166 



3(a) (43 U.S.C, sec. 1332(a)) declares that the subsoil anc seabed of the "the 

 outer Continental Shelf appertain to the United States and are subject to its 

 jurisdiction, control and power of disposition * * *." Thus the term "outer 

 Continental Shelf" appears to be used in the Act not as a geographic term gen- 

 erally understood by geographers but as having been given a special statutory 

 definition in order that it may apply to all submerged lands over which the 

 United States has asserted jurisdiction and control seaward of the boundaries 

 of the States. 



While the statute is silent as to the seaward limits of the continental shelf, 

 the legislative history is vague. It, unlike the statute, does contain a description 

 of the continental shelf as it is regarded by geographers. However, as we have 

 pointed out above, the statute does not employ the term as it is ordinarily 

 used by geographers, but employs it rather as describing all the submerged lands 

 seaward of the States' boundaries over which the United States asserts jurisdic- 

 tion and control. Consequently, any description in the legislative history of the 

 continental .shelf as a geographic concept may be regarded as an effort to give 

 the Congress a general idea of the area over which the United States was 

 asserting jurisdiction rather than a precise definition applicable to the .statute. 

 The Senate Interior Committee report on S. 1901, S3d Congress, states (S. Rep. 

 No. 411, 83d Cong., 1st Sess., page 4) : 



"The Continental Shelf is defined as the extensions of the land mass of the 

 continents out under the waters of the ocean to the point where the continental 

 slope leading to the true ocean bottom begins. This point is generally regarded 

 as a depth of approximately 100 fathoms, or GOO feet, more or less. In countries 

 using the metric system, the outer limit of the shelf is generally regarded as 

 a depth of 200 meters, which is approximately the same as the 100-fathoms 

 mark adopted by England and America. 



"In his testimony in 1949 before the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs 

 Committee, the former Secretary of the Interior gave the following description 

 of the Continental Shelf : 



" 'These lands begin at the low-water mark along the open sea, or at the sea- 

 ward boundary of inland waters — such as bays, ports, and the mouths of rivers — 

 and extend seaward for varying distances at different places. 



" 'The Continental Shelves are slightly submerged portions of the continents 

 that surround all the continental areas of the earth. Along some portions of the 

 coasts they are very broad, gently sloping platforms ; and at other places they 

 are narrow. The outer boundary of each shelf is marked by an increase in the 

 gradient of slope of the sea floor. This occurs generally at a depth of approxi- 

 mately 100 fathoms, or 600 feet. Beyond the 100-fathom line, the outer slopes or 

 the Continental Shelves are inclined more steeply toward the ocean deeps. 



" 'Along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico the Continental Shelves 

 are generally very broad. Off the New England coast, where the width is greatest, 

 the shelf extends seaward about 250 miles. Elsewhere along the Atlantic coast it 

 ranges in width from about 40 to about 100 miles except for a relatively narrow 

 strip along the east coast of Florida. In the Gulf of Mexico the average width 

 of the broad shelf off the west coast of Florida is about 150 miles, and else- 

 where in the Gulf the shelf is from 40 to 150 miles wide except where the land 

 area formed by the Delta of the Mississippi River has been extended across the 

 shelf almost to its outer edge. 



" 'Off the Pacific Coast States the Continental Shelf is relatively narrow, rang- 

 ing in width from 5 miles or less to a maximum of about 40 miles.' " 



Why the l(X)-fathom line was generally accepted as the seaward limit is not 

 explained in the report except as set forth in the former Secretary's testimony. 



The first action by the United States Government with respect to the continen- 

 tal .shelf was the issuance by President Truman of a Proclamation (No. 2667) on 

 September 28, 1945 (59 Stat. 884). That proclamation declared that the United 

 States regarded the natural resources of the subsoil and seabed of the conti- 

 nental shelf beneath the seas but contiguous to the coasts of the United States as 

 appertaining to the United States, subject to its jurisdiction and control. As justi- 

 fication for the proclamation, it was stated that "with modern technological 

 progress" the utilization of those natural resources "is already practicable or \Aill 

 become so at an early date." Nowhere in the proclamation is there any mention of 

 the seaward limits of the continental shelf. The press release which accompanied 

 the proclamation (printed at page 53 of the Senate report, s}i2)ra) did state: 



