50 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



nese, cobalt, nickel, and copper which, one day, may be in scarce 

 supply. "On the average, the nodules rini to something; like 20 percent 

 manganese, 15 percent iron; but some of the richer deposits may yield 

 as much as 45 percent manganese, 1 percent cobalt." ^^ 



John Mero, a graduate student at the University of California, has been study- 

 ing the possibility of recovery for sonae time. First, he says that the usual deep 

 sea research technique of dragging a metal dredge over the bottom could be 

 used, but might have practical disadvantages. As a possilile alternative, he 

 suggests a kind of underwater "vacuum cleaner" that would scoop up nodules as 

 it runs over the bottom and pump them to a l^arge on the surface. * * * Here is 

 a legal problem to match that involved in the conquest of space. Who owns the 

 mineral rights under the high seas? Can any one nation or grouf) of nations stake 

 a claim and fend off all comers? Could a mining company be guaranteed any 

 kind of lease or title by its national government? Or will an international agency, 

 perhaps within the UN, take over jurisdiction? ^ 



This question of ownership was treated in the Convention on the 

 Continental Shelf at the United Nations Conference on the Law of the 

 Sea in Geneva, 1958. Ai'ticle 1 defines the Continental Shelf in a 

 fashion that differs from common geologic usage: 



as referring to the seabed and subsoil of submarine areas adjacent to the coast 

 but outside the area of the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 meters or, beyond that 

 limit, to where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the 

 natural resources of the said areas. [Emphasis added.] 



That these boundaries extend far beyond the usual interpretation has 

 been suggested by G. E. Pearcy, geographer of the Department of 

 State, writing on "Geographical Aspects of the Law of the Sea."^* 

 Pearcy notes that article 6 of the Convention defines the boundary ^ — 



where the same Continental Shelf is adjacent to the territories of two or more 

 States where coasts are opposite each other * * * in the absence of agreement, 

 * * * as the median line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest 

 points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State 

 is measured. 



There is thus the "territorial sea" of breadth yet unsettled, but now 

 considered variously as 3-, 6-, or 12-miles, depending upon pronounce- 

 ments of various nations. (The United States has always favored 

 the narrowest limit here to preserve freedom of the seas, particularly 

 in the vicinity of straits.) Both the water in the territorial sea, and 

 land underneath come within sovereignty of the coastal State. Be- 

 yond that boundary, however, the oceans and their sui'face and con- 

 tents are regarded as high seas, declared a res communis; i.e., owned in 

 common. But the ocean bottom and its mineral resources, according 

 to this 1958 convention is everytvhere defined as belonging to the coastal 

 State — with the median boundary instantly defined, everywhere, some- 

 times existing at mid-ocean. When underwater mining becomes 

 practicable, this convention may be put to an immediate test, but 

 the question of ownership is at least clarified over prior, vague inter- 

 pretations. 



3. Energy 



The greatest source of energy in the sea lies in the water itself. 

 Hydrogen, one of the elements in water and thus in enormous abun- 

 dance in the oceans, may be considered the fuel from which energy 

 may be someday derived, imitating the natural process of nuclear 



3< Christian Science Monitor, Mar. 9, 1959, p. 13. 

 35 Ibid., p. 13. 



3» "Geographical Aspects of the Law of the Sea," Q. E. Pearcy, Annals, Assoc. Amer. Geographers, vol. 

 49, March 1959, No. 1, pp. 1-23. 



