"The UK hasn't used Rockall to aggressively extend its EEZ"
True but it was still amajor bargaining chip....
ited Kingdom
Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott hoists the
Union Flag in 1955
The UK claims Rockall along with a 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial sea around the islet inside the country's
exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
[59] The UK also claims "a circle of UK sovereign airspace over the islet of Rockall".
[59]
The UK
annexed Rockall on 18 September 1955 when "Two Royal Marines and a civilian naturalist, led by Royal Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott, raised a Union flag on the island and cemented a plaque into the rock".
[60] In 1972, the British
Island of Rockall Act formally annexed Rockall to the United Kingdom. The UK considers the island administratively part of the Isle of
Harris and, under the
Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999 a large sea area around it was declared to be under the
jurisdiction of
Scots law. A
navigational beacon was installed on the island in 1982 and the UK declared that no ship would be allowed within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of the rock.
[61] However, in 1997, the UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), limiting territorial sea claims to a 12-nautical-mile, or 14 mile (22 km), radius, and therefore allowing free passage in waters beyond this.
A territorial claim could form the basis for an extended EEZ. However, in 1988, the United Kingdom and Ireland signed an EEZ boundary agreement for which "the location of Rockall was irrelevant to the determination of the boundary".
[2] In 1997, the UK ratified UNCLOS, which states that "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf".
As the rock lies within the United Kingdom's EEZ, the UK has exclusive rights and obligations in relation to the exploitation, conservation and management of the rock itself.
[4]
Ireland
The position of Rockall (centre of grey disc) with respect to the claimed Irish EEZ.
[5]
Irish claims to Rockall have been based on its proximity to the Irish mainland,
[62] however the country has never formally claimed sovereignty over the rock. Ireland formally rejected the British territorial claim to Rockall, "which would be the basis for a claim to a 12-mile territorial sea".
[63]
Ireland regards Rockall as irrelevant when determining the boundaries of the
Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) as the rock is uninhabitable.
[2][64][65] In signing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1997, the UK has agreed that "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf".
In 1988, Ireland and the United Kingdom signed an EEZ boundary agreement, ignoring the rock per UNCLOS.
[2] With effect from 31 March 2014, the UK and Ireland published EEZ limits which include Rockall within the UK's EEZ.
[4][5]
In October 2012, the
Irish Independent published a picture of the
Irish Navy ship
Róisín sailing past Rockall conducting routine maritime security patrols, and claimed that it was exercising Ireland's sovereign rights over the rock.
[66] In 2014 the OSI survey of Irish Territorial waters included the Rockall bank.
[67]