EACH country has a right to claim extra ocean space or seabed in addition to their 200mile Exclusive Economic Zone says Pacific Islands Applied Geosciences Commission Maritime Boundaries project Officer Emily Artack.
She said under Article 76 of the UN Law of the Sea each country had the right to claim extra ocean space or seabed.
She said in doing so each country had to build an executive summary when making their submissions to United Nations Commission on Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) on claiming on extra ocean space.
Ms Artack made the comments outside the week-long workshop on being conducted by SOPAC, Geoscience Australia and the UNEP Shelf Program on claiming on extra ocean space at the Southern Cross Hotel in Suva.
She said over the past couple of days members worked on building their executive summary and also constructed maps outlining where these areas of their claims on the seabed were.
Eight Pacific island countries including Fiji have a claim to a combined area of more than 1.5 million square kilometers of additional seabed resources beyond their 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.
These countries had only a year remaining to the May 2009 deadline to complete their submissions to the UN. Ms Artack said so far 11 countries had made their submissions to the UN
"The countries present, including Fiji, are at this meeting to prepare the executive summary documents, building their various submission documents.