Also referred to as the Submerged Lands Act Boundary, the Submerged Lands Act of 1953 (title 43, U.S. Code, section 1301) grants most coastal states rights out to three nautical miles (nine nautical miles for Texas and the Gulf coast of Florida, as well as for the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico).
Also referred to as the Revenue Sharing Line, the 8(g) Zone extends three nautical miles beyond the state seaward boundary or the Submerged Lands Act Boundary. Revenues generated from resources such as oil and gas within this area are shared between the federal government and the coastal state.
The territorial sea, previously at three nautical miles, was extended to 12 nautical miles from the U.S. baseline by Presidential Proclamation 5928 in 1988, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The U.S. claims sovereignty in this area from the airspace down through the water column and into the subsoil.
An area between 12 and 24 nautical miles from the U.S. baseline that grants the U.S. the "control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws, and regulations within its territory or territorial sea."
The area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea of the U.S., or, for purposes of domestic fisheries laws, extending from the state seaward boundary.