167 



"Generally, submerged land which is contiguous to the continent and which 

 is covered by no more than 100 fathoms (600 feet) of water is considered as 

 the continental shelf." 



However, the last paragraph of the press release (at page 54) emphasized the 

 importance of technology in determining the seaward limits of exploitation as 

 follows : 



"The advance of technology prior to the present war had already made possible 

 the exploitation of a limited amount of minerals from submerged lands within 

 the 3-mile limit. The rapid development of technical knowledge and equipment 

 occasioned by the war, now makes possible the determination of the resources of 

 the submerged lands outside of the 3-niile limit. With the need for the discovery 

 of additional resources of petroleum and other minerals it became advisable for 

 the United States to make possible orderly development of these resources. The 

 proclamation of the President is designed to serve this purpose." 



It is thus clear that at the time when the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

 was passed the Congress did not contemplate the immediate development of areas 

 beyond the 100-fathom line. The reason that such development was not contem- 

 plated was apparently the existing technological inability to develop resources 

 at such great depths. Nevertheless, the Congress did not prescribe a limit on the 

 depth of water beneath which the subsoil and seabed appertain to the United 

 States and may be developed under the act. Without such a seaward limit it is 

 possible to hold that with technological progress the act may be applied to areas 

 at greater and greater depths. 



The Senate Report also refers to the shelf as extending to a point where the 

 gradient of the decline of the sea floor has a marked increase and where the slope 

 to the true ocean floor begins. Language to this effect is also found in footnote 3 

 of United States v. Lomsiana, 363 U.S. 1 (1960). The determination of such a 

 point presents difficulty and would require the careful study of experts in this 

 field. We do not presume to be competent to determine this point. However, we 

 note that the sea floor in this general area does not slope steadily to the true 

 ocean floor. Instead it is cut up with channels, ridges, and plateaus. This does 

 not, therefore, appear a satisfactory test of the seaward limit of the continental 

 shelf. It is not required by the statute, and was abandoned in the definition of the 

 continental shelf recently adopted by the United States. 



On May 26, 1960, the Senate ratified the "Convention on the Continental Shelf" 

 (106 Cong. Rec. 10374; daily ed. May 26, 1960). That Convention has not, we 

 understand, yet come into effect, but it may be regarded as expressing the present 

 views of the United States on the continental shelf. Article one of that Convention 

 is as follows : 



"For the purpose of these articles, the term 'continental shelf is used as re- 

 ferring (a) to the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent to the 

 coast but outside the area of the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 metres or, be- 

 yond that limit, to where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the 

 exploitation of the natural resources of the said areas; (b) to the seabed and 

 subsoil of similar submarine areas adjacent to the coasts of islands." 



This is the first definition of "continental shelf" officially adopted by the 

 United States which sets any seaward limit. Though it is not an amendment 

 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, it is an indication of the extent of 

 the area of seabed and subsoil over which the United States asserts jurisdiction, 

 control, and power of disposition. As we have pointed out above, the Act is 

 applicable to all submerged lands seaward of the States' boundaries of which the 

 subsoil and seabed appertain to the United States and are subject to its jurisdic- 

 tion and control. Since the United States has now asserted rights to the seabed 

 and subsoil as far seaward as exploitation is possible, it is clear that the Outer 

 Continental Shelf Lands Act is now applicable to all these areas. There is no 

 question that the area designated on the map which you have sent us falls 

 within the scope of the definition in the Convention and is, therefore, subject 

 to leasing under the Act. 



It is difficult to see how a case or controversy concerning our interpretation 

 of the applicability of the statute will arise under the present circumstances. If 

 the applicant had proceeded to develop these phosphate deposits without regard 

 to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, we could have objected, and on our 

 assertion of the applicability of the Act the question could have been settled 

 judicially. However, here the company has applied for a lease under the Act 



