Why in News?

• Officials from the Ministry of Earth Sciences apprised the Vice-president of the status of the National Institute of Ocean Technology’s research facility at Thupilipallam village in Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh.

Highlights:

• The foundation stone for the research facility at Thupilipallam was laid in 2016 but the project has seen delays due to legal hurdles.

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT):

• NIOT is an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, established in 1993.
• It has its main office at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• The chief objective of the institute is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve the various engineering problems associated with the harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is about two-thirds of the land area of India.
• The institute engages in developing technologies for sustainable utilization of ocean resources.
• It also engages in providing solutions to organisations working in the field.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ):

• The EEZ is a sea zone prescribed by the UNCLOS in 1982, over which a country has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.
• It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles from a country’s coast.
• The term EEZ does not include the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. It also does not include the territorial sea.
• The difference between territorial sea and the EEZ is that the former confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the latter is merely a “sovereign right” which refers to the coastal nation’s rights below the surface of the sea.
• The surface waters are international waters.