France intends to declare an Exclusive Economic Zone in the Mediterranean in a bid to protect dwindling fish stocks, French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said yesterday.

"The French government has decided to declare an EEZ in the Mediterranean... with a perimeter of approximately 70 nautical miles, corresponding to our existing environmental protection area," Mr Borloo told reporters.

Defined under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an EEZ lets coastal states extend their jurisdiction beyond their 12-mile territorial waters, up to a maximum of 200 miles.

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