148 



\ 





Manganese nodules photographed at 

 2,7J8 meters. Tlie Commission 

 proposes negotiation 0/ an inter- 

 national agreement to estubli^sh 

 an international authority to register 

 elaims to explore or exploit such 

 deep sea mineral resources. 



ploitatioii except under a registered claim. 

 Nations thus will be free to engage in or au- 

 thorize preliminary investigation to deter- 

 mine whether it is worthwhile registering a 

 claim to explore. However, as will become 

 clear later, every nation will have a great in- 

 centive to register a claim to explore as 

 quickly as possible. 



Only a nation, or an association of nations, 

 should be eligible to register a claim. If the 

 claim pertains to an area within some coastal 

 nation's "intermediate zone," as defined 

 below, only that nation should be authorized 

 to register it. 



The International Registry Authority 

 should be required to register claims with 

 respect to specified mineral resources, e.g., 

 oil and gas, or all minerals other than oil 



and gas, or all mineral resources, in a speci- 

 fied area of the deep .seas on a "first-come, 

 first-registered" basis, subject only to the 

 following condition: The nation register- 

 ing the claim must satisfy the Authority that 

 the individual, association, corporation, or 

 national organization that will undertake 

 the exi)loration or exploitation is technicallj' 

 and financially competent and willing to per- 

 form the task. The entity undertaking the 

 task may or may not be a national of the 

 registering nation; that should be a matter 

 for each nation to decide for itself. But 

 for the condition mentioned, which is neces- 

 sary to prevent claim registration from being 

 used to "sit on" the rights derived there- 

 from, the Authority should be given no dis- 

 cretion to deny registration of any claim. 



Registration of a claim to explore for par- 

 ticular mineral resources in a particular area 

 of the deep seas should confer upon the regis- 

 tering nation the exclusive right to engage in 

 or authorize such exploration. 



Upon proof of discovery, the International 

 Registry Authority should be required to 

 convert the registered claim to explore into 

 a registered claim to exploit. 



Registration of a claim to exploit particu- 

 lar mineral resources in a particular area of 

 the deep seas should confer upon the regis- 

 tering nation the exclusive right to engage 

 in or authorize such exploitation in a large 

 enough area and for a long enough time to 

 enable the producer to operate economically 

 and not wastefully and to recover its original 

 investment as well as an adequate return 

 thereon. The size of the area covered by the 

 claim and the term of years for which it is 

 registered should be fixed by the Authority. 



A registered claim to explore or exploit 

 should be subject to conditions specified by 

 the International Registry Authority to as- 



