107 



COMMONWEALTH OF 



THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 



Statement of Jesus C. Borja 



June 1, 1995 



The Covenant contains no provision conveying the fisheries 

 resources surrounding our islands to the Federal Government. 

 Certainly, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands did not, by 

 entering into the Covenant, vote to grant the Federal Government 

 control of these resources. Indeed, at the time the Covenant was 

 approved, the Federal Government had not established a fishery 

 conservation zone or an exclusive economic zone and did not claim 

 any fisheries resource jurisdiction in our waters. 



Given the obligation of the United States under Article 6 of 

 the Trusteeship Agreement to "protect the inhabitants against the 

 loss of their lands and resources," the United States was obli- 

 gated to ensure that the Covenant retained these resources for 

 the use and benefit of the people of the Northern Mariana Is- 

 lands . Perhaps because the United States claimed no fisheries 

 jurisdiction beyond its territorial sea at that time, no express 

 provisions were included in the Covenant. 



But it is equally clear that the Covenant makes no grant of 

 proprietary or other rights over these fisheries resources to the 

 Federal Government. Since the Covenant is a negotiated document, 



22 



