Editing North Sea (section)

===Political status===
Countries that border the North Sea all claim the {{convert|12|nmi}} of [[territorial waters]], within which they have exclusive fishing rights.<ref name="Barry">{{Cite book
| last1 = Barry, M.
| first1 = Michael
| last2 = Elema
| first2 = Ina
| last3 = van der Molen
| first3 = Paul
| title = Governing the North Sea in the Netherlands: Administering marine spaces: international issues
| year = 2006
| publisher = International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)
| url = http://www.fig.net/pub/figpub/pub36/chapters/chapter_5.pdf
| place = Frederiksberg, Denmark
| pages = 5–17, Ch. 5
| isbn = 978-87-90907-55-6
| access-date = 12 January 2009
| archive-date = 5 February 2009
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090205005632/http://www.fig.net/pub/figpub/pub36/chapters/chapter_5.pdf
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The [[Common Fisheries Policy]] of the [[European Union]] (EU) exists to coordinate fishing rights and assist with disputes between EU states and the EU border state of Norway.<ref>{{Cite book
|publisher = European Commission
|title = About the Common Fisheries Policy
|date = 24 January 2008
|url = http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/
|access-date = 2 November 2008
|archive-date = 14 July 2013
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130714182421/http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/
|url-status = live
}}</ref>

After the discovery of mineral resources in the North Sea during the early 1960s, the [[Convention on the Continental Shelf]] established country rights largely divided along the median line. The median line is defined as the line "every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State is measured".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/8_1_1958_continental_shelf.pdf|title=Text of the UN treaty|access-date=21 October 2013|archive-date=17 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017192715/http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/8_1_1958_continental_shelf.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
The ocean floor border between Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark was only reapportioned in 1969 after protracted negotiations and a judgment of the [[International Court of Justice]].<ref name="Barry"/><ref>{{Cite book
|publisher=International Court of Justice
|title=North Sea Continental Shelf Cases
|date=20 February 1969
|url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=3&k=cc&case=52&code=cs2&p3=4
|access-date=24 July 2007
|archive-date=1 December 2008
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201013509/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=3&k=cc&case=52&code=cs2&p3=4
|url-status=live
}}</ref>