THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE ISSUE OF DEEP OCEAN 



RESOURCES 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1967 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

 Subcommittee on International 



Organization and Movements, 



Washington^ D.G. 



The Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements 

 met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a.m., in room 2200, Rayburn House Of- 

 fice Building, Hon. Dante B. Fascell (chairman of the subcommittee) 

 presiding. 



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



We meet this morning to continue our hearings on several resolu- 

 tions referred to this subcommittee, relating to the question of jurisdic- 

 tion over the resources located on the ocean floor. 



In the course of our earlier hearings, our subcommittee received testi- 

 money from Members of Congress who sponsored resolutions express- 

 ing opposition to the vesting in the United Nations of the title to 

 those resources. 



We next heard from a Department of State spokesman, who outlined 

 the position of the executive branch on this subject. 



Subsequently, the subcommittee took testimony from several private 

 witnesses who generally urged that some sort of international super- 

 vision be established over the exploration of the deep sea resources to 

 forestall possible conflicts between nations interested in such explora- 

 tion. 



Today we are going to get away from the policy issues involved in 

 this question in order to gain some better understanding of the nature, 

 and the extent, of the resources which lie on the bottom on the seas. 



To enlighten us on this topic, we have invited two expert witnesses : 



Dr. Harold James, the Chief Geologist of U.S. Geological Survey, 

 who is no mean expert in his own right. 



Mr. Willard Bascom, president of Ocean Science and Engineering, 

 Inc., also a renowned authority on ocean resources, whom Life Maga- 

 zine called the Trailbreaker of the Deeps, and who pioneered Project 

 Mohole. 



If there is no objection, I should like to put into the record brief 

 biographical sketches of our witnesses, prepared by the staff. 



(Biographical sketches follow:) 



Dr. Harold James 



Chief Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey. Born June 11, 1912 in British Co- 

 lumbia. Received BS Degree from Washington State University, 1938; Ph.D 

 from Princeton, 1945; has served with the United States Geological Survey 



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