International co-operation and agreements

Chile is an active member in many of the international forums and agreements governing fisheries and the oceans. Indeed, Chile was in the vanguard of the movement to extend the EEZ out to 200 nautical miles. Chile is one of the original signatories of the 1952 Declaration of Santiago on Maritime Zone (‘Declaración de Santiago sobre Zona Marítima’), in which Chile, Peru and Equador proclaimed their exclusive sovereignty and jurisdiction over their coastal waters ‘... up to a minimum distance of 200 miles’ from their coastlines, including the corresponding seabed and its subsoil. This declaration proclaimed the right to impede an irrational exploitation of the natural resources, which might jeopardize their existence, integrity and conservation, negatively affecting local populations that possess in those waters and land irreplaceable sources of livelihood and economic wealth that are vital to them. To implement this agreement, the three countries created the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific, CPPS, an international juridical body with full capacities to undertake agreements, etc. In 1979, Colombia joined the CCPS. In 1982, the rest of the world followed with the UNCLOS agreement establishing the 200 miles EEZs on a worldwide basis.