The BNGIS technical team participated in the IV Regional Training Course on the Outer Limit of the Continental Shelf Beyond 200nmT for Latin America and the Caribbean including The Bahamas.

Among the many professionals attending the training was the BNGIS Technical staff, Ms. Antonique Sweeting, GIS Analyst and Mr. Duane Miller, GIS Technician. Countries represented included, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Republic of Cuba, Guyana, Mexico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay The United Nations Convention on Laws of The Sea (UNCLOS) is an international agreement that addresses all aspects of the world's oceans, including jurisdiction over areas of the oceans and seabed. Oceanic jurisdictions are referred to as "maritime zones" and are measured by boundaries called "baselines," which consist of either the coastal low-water line if the coastal State's coastline is linear, or lines connecting points along the coast if the coastal State's coastline is indented. The maritime zones over which the coastal State has full sovereignty are its internal waters and territorial sea. Beyond the territorial sea lie the contiguous zone and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), maritime zones over which the coastal State has qualified sovereignty. Beyond those maritime zones lie the high seas, over which the coastal States have no sovereignty. Seabed jurisdictional zones consist of the continental shelf, over which a coastal State has full sovereignty, and the Area, which is the "seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof" beyond the continental shelf.

UNCLOS Article 76, paragraph 1 defines the continental shelf of a coastal State as "the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin."

The training course comprised a series of nine (9) modules beginning with details concerning the legal ramifications of Article 76. The Modules provided a detailed analysis of the scientific methodologies which need to be applied in order to identify the outer limits of the continental shelf in compliance with UNCLOS For more details see “Article 76”.