The peninsular India extending between latitudes 80 4' and 370 6' north and longitudes 680 7' and 97025' East has a coastline of about 8,219 km.The Indian Ocean covering the area between 30 and 1500 and from the Main land mass in the north to 500 south has a total area of 51 million sq km. After the declaration of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1977, the area available to India is 2.02 million sq. km. comprising 0.86 million sq. km. on the East coast, 0.56
million sq. km. on the West coast and 0.60 million sq. km. around the Andaman and Nicobar islands. With the absolute right on the EEZ, India has also acquired the responsibility to conserve, protect, develop and optimally exploit the marine living resources up to 200 nautical miles of the coastline
