47 



trouble that we might well try to avoid, recognizing that there are 

 other competing national interests? 



Mr. Rogers. I think it will have to be done by whether the other 

 nation would reach the midborder of whatever area you are trying 

 to exploit. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. You think 



Mr. Rogers. You have to deal udth them. In many areas it will 

 be a multi-nation sort of thing. Maybe discussion of the member 

 nations, I think, is a way to approach it. This is evidently being done 

 now in the North Sea. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. You mean, it is just a question of discussion 

 between those nations capable of making these explorations? 



Mr. Rogers. Those who are involved and whose borders actually 

 touch the area. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. And you think the resources, the undersea 

 resources, should belong automatically to those who are able to 

 exploit them? 



Mr. Rogers. Yes, very definitely; and to the nation that it borders 

 on. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. It is not a question of bordering on. 



Mr. Rogers. Yes, it is. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. If you are out a thousand miles into the sea, 

 it isn't a border situation. 



Mr. Rogers. Yes, it is, because it starts from your shoreline. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. It either does or it doesn't. You might go 

 off some other shore than your own, 



Mr. Rogers. No. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. To develop the resources there. 



Mr. Rogers. No. Under the law, this does not give you the capa- 

 bility of doing that. This is from the coastal areas. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. You are assuming something sacrosanct 

 about this convention. 



Mr. Rogers. I am saying it is present law and I do not see anything 

 too \\T:'ong with it. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. I am saying that you could go off someone 

 else's shore and go down underneath. This would be forbidden? 



Mr. Rogers. That does not give you the title to the land. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. Why not? 



Mr. Rogers. Unless it is a contiguous area starting with your 

 shore. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. It is contiguity, in your opinion, no matter 

 how far out, that develops legality? 



Mr. Rogers. Up to a midrange, and the possibility that you can 

 yourself exploit it. That is what the conference says. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. In other words, it goes up to the middle of 

 the Pacific Ocean or the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? 



Mr. Rogers. Yes, I think this would be true. 



Mr, Frelinghuysen. How far off, say, the Mexican coast? 



Mr. Rogers. Probably a midrange there in the gulf. You would 

 take a midpoint. It wiU have to be worked out between the t^^-o 

 nations. This is not difficult. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. Mexico might not have the capacity at all 

 at the moment to get out beyond the continental shelf. 



