The Loophole and the Banana Hole

The so-called "Loophole" refers to a large body of water in the Barents Sea, which is surrounded by the Norwegian economic zone, the fishery protection zone around Svalbard and the Russian economic zone. The area is considered to be international waters or the "high seas". The same applies to the so-called "Banana Hole", which is an ocean area surrounded by Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland's economic zones, the fishery zone around Jan Mayen and the fishery protection zone around Svalbard. This area is also international waters.  The international waters of the Loophole and Banana Hole arise because economic zones and fisheries protection zones/ fishery zones can not extend further out to sea than 200 nautical miles.  The continental shelf, however, has no such limitation, and the shelf below the water column is therefore wholly or partially subject to coastal state jurisdiction in both the Loophole and Banana Hole.