Bermuda’s Exclusive Economic Zone could be almost doubled in size, according to a maritime lawyer.

And the extension could provide the solution to the current debate over whether the zone should be exploited for its potential mineral deposits or protected as a ‘no take’ zone.

But attorney Phil Perinchief said that the chance to extend the area of ocean that comes under Bermuda’s jurisdiction may already be lost — because the UK failed to put forward the proposal before a deadline expired.

The zone, which currently covers an area of ocean within a 200-mile radius of the Island, was granted to Bermuda in June, 1996. But according to Mr Perinchief, under United Nations Continental Shelf designation rules, that boundary could be extended by a further 150 miles.

“The current heated debate over whether or not our EEZ ought to be utilised as primarily, and only, a Marine Preservation Area, or alternatively for deep sea mining or exploration could be ameliorated, or even fully compromised or accommodated, by a successful claim over to a Continental Shelf jurisdiction,” Mr Perinchief, a former Attorney General, said.

A CS jurisdiction could potentially push out to a distance of not just 200 nautical miles but to 350 nautical miles. This would represent an extra 150 nautical mile radius beyond our current EEZ, measuring an additional area of approximately 350,000 square kilometres of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s huge.”

Mr Perinchief, who is an advocate for the zone to be divided into “mixed use”, argued that the larger area of water would allow the requests of both developers and environmentalists to be met.

“With this extended area, the entire debate can be moved towards a discussion of a workable ‘compromise’ or multi-use scenario which would include arguments or inquiries along the lines of having preservation start further seaward to accommodate both local and ‘foreign fishing’, or even seabed mining,” he said.

“Can we do deep sea mining from the Continental Shelf region by tunnelling into adjacent boundaries or walls of the subsoil of the EEZ without deleterious effect upon the environment? Indeed, could we have our MPA, or deep sea mining, exclusively in the extended CS maritime zone?”

Mr Perinchief said United Nations Law of the Sea Convention 1982 ruling meant that any jurisdiction’s rights to its CS zone were “automatic”.

But we warned that he had been unable to confirm if Whitehall had ever submitted an application for Bermuda to be granted CS status.

“Paragraph 3 of Article 77 expressly states that ‘the rights of the coastal state over the Continental Shelf do not depend on occupation, effective, or notational, or on any express proclamation’,” Mr Perinchief said.

“Bermuda’s difficulty, however, is that we are an overseas appendage of the UK upon whom we depend and who is charged with, or is responsible for, our international affairs, which of course includes our Continental Shelf. Did the UK establish a Continental Shelf for Bermuda within the deadline reserved whereby we would have jurisdiction over resources living or non-living possibly out to 350 nautical miles from our established baselines?”

Mr Perinchief said that the deadline for the UK to submit Bermuda’s name to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf was in May, 2009.

And while he was aware that the UK Government submitted the names of other Overseas Territories to the commission in 2007, he could find no record of Bermuda being included on the list.

“If the UK did not secure, or protect our rights over this huge swath of seascape then in my view this is a major faux-pas the present OBA administration must address in short order,” he said.

“It would be interesting to hear what Government House, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the UK Government have to say about our Continental Shelf. Have we been once again denied, completely thwarted or prejudiced in our efforts to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity to create and develop a third pillar of our economy if not for our immediate benefit, then certainly for the benefit of our generations yet to come?”