The Argentine Sea is the name given to the sea within the continental shelf off the Argentine mainland. It lacks international recognition but is symbolically important to Argentina for consolidating the country's national unity behind the concept of Argentina Grande, an area that extends out to include the British South Atlantic islands and a section of the Antarctic continent.
Geography
The Argentine Sea is in the South Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern coast of Argentina, extending from the approximate latitude of Montevideo, Uruguay, southward to Tierra del Fuego, and is situated about north of Antarctica. The Argentine Sea has a surface area of and is one of the largest seas in the world. The average depth of the sea is and the maximum depth is. It has a salinity of 3.5%. The Argentine Sea progressively widens going southward, in contrast to the narrowing of the continental mass. The sea platform has a series of plateaux which descend to the east as large terraces or steps. Because of its stair-shaped plateaux, the Argentine Sea is similar morphologically to the Extra-Andean Patagonia. The Falkland Islands are also located within the continental shelf of the Argentine Sea.
Territorial claims
According to the law 23968, the territorial waters of Argentina extend from the line from the gulfs of San Matías and San Jorge to the outer limits of the River Plate. The contiguous zone extends 12 nautical miles after the territorial waters, and the exclusive economic zone from it. The continental shelf extends to either the limits of the exclusive economic zone or the shelf slope. Argentina has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The exclusive economic zone claimed by Argentina overlap with claims maintained by the United Kingdom on behalf of the Falkland Islands and similar claims around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The UK's Falkland Islands claim boundary starts from the midpoint between Argentina and the Islands to the West and stretches 200 nautical miles in other directions with similar claims around the other British Overseas Territories. Argentina announced its claim without consultation with the United Kingdom. In the years 1990 to 2005 fishing and mineral resources in the area were administered by joint commissions between Argentina and the United Kingdom, Argentina unilaterally withdrew from these organisations in 2005 to pursue a more aggressive stance in its claim to the Falkland Islands. At any one time Argentina usually has a single vessel patrolling the undisputed area of its claim, the vessels do not enter the exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom although there have been reports of Argentine warships threatening vessels on the Falkland side of the border by radio. Under the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Article 59 disputed and overlapping claims have no legal force until the dispute is resolved between the opposing parties.
Biodiversity
The Argentine sea is one of the most temperate seas of the world. It receives the cold Falkland Currentfrom the south, which comes from the Antarctic, and the warm Brazil Currentfrom the north. The Argentine sea has twelve areas identified as places of great biodiversity. There are two international protected areas, one national, and eighteen provincial ones. The Argentine sea has plankton, algae, crustaceans, sardines and anchovies. Those feed the more advanced fauna such as penguins, cormorants, sharks, whales, dolphins, Burmeister's porpoise, fur seals, sea lions, and southern elephant seals.
