on the continental shelf 2 pursue the claim for the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured in the southeastern region and the west philippines sea region 3 designation of archipelagic sealanes as required by the unclos