An important task of the Mauritius Oceanography Institute (MOI) is to assist the Government of Mauritius in preparing a submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) for an extension of the marine resource base of the Republic of Mauritius according to the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

This process started in 2000 with the setting up of the MOI. Among its first objectives, the Institute had the responsibility to prepare a technical document in order to support the submission. In this regard two geophysical surveys were conducted in 2003 in the regions of the Mascarene plateau and the Chagos Archipelago to acquire bathymetric and seismic data.

The extension of the deadline for the submission of the claim to the UNCLCS to May 2009 and the decision by Government to undertake a joint partial submission together with the Republic of Seychelles in the region of the Mascarene plateau required a new approach. Following the agreement on a median line boundary between the EEZ of the two coastal states, the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles started formal discussions on a joint partial submission for an extended continental shelf during the second quarter of 2008. The continental shelf project has been jointly managed by teams from the two coastal states. In addition, the Commonwealth Secretariat has generously provided technical and legal advice. The Mauritius delegation was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation and consisted of representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Attorney General Office, the Ministry of Housing and Lands, the MOI and the ex-representative of Mauritius in the UNCLCS.

This first part of the Continental Shelf Project, which consisted in preparing the technical submissions of the Republic of Mauritius to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) was successfully completed before the deadline of 13 May 2009.

The Republic of Mauritius also made a partial submission concerning the extended Continental shelf in the region of Rodrigues Island in May 2009. In addition, preliminary information in respect of another area of its extended continental shelf in the region of Chagos Archipelago was submitted.

Click on picture below to view submissions.