…to secure exclusive rights to hydro-carbons, minerals under seabed
GUYANA is moving to secure exclusive rights to the hydro-carbon and mineral deposits under the seabed, through an extension of its continental shelf.
To this end, a submission of all the relevant data with respect to this country and its quest to an extended continental shelf, pursuant to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, was made Tuesday to the United Nations.
The announcement  yesterday by Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett was made at a news conference she hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she said the action by Guyana is in `its interest and to ensure that, in the future, it has the legal basis to benefit from and to protect its rights’.
The submission which the Foreign Minister stated has been made without prejudice to any future delimitation of maritime boundaries with neighbouring states, is expected to be formally and orally presented by this country to the Commission at its next session in April, 2012.
She said though, that given the workload of the Commission, it will be sometime before the body examines the submission by this country for recommendations to be made on the outer limits of Guyana’s extended continental shelf.
The UN would have to examine all the technical work and seismic data which have been submitted to make that determination, and should the green light be given, Guyana would have to negotiate with the states concerned who have boundaries.
The limit of Guyana’s boundaries is 200 nautical miles, but it can have an extension of 150 nautical miles.
Presently,Guyana could only benefit from the hydro-carbon or minerals under the seabed or fish in close contact with the seabed, and cannot fish as was allowed in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
The continental shelf of a coastal state comprises the sea-bed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea, throughout the natural prolongation of its land
territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.
The continental margin comprises the submerged prolongation of the land mass of the coastal state, and consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof.
Guyana signed on to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea  on December 10, 1982, and it became a State Party to the Convention when it deposited the 60th Instrument of Ratification on November, 16, 1993; and 12 months later, November 16, 1994, in accordance with Article 308, the Convention was entered into force.
Guyana acceded to the Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on September 28, 2008, according to documentation from the Foreign Ministry.
According to Minister Rodrigues, like other State Parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, Guyana in 2002 commissioned a desktop study to determine from available data here and overseas, whether this country met the basic criteria to claim for an extended continental shelf, and which, according to the provisions of the Convention, can be up to the limit of 150 nautical miles from the 200-mile outer limit of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Coastal Six.
A key objective for commissioning of the study, she noted, was to ensure that the commissioning of other more expensive works, including seismic data gathering that could cost millions of US dollars would not be an exercise in futility.
The desk-top study, funded with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat and conducted by Dr Galo Carrera-Hurtado, determined that Guyana met the criteria to claim an extended continental shelf.
As a consequence, in May 2009, Guyana provided initial information to the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding its claim to the extended continental shelf, and made the full submission on Tuesday.
It was on this note that the minister said, “Guyana has acted in its interest and has taken action to ensure that in the future it has the legal basis to benefit from and to protect its rights.”
She recalled that in this context, last year the Maritime Zone Act was put in force, adding that the promulgation of the comprehensive and modern act constituted another key component of the government’s strategy, aimed at ensuring that Guyana and its people can benefit from the resources in our maritime zones and to protect our rights in and to them.
She expressed gratitude to Noel Dennision of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) for supporting the work of Dr Carrera-Hurtado and helping to complete the submission, as well as to the Commonwealth Secretariat and German Institute for Geo Sciences for their unswerving support.
The work of Director of Frontiers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Keith George, as the lead person in Guyana’s preparations, was also publicly recognised.