evidence: Who owns Rockall? The isolated Atlantic outcrop is in the news after the Scottish government warned Ireland it will send its fisheries patrol vessels to force Irish fishing boats to leave a 12-mile (19km) zone around the tiny disputed island. But Rockall made headlines long before Friday. [...] Possession of Rockall, 386km (240 miles) west of the Scottish mainland, was for many decades deemed imperative in order to generate claims to the vast tracts of surrounding fisheries and the oil-rich Atlantic seabed. [...] The UK, however, is not the only state eager laying claim to the the Hatton/Rockall basin. Ireland, Iceland and Denmark (on behalf of the Faroes) have also lodged overlapping claims.