Savage Islands - Dispute Over The EEZ

Dispute Over The EEZ

Portugal places its southernmost Exclusive Economic Zone claim south of the Savage Islands. Spain objects on the basis that the Savage Islands do not have a separate continental shelf, maintaining that the border should consist on an equidistant line drawn halfway between Madeira and the Canaries. According to article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea:"Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf." The status of the Savage Islands as islands or rocks is thus at the core of the dispute. Despite the islands having numerous visitors, mostly for scientific purposes, and the fact that several settlements were tried throughout the centuries, today the Savage Islands are a special natural reserve whose only year-round inhabitants are the wardens of Madeira's Natural Park. Over the years, apart from the EEZ debate, a number of issues pertaining to the Savage Islands led to disputes between the two countries, namely the construction of a lighthouse, the administration of airspace (done from the closer Canary Islands), the right to perform military air exercises, and, most importantly, illegal fishing and poaching in the archipelago and its vicinity.