THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE ISSUE OF DEEP 

 OCEAN RESOURCES 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1967 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on Foreign Affairs, 



Subcommittee on International 



Organizations and Movements, 



Washington, D.C. 



The Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements 

 met at 10 a.m. in room 2255, Raybnrn House Office Building, Hon. 

 Dante B. Fascell (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 



Mr. Fascell. The subcommittee will come to order, please. 



We meet this morning to open hearings on a series of joint resolutions 

 expressing opposition to a premature vesting of title to the ocean floor 

 in the United Nations. 



I believe it will be useful to include at this point in the record the 

 text of House Joint Resolution 816, together with a list of similar 

 resolutions and their sponsors. Without objection these documents will 

 be placed in the record at this point. 



(H.J. Res. 816 follows:) 



[H.J. Res. 816J 

 joint resolution In opposition to vesting title to the ocean floor in the United Nations 



Whereas strong efforts are being exerted by certain groups and individuals to 

 immediately place the United Nations in control of the resources of the bed of the 

 deep ocean beyond the Continental Shelf; and 



Whereas our national goals for the development of the ocean floor's resources 

 have not been clearly defined, nor has an approach to the development of these 

 resources been formulated; and 



Whereas at present we have only limited understanding of the extent of the 

 undersea resources, the means of obtaining access to them, the conditions for 

 processing and marketing them, and the impact which activities connected with 

 their extraction and mining will have on other uses of the sea; and 



Whereas the Congress of the United States in 1966 enacted Public Law 89-454 

 for the expressed purpose of establishing two official bodies — the National Council 

 on Marine Resources and Engineering Develoi:)ment, and the Commission on 

 Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources — to identify national objectives 

 concerning undersea resources and recommend Federal programs to accomplish 

 these aims; and 



Whereas a number of highly responsible national organizations, representing a 

 broad segment of the American public as well as many of the parties interested 

 and experienced in the development of undersea resources have expressed opposi- 

 tion to conferring title at this time to such undersea resources upon the United 

 Nations: Therefore be it 



Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United, Slates of 

 America in Congress assembled, That it is the sense of the Congress that any action 

 at this time to vest control of deep ocean resources in an international body would 

 be premature and ill advised; and be it further 



Resolved, That the Congress of the United States memorialize the President to 

 instruct American representatives of the United Nations to oppose any action at 

 this time to vest control of the resources of the deep sea beyond the Continental 

 Shelves of the United States. 



(1) 



