TITLE 2: NATURAL RESOURCES
DIVISION 1: MARITIME AND COASTAL RESOURCES
§ 1112. Purposes of Chapter. The purposes of this chapter are: (a) To preserve and protect the traditional rights and interests of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands in the surrounding sea and the resources thereof; (b) To ensure the continued availability of such resources for future generations by establishing jurisdiction over such resources; (c) To exercise for the benefit of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, in accordance with their needs and requirements, all rights to the marine resources which accrue to the people pursuant to customary international law, including the ICNT; (d) To provide for a system of archipelagic baselines surrounding the islands and reefs of the Commonwealth; (e) To establish a regime of archipelagic waters within such baselines and delimit the internal waters of the Commonwealth within such archipelagic waters; (f) To establish a territorial sea seaward of such baselines; (g) To establish an exclusive economic zone seaward of the territorial sea; (h) To establish a contiguous zone within the exclusive economic zone; and (i) To provide for interim regulation of activities within the archipelagic waters, the territorial sea, and the exclusive economic zone. Source: PL 2-7, § 3.