No one owns the ocean. The seas and oceans are considered to be a 'global commons', which means that they belong to everyone and no one at the same time. However, countries do have the right to claim 'exclusive economic zones' (EEZs) up to 200 nautical miles from their coastlines.
For centuries, beginning with the Age of Exploration when ships were developed that could convey humans across the globe, the governments that represent people like you, the oceans' owner, agreed that no one owned the oceans. This informal agreement was referred to as the Freedom of the Seas doctrine.
The EEZ, or exclusive economic zone, is 200 nautical miles from a host nation's coastline that allows them access to all natural resources within that zone. The EEZ encompasses the territorial sea of a nation and often is based upon a continental shelf.
The United States claimed a 200-nautical-mile EEZ in 1983 (Presidential Proclamation No. 5030 of March 10, 1983). This zone extends beyond and adjacent to the seaward boundary of the 12-nautical-mile (14-mile) territorial sea of the United States.
Seriously, activities within a nation's territorial waters are controlled by its government. They don't "sell" acreage of sea, but they do license (or prohibit) certain activities like oil drilling. How do you buy land that's now owned by anyone? What is the best way to buy raw land?
No one owns the ocean. The seas and oceans are considered to be a 'global commons', which means that they belong to everyone and no one at the same time. However, countries do have the right to claim 'exclusive economic zones' (EEZs) up to 200 nautical miles from their coastlines.
Most states place the boundary between public and private property at the mean high tide line, an average tide over an astronomical epoch of 19 years. This means that at some point in the daily tidal cycle there is usually a public beach to walk along, albeit a wet and sometimes narrow one.
“For whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself,” wrote English adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh in 1829.
More than eighty percent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored.
The Atlantic Ocean covers an area of approximately 106,460,000 square kilometers (41,105,000 square miles. As the second largest ocean basin, the Atlantic Ocean borders the east coast of the U.S., while the Pacific, Earth's largest ocean basin, borders the U.S. West Coast.
Ocean wealth valued at US$24 trillion, but sinking fast | WWF.
How Much Treasure is Down There? The short answer, Sean Fisher says, is $60 billion. Fisher is a shipwreck hunter at Mel Fisher's Treasures in Key West (Sean is Mel's grandson), and he gives this figure based on his company's historical research.
The deepest place in the ocean measures 10,935 meters (35,876 feet) and is found in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, at a place called Challenger Deep.
Killer Whales
But the true ruler of the sea is the killer whale. Killer whales are apex predators, which means they have no natural predators. They hunt in packs, much like wolves, which are also at the top of their food chain.
Many people use the terms "ocean" and "sea" interchangeably when speaking about the ocean, but there is a difference between the two terms when speaking of geography (the study of the Earth's surface). Seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet.
The Seven Seas include the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern oceans. The exact origin of the phrase 'Seven Seas' is uncertain, although there are references in ancient literature that date back thousands of years.
“The intense pressures in the deep ocean make it an extremely difficult environment to explore.” Although you don't notice it, the pressure of the air pushing down on your body at sea level is about 15 pounds per square inch. If you went up into space, above the Earth's atmosphere, the pressure would decrease to zero.
It might be shocking to find out, but only 5% of the ocean has been explored and charted by humans.
It exercises control over the sea, at least in certain areas for certain lengths of time. Sea control provides a freedom of action that is required for the pursuit of other objectives, such as shipping protection, military sealift, and blockade.
The Philippine Sea is the largest in the world in terms of the surface area covered. It stretches 5.695 million square kilometres and lies in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean.
1. United States. Taking the prize as the most powerful naval force in the world is the United States Navy with 323.9 points.
Under common law, the states own the portion of the beaches that lies between low and high water marks; the so-called "wet sand" is thus open to anyone.
Without food and drinking water, a person stranded at sea will most likely not be able to survive for more than three days.
The Longest survival at sea was by a man named José Salvador Alvarenga who managed to stay alive for 438 days stranded in the open ocean where he floated for 6,700 miles before washing back onto land.