would prohibit mining activities in areas beyond limits of national jurisdic- 

 tion pending creation of an international legal-administrative regime for the 

 deep oceans. 



Even within the United States, ownership of offshore mineral rights is 

 still an issue, both at the Federal-State and State-State levels. Last year, 

 legislation was introduced in Congress on behalf of the Atlantic Seaboard 

 States to extend their offshore exploitation rights out to 12 miles from 

 the present 3-mile limit established by the Submerged Lands Act of 1953. 

 As a result of claims to undersea lands out as far as 100 miles based on 

 colonial charters, the Government filed suit in April against 13 Atlantic 

 Coast States (the Original Thirteen less Vermont and Connecticut, plus 

 Maine and Florida) to bring final resolution to the question of ownership 

 of mineral rights on the Atlantic continental shelf. Other longstanding 

 disputes over title to minerals off U.S. coasts remain unsettled due in part 

 to the absence of fixed and identifiable baselines in most coastal areas 

 from which to determine jurisdictional boundaries. 



The importance attached to resolving the broad questions of jurisdiction 

 over continental shelf and deep ocean resources is manifested by the 

 establishment of three special congressional subcommittees during 1969 and 

 the rising attention to ocean law in academic and professional circles. 



In no area of marine science are the benefits from — indeed, the necessity 

 for — a public-private partnership more apparent than in the development 

 of mineral resources. The exploitation of these resources will continue to be 

 conducted by private industry. At the same time, the minerals are on public 

 lands and must be managed in accordance with overall national priorities 

 and objectives, including considerations of foreign policy. In view of the 

 mineral potential of the oceans and the complex issues confronting their 

 continued exploitation, it is imperative that the Federal and State Govern- 

 ments and private industry work together to develop policies which take into 

 account the economic incentives that motivate industry to move seaward, 

 the rapidly evolving technology for doing so, the growing public demand 

 for adequate environmental protection, and the implications of these poli- 

 cies for our broader international objectives. During this decade, develop- 

 ment of judicious and effective policies for marine minerals will take on a 

 growing urgency — and will require the application of the best of our national 

 talents drawn not only from science and technology but also from the dis- 

 ciplines of law, economics, sociology, conservation, and international aflfairs. 



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