National Ocean Policy Study 



On February 19, 1974, the Senate unanimously adopted Senate 

 Resolution 222, authorizing the Committee on Commerce to 

 undertake a comprehensive analysis of national ocean policy and 

 Federal ocean programs. The scope of the study will include a broad 

 spectrum of ocean affairs. It is expected that, in its first year, the 

 study will concentrate on fisheries problems, including extended 

 jurisdiction and management of the ocean's living resources. Coastal 

 zone management programs now being developed by the states 

 pursuant to the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 will also be 

 reviewed, with particular emphasis on the adequacy of Federal 

 assistance to these programs for the establishment of methods for 

 coping with questions of energy facilities siting, national growth 

 policy, and other land and water uses in the coastal zone. Additional 

 subjects for the Senate study include ocean transportation, ocean 

 mineral resources, research and technology, pollution, oceanic 

 education, recreation, marine data requirements and marine 

 instrumentation, calibration, and standards. 



Law of the Sea I 



During the past year, preparatory work was completed for the 

 Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. In October 

 and November 1973 the 28th United Nations General Assembly 

 reviewed the progress of the UN Seabed Committee, the body 

 charged with the preparations for the Conference, and adopted a 

 resolution calling for an opening organizational session of the 

 Conference, which was held at New York, 3-14 December 1973, to be 

 followed by a 10-week substantive session at Caracas, Venezuela, 20 

 June - 29 August 1974. 



The 91-member U.N. Seabed Committee divided its work among 

 three subcommittees. Sub-Committee I was concerned with the 

 future regime for the seabed area beyond national jurisdiction, and 

 the powers and functions of international machinery created to 

 administer this area. Sub-Committee II was charged with the 

 traditional Law of the Sea issues, including the regime of the high 

 seas, seabed resource areas, the territorial sea, international straits, 

 and fisheries. Sub-Committee III was concerned with protection of 

 the marine environment and the conduct of marine scientific 

 research. During 1973, the UN Seabed Committee met for a total of 13 

 weeks in March/April and July/August. 



With regard to the substance of the preparatory negotiations in 

 1973, considerable progress was made by Sub-Committee I in the 

 preparation of draft articles on the regime for the deep seabed. A 

 working group, originally established in 1972 to prepare articles on 

 the regime and machinery for the deep seabed, developed alternative 



