Indian Ocean Islands, Seychelles & Mauritius join forces to manage exploitation of world's largest offshore continental shelf area. With the help of the Commonwealth Secretariat Seychelles and Mauritius have established a joint commission, the first of its kind, to manage an offshore zone comprising 400,000 sq. kilometers of continental shelf. This development comes after their successful joint claim to the continental shelf before the United Nations. This will enable both countries to jointly regulate seabed activities, including exploration for petroleum and minerals, as well as the conservation and management of the living resources of the seabed, reports 'The Information Daily'.