The Natuna Sea () is an extensive shallow sea located around the Natuna Regency, extending south of the Riau Islands, east of the Lingga Regency and west of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

, to the Bangka Belitung Islands. The islands of the Badas and Tambelan Archipelago are located at its center. Mostly located within Indonesian territorial waters, it is the southernmost portion of the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

, and geologically part of

Sunda Shelf Geology, Geologically, the Sunda Shelf () is a south-eastern extension of the continental shelf of Mainland Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Indonesia, Indonesian islands of Bali, Borneo, Java, Madura Island, Madura, an ...

. It communicates with the

Java Sea The Java Sea (, ) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its northwest links it to the South Ch ...

to its southeast via the Karimata and Gaspar Strait east and west of Belitung, and with the Strait of Malacca to the west via the Berhala and Singapore Strait. The

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) (French: ''Organisation Hydrographique Internationale'') is an intergovernmental organization representing hydrography. the IHO comprised 102 member states. A principal aim of the IHO is to ...

(IHO), in its '' Limits of Oceans and Seas'', 3rd edition (1953), does not list a Natuna Sea. Instead, the area encompassed by the Natuna Sea is considered the southern portion of the South China Sea. The 1986 draft of the IHO's ''Limits of Oceans and Seas'' proposed the Natuna Sea, which extends south from the Natuna and Anambas Islands to the Belitung Islands.

North Natuna Sea

In July 2017, Indonesia renamed the northern reaches of its

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

in the South China Sea as the "North Natuna Sea", which is located north of the Indonesian Natuna Regency, bordering southern Vietnam's exclusive economic zone. The North Natuna Sea is located between the Natuna Islands and Cape Cà Mau on the southern tip of the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

in Vietnam.

References

{{List of seas Natuna Regency Seas of Indonesia Marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean Maritime Southeast Asia

North Natuna Sea

See also

References