85 



from today, and I hope we will all be here to take it, we would g-et into 

 a monorail train somewhere down at the harbor of Chesapeake Bay, 

 soon splash mider the water and after being stunned by the myriad 

 of colors, particularly the brilliant greens of the water and the marvel- 

 ous colors of the undersea fauna, we would observe that the shelf tliat 

 I have just been talking about would be a very busy commercial area. 

 It would be dotted with hundreds of wells and derricks drilling oil and 

 gas. 



We would see tremendous fish farms surrounded by electric bubbles 

 where billions of fish would be bred to yield marine protein concen- 

 trate to feed all of mankind. We would see gigantic refrigerator 

 plants taking advantage of the unchanging cool temperatures. We 

 would see tremendous mechanisms for converting sea water not only 

 into drinkable form but into form that will irrigate our now parched 

 deserts. 



We would see freight cars in unending chains proceeding under 

 the water, not subject to storms or weather conditions, between here 

 and Europe as well as the other continents of the world. In short, we 

 would be seeing what in good sense this committee is foreseeing by 

 virtue of its decision to hold hearings on this important subject matter. 



As Mr. Ambassador Goldberg stated only a few weeks ago before 

 the First Committee of the General Assembly, development of the 

 ocean resources is still in its early stage but promises much for human 

 benefit and it requires "that we nations of the world, through this 

 organization, address ourselves to our tasks in cooperation and not in 

 conflict." It can be a tremendously important subject. 



Now, the continental shelf that I have been talking about extends 

 for a distance of from 8 to 800 miles, but is on the average about 42 

 miles in width and before we get off the shelf, let's go back and take 

 a legalistic look at the land that we have just traversed. 



For a distance of 3 miles from shore, as I have previously stated, 

 there exists what is known as the territorial sea. This sea, according 

 to the U.S. interpretation, is 3 miles in width, although there are 

 other countries that argue that it's as much as 12 miles in width. As to 

 this area, there is absolute sovereignty and all determinations with 

 reference to this area are made by the coastal country. 



Now, it is well known in law that where sovereignty exists, it 

 extends to the sky and to the center of the earth so that there is no 

 doubt that the bed of the sea under our territorial waters belongs to 

 the United States and we have sovereignty over the same. 



Now, as we proceed outward from the territorial waters, bearing in 

 mind that the continental shelf is on the average 42 miles in width, 

 the question arises as to who has jurisdication over the sea bed in the 

 continental shelf. Bear in mind that we are now out in the high seas, 

 because as far as the waters are concerned, once we pass the territorial 

 sea we are in the high seas. 



We are looking at this juncture at the bed of the sea on the con- 

 tinental shelf under the high seas, and as to this area our country 

 took the lead in 1945 by promulgation of what was known as the 

 Truman proclamation in which we asserted jurisdiction over the 

 resources of the continental shelf, and this proclamation was followed 

 by similar proclamations by other countries and, in turn, resulted in 



