204 



A ncxc intentatiO)Ml convention on 

 the conduct of marine research 

 should include the provision that 

 research buoys may be placed in 

 any coastal nation's territorial 

 waters, in the superadjacent waters 

 of the continental shelves, or in 

 the high seas beyond the contirwntal 

 shelves. 



engaged. It may not be so easy to determine 

 by such an examination whether a vessel is 

 engaged in commercial fishing or scientific 

 research, although the quantity of fish taken 

 in the former activity should be significantly 

 greater than in the latter. However, the 

 coastal nation has an additional safeguard. 

 It always may decide to participate or to be 

 represented in the research itself. Taken to- 

 gether, these safeguards also assure that 

 scientific inquiry will not become a cover for 

 espionage. 



The Commission has not recommended 

 that the new convention apply generally to 

 the internal waters of nations. Security con- 

 cerns in internal waters generally are too 

 sensitive to be allayed by the safeguards 

 provided in the case of other waters. How- 

 ever, the territorial waters of a coastal nation 

 should be taken to include waters which were 

 once part of the territorial sea but are now 

 internal waters because of the use of a system 

 of straight baselines to measure the breadth 

 of the territorial sea or the closing of bays in 

 accordance with Article 7 of the Convention 



on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous 

 Zone. 



Interim Policies 



Pending the negotiation of the new 

 convention. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 United States seek to enter into bilateral 

 and regional agreements embodying the 

 provisions recommended above for the 

 new convention and take other initiatives 

 to encourage freedom of scientific research 

 and international scientific cooperation. 



Such initiatives might include the follow- 

 ing: 



• The United States might interpret broadly 

 the terms, "qualified institution"' and 

 "purely scientific research," and so, for 

 example, consent to scientifically valuable 

 exploration for mineral resources while 

 still retaining its sovereign right to exploit 

 the natural resources of the continental 

 shelves and exclude others from exploiting 

 them. 



• The United States might state that it will 

 grant applications by foreign scientists for 

 permission to conduct broad categories of 

 research without requiring them to make 

 repeated requests for consent to engage in 

 individual projects falling within an ap- 

 proved category, stating that its prior 

 consent is required only for research 

 concerning the continental shelf which in- 

 volves physical contact with it. Even if 

 physical contact occurs, as when an in- 

 stallation for scientific research is placed 

 on the continental shelf, it could stress 

 that its prior consent is not required if 

 the research concerns the superjacent 

 waters and not the continental shelf. 



Of coui-se, the United States would re- 

 tain its right under the Convention to par- 

 ticipate or be represented in the research, 



I 



