The term "continental shelf" is used by geologists generally to mean that part of the continental margin which is between the shoreline and the shelf break or, where there is no noticeable slope, between the shoreline and the point where the depth of the superjacent water is approximately between 100 and 200 metres. However, this term is used in article 76 as a juridical term. According to the Convention, the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the submerged prolongation of the land territory of the coastal State - the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. The continental margin consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof.

According to article 76, the coastal State may establish the outer limits of its juridical continental shelf wherever the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles by establishing the foot of the continental slope, by meeting the requirements stated for the thickness of sedimentary rocks, by satisfying geomorphological requirements and by meeting distance and depth criteria, or by any combination of these methods (Article 76, paragraphs 4 - 7).

A resource-poor country with a huge population, Bangladesh must make the most of whatever resources it is able to lay claim to within its geographical boundary. As the Bay of Bengal washes against Bangladesh’s shores, the country is also rich in marine resources. According to international law, we have an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that extends 200 nautical miles into the sea. The sea is rich in minerals and a wealth of aquatic resources in addition to fishes. But we are yet to prepare ourselves to tap our marine resources. Being a large deltaic plain, the rivers that flow across the country from the north to the south and then into the Bay of Bengal deposit silts at their mouths.

Bangladesh has 12 nautical miles of maritime boundary and 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Unfortunately, Bangladesh till date is not in a position to use its claimed EEZ as it has not fulfilled the provisions spelt out in the UN maritime charter.

The process, which is going on over the millennia, has caused to form many small islands not far from the coastal line. The South Talpatty comprises two such newly emerging islands. Those islands lie at the mouth of Hariabhanga River which also delimit the common border between Bangladesh and India in that area. The newly formed islands, which are known as South Talpatty in Bangladesh while as New Moore in India, were discovered by a US satellite in 1974. Coincidentally, in order to demarcate the land boundary between the two countries, Bangladesh signed an agreement with India in that year.

The issue of South Talpatty, being a subject of maritime boundary talks, Bangladesh claims to have discussed it when one of its ministers called on the-then Indian prime minister Morarji Desai in May 1979. Desai, reportedly, agreed to conduct a joint survey to demarcate those islands. But things became complicated about a year later when the Indian government under prime minister Indira Gandhi claimed that the two small islands it calls New Moore belonged to India. The matter, despite Bangladesh’s repeated claim that it is the real owner of the South Talpatty islets, is still hanging in the balance because a maritime boundary agreement between the two countries is yet to be concluded.

In geophysical terms, according to experts, under Article 76 of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea which prescribes determination of territorial/continental shelf claims under sea-water “on the basis of sedimentary thickness”, Bangladesh has a solid claim on the Bengal Deep Sea Fan that for millennia have been spreading the annual deposit of silts from the three major eastern Himalayan river systems draining through Bangladesh to invade the sea-bed of the Bay of Bengal and extend right up to Sri Lanka.

It is not only about the many disputed territories like the South Talpatty islands that Bangladesh is yet to take a decision as required by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982 to which Bangladesh is a signatory. But with its territorial waters still remaining undemarcated, Bangladesh will be hard put to stake its claim not only for the disputed islands, but also for its exclusive economic zone.