177 



That is the second proposal. 



Mr. Fascell. Let me stop you right there at that point. 



Don't we already have that in the Decade of International Hydro- 

 logical Study ? 



Dr. Cain. That is too limited in its purposes. Just as the inter- 

 national biological program is too limited in its purposes. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. Could I ask a question? 



Are we talking about the oceans, including the shelves as well as 

 the deep seas now, or are we trying to eliminate from the jurisdiction 

 of the proposed U.N. committee the very broad and presumably far 

 more accessible areas that the shelves themselves represent? 



Dr. Cain. The frame of reference or guideline for a committee of 

 the General Assembly is not spelled out. Presumably this would be 

 a problem for the General Assembly itself. It isn't clear whether this 

 would deal with the deep oceans only, or whether it could also deal 

 with the continental shelf as well as the open oceans. 



Mr. Frelinghutsen. You mean our own proposal is going to be 

 unclear as to what we feel should be included ? If so, I should think 

 the Ambassador might be in an embarrassing position 



Dr. Cain. The guidelines are not spelled out in any detail. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. Wouldn't it be advisable to spell them out be- 

 fore he starts making public speeches about setting up committees ? 



Dr. Cain. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. I would think, if we are going to make the 

 U.N. a direct vehicle, if we are going to suggest that the U.N. take 

 an interest, and develop better coordination between maritime nations 

 than now exists, we may well be touching on national interest and par- 

 ticipation and responsibility for these continental shelves. 



I would think we should think twice about abrogating, or seeming 

 to abrogate, what is at the moment primarily a national responsibility. 



Mr. Fascell. I would want to add to the very important point which 

 Mr. Frelinghuysen has raised. If the United States is just going to 

 throw out a series of suggestions in an effort to be affirmative^ in the 

 U.N., and one of those suggestions is the formulation of a committee to 

 study the whole matter because any action might be premature until we 

 have the basis upon which to act [security deletion] and we are unclear 

 exactly whether such a committee should have a coordinating function 

 or operating fmiction or whether it is going to cover the deep seas or 

 the continental shelf, then it seems to me that on the one hand we are 

 saying we can't act because we don't have any information, and on the 

 hand, we are acting. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. "Development" to my mind must mean the 

 continental shelves. Maybe I am influenced by what previous wit- 

 nesses have said who talked about the potential in that area. And also 

 because of the difficulty of utilizing what lies at the depths of the sea. 



I would think the research or studies, call it what you will, would 

 really be exploitation and exploration and coordination of effort for 

 the shelves. This might be a difficult area if it did restrict us in what 

 we considered national responsibilities. 



I think this would be even more sensitive, in other words, than the 

 Malta resolution, because you could turn off the Malta resolution on 

 reasonably narrow grounds. 



