Exclusive economic zone

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is an area in the ocean where only one country gets to look into and do economic activity, such as mining underwater resources and fishing. In the case of islands far from the mainland, EEZ starts at the coasts of the islands. Normally, EEZ goes out to 200 nautical miles (370 km), unless EEZs of two or more countries overlap. Many EEZs actually overlap; countries argue over where their outermost boundaries of EEZ should be. EEZ is prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
It is different from territorial waters in that ships and submarines from other countries can freely travel without any permission. However, this is under the condition that they are just passing by and not taking any resources. These zones were invented in the middle 20th century.