CHAPTER 7— EXPLOITING THE RESOURCES OF 



THE SEABED 



I. Ocean Space 



The purpose of this study is to describe the seabed, its configuration 

 and resources, and to show how technological advances to exploit the 

 resources under the oceans have impacted on national policy and inter- 

 national diplomacy. 



An Overview of the Geography of the Seabed 



The world oceans occupy more than 70 per cent of the surface of 

 the Earth. Although the oceans have been divided into Arctic, Atlantic, 

 Indian, Pacific, and Antarctic, this division reflects only the point of 

 view of humans inhabiting the land of the planet Earth. Viewed from 

 the Moon, Earth is essentially a water planet — one large ocean inter- 

 spersed with continental land masses. 



Geologically, the picture is even more radical. The world oceans are 

 merely a film of water covering a major portion of the Earth's crust. 

 Other portions of the crust protrude above this film of water and are 

 called land ; what is below the water is the seabed. 



By virtue of its global characteristics, therefore, ocean space is a 

 common link among land masses, shared by the nations touching this 

 ocean space. Its waters wash indiscriminately the shores of these na- 

 tions, and its marine life forms journey freely through their grazing 

 grounds heedless of national boundaries. Despite these natural char- 

 acteristics, ocean space has been zoned off, and national boundaries and 

 jurisdictions established by the coastal states. 



Until recently, man's needs for the ocean were for the most part con- 

 fined to food and commerce, followed by military uses. The main con- 

 cern of nations was the protection of their near-shore areas for their 

 food supply, and their commercial fleets. The ocean floor and the sea- 

 bed were virtually unknown, and their potential resources unheard of. 



Progress in marine technology and the widening horizons of scien- 

 tific inquiry enlarged the sphere of man's knowledge and revealed the 

 presence of natural resources, not only in sea water itself, but also on 

 the ocean floor and in the underlying layers. Today, the sea floor is no 

 longer a bottomless basin but an underwater world with a "landscape" 

 not very unlike man's own world on land. It has valleys and mountain 

 ranges, seamounts and volcanoes, canyons and deep trenches, and a con- 

 tinental margin extending from land to the abyss, all complete with 

 plant and animal life. It is a whole new world, heretofore alien and 

 hostile to man, yet virtually at his doorstep. 



Into this underwater realm man has begun to direct his energy — his 

 quest for knowledge, for profit, and for his ultimate survival. 



Scope and Limitations of the Study 



This study defines the area under consideration, the resources of 

 the seabed, and the international activities toward an orderly exploita- 



Note : This chapter was prepared in 1971 by George A. Doumani. 



(439) 



