93 



Mr. EiCHELBERGER. Yes, I don't think we can establish over night 

 the final U.N. agency that would administer, or whatever phrase you 

 wish to use. 



Mr. Fascell. You see, your statement changes something. I had 

 understood from Mr. Danzig that we were not really talking about 

 territorial waters or the continental shelf, but about the continental 

 slope and beyond. 



Now I find that in order to talk about the continental slof)e, I must 

 first know what constitutes territorial waters. 



Mr. Christy. I don't think that is necessarily true, Mr. Chairman. 

 We are talking about different kinds of rights and within the terri- 

 torial waters we have full sovereignty except for passage. Be3^ond that 

 on the continental shelf, the present regime which is accepted is that 

 we have rights to exploit the resources on the floor of the continental 

 shelf. This is a limited right and does not interfere with the super- 

 jacent waters for use of fishing or for other purposes. 



Beyond that we, I think, want to have a system again of limited 

 rights. 



To me the question of urgency is this, that is, the demarcation of the 

 extent of these limited rights to the resources of the sea floor. I think 

 they should be limited quite clearly, but unless we arrive at some de- 

 cision on this fairly soon, we might find ourselves in this kind of a box 

 [pointing to the map]. That's what I meant by preserving options. 



Mr. Fascell. When you refer to this kind of a box you mean the 

 division of the ocean floors by 



Mr. Christy. Under different national jurisdictions. 



Mr. Danzig. May I say, Mr. Chairman 



Mr. Fascell. Mr. Danzig. 



Mr. Danzig. I would say that the territorial waters are fairly well 

 boxed in by the 1958 convention on territorial waters and contiguous 

 zones. While the territorial waters were not described or defined as 

 to width, the contiguous zone — which I did not want to go into, be- 

 cause I clid not want to unnecessarily complicate the legalistic anal- 

 ysis, but this is a zone in which all countries have limited rights — 

 fiscal, sanitation, customs — that the contiguous zone includes, I would 

 say, a fair reading of that convention, includes the territorial sea and 

 the contiguous zone within a limit of 12 miles fi'om shore. 



Now, Mr. Chairman, there are, after all, more than 125 nations in 

 the world, and you are always going to have some extreme claims 

 made by some small countries, but that doesn't necessarily mean that 

 because some people take outlandish positions that the world's prog- 

 ress must stand until these countries' positions are limited. 



I don't think that the world community would recognize anything 

 further than 12 miles as a territorial sea. 



Now, we have, as we have seen, also observed that the continental 

 shelf beyond that is already fixed as to the right to exploit the same 

 by the 1958 convention, and we are talking about the area beyond that, 

 not just the deep declining slope, but the bed of the ocean which is 

 five-sevenths of the surface of the earth. 



Mr. Fascell. So, in our definitions we have to draw a further dis- 

 tinction between the "continental slope" and the "bed of the ocean." 



Mr. Danzig. That is right. 



