"Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf". In 1988, Ireland and the United Kingdom signed an EEZ boundary agreement, ignoring the rock per UNCLOS. With effect from 31 March 2014, the UK and Ireland published EEZ limits which include Rockall within the UK's EEZ. In October 2012, the Irish Independent published a picture of the Irish Navy ship LÉ Róisín sailing past Rockall conducting routine maritime security patrols, and claimed that it was exercising Ireland's sovereign rights over the rock. United Kingdom The UK claims Rockall along with a territorial sea around the islet inside the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The UK also claims "a circle of UK sovereign airspace over the islet of Rockall". The UK claimed Rockall on 18 September 1955 when "Two Royal Marines and a civilian naturalist, led by Royal Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott, raised a Union flag on the islet and cemented a plaque into the rock". Prior to this Rockall was legally terra nullius. In 1972, the British Island of Rockall Act formally annexed Rockall to the United Kingdom. The UK considers the rock administratively part of the Isle of Harris and, under the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999 a large sea area around it was declared to be under the jurisdiction of Scots law. A navigational beacon was installed on the island in 1982 and the UK declared that no ship would be allowed within a radius of the rock. However, in 1997, the UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), limiting territorial sea claims to a radius, and therefore allowing free passage in waters beyond this. In 1988, the United Kingdom and Ireland signed an EEZ boundary agreement for which "the location of Rockall was irrelevant to the determination of the boundary". In 1997, the UK ratified UNCLOS, which states that "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf". As the rock lies within the United Kingdom's EEZ, the UK has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources of the area, including jurisdiction over the protection and preservation of the marine environment. In May 2017, declassified documents revealed that the 1955 decision to claim the rock as