Chilean Sea

The Chilean Maritime Domain (Spanish: Espacio marítimo chileno), also known as the Chilean Sea (Spanish: Mar Chileno), comprises the set of maritime spaces over which Chile exercises sovereignty, exclusive rights, and claims of varying degrees in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. This definition often includes the adjacent high seas area known as the “presential sea,” over which Chile neither exercises nor claims any degree of sovereignty. Additionally, Chile claims sovereignty over its continental shelf and extended continental shelf.

It is not strictly a sea in the geographic sense defined by the International Hydrographic Organization, but rather a sea in a legal and political sense. It refers to the waters surrounding the continental coast up to 200 nautical miles to the west from the low tide line, and in the case of the Polynesian islands of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Salas y Gómez, 350 nautical miles. Through Decree 346 of 1974 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this area was designated as the "Chilean Sea" (Mar Chileno).

Law 18,565 of 1986 amended various legal norms to align Chile’s legal framework with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and through Law 19,080 of 1991, the "Chilean presential sea" (mar presencial) was defined unilaterally.

Regarding the northern limit, Peru raised a dispute, which was resolved on January 27, 2014, by a ruling from the International Court of Justice that partially established a new maritime border. The exact coordinates of this new boundary were determined on March 25 of the same year through the signing of an agreement between the two states at the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, as a result of the establishment of the new maritime boundary, this ruling led to a reduction of Chile’s maritime zone by granting Peru a portion of it.

In 2021, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera signed Supreme Decree No. 95, which explicitly defined the continental shelf east of meridian 67° 16' 0" as part of Chile’s (non-extended) continental shelf area, projected from the Diego Ramírez Islands. This also laid claim to the crescent-shaped area that Argentina considers part of the extension it obtained under the criteria for an extended continental shelf. This was reflected in SHOA Chart No. 8 and prompted a response from Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs opposing Chile’s measure within the framework of the dispute over the extended continental shelf in the Southern Zone Sea between Argentina and Chile.

On December 21, 2020, Chile submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf a partial report regarding the extended continental shelf around Easter Island and Salas y Gómez Island.

In February 2022, Chile submitted its second partial presentation concerning the Western Continental Shelf of the Chilean Antarctic Territory. In August of the same year, it delivered the oral presentations for both partial submissions during the 55th Session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf at the United Nations in New York.

In 2023, Chile, through SHOA, made available an illustrative graphic showing all maritime areas claimed by the country; this was once again rejected by Argentina.