Appendix 5 



Address by Under Secretary Charles F. Luce, Department of the 

 Interior, at American Bar Association National Institute on 

 Marine Resources, Long Beach, Calif., June 8, 1967 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF OCEAN MINEKALS AND THE LAW OF THE BEA 



If oceanographers were to adopt a patron saint, Homer's Odysseus would be a 

 likely candidate. To calm the wrath of Poseidon, god of the sea, it was Odysseus' 

 task to walk with an oar on his shoulder until he found men who thought it was a 

 winnowing shovel — men who knew not of the sea and did not mix salt with their 

 food. He was then to fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice to Poseidon. The 

 task of oceanographers since has been much the same — to spread knowledge and 

 reverence of the sea. 



The knowledge they spread is hopeful. They tell us the seas are a vast reservoir 

 of foodstuff and minerals ; that much can be exploited now and that much more 

 is within the range of a fast advancing technology. 



Minerals production at deep water now appears feasible. Oil is currently pro- 

 duced in water as deep as 285 feet, and the capability to produce at greater depths 

 exists. A platform recently completed in the Netherlands will be able to drill to 

 15,000 feet while resting on bottom in 135 feet of water, or while afloat in 600 

 feet. For those who like to think big, it should be noted that this platform is 350 

 feet long and 357 feet wide, and stands 166 feet from the underside of the keel to 

 the main deck. It is slightly smaller than the Department of the Interior Building 

 in Washington, D.C. 



The capacity to extract other minerals from the ocean floor is also growing. 

 Freeport Sulphur Company recovers sulphur at the Grand Isle area, seven miles 

 off the coast of Louisiana, in 50 feet of water from a Y-shaped structure with a 

 total length of about one mile. 



The mining of substantial quantities of offshore alluvials is likewise accelerat- 

 ing. In 1966 there were throughout the world 66 known offshore mining opera- 

 tions for unconsolidated deposits with production estimated to have a value of 

 $164 million. A large proportion (about $100 million) was for sand and gravel. 

 Other operations included diamond mining off Southwest Africa, ($8.9 million) ; 

 iron sands off Japan (.%">.6 million) and tin sands off Southeast Asia ($44.8 mil- 

 lion). One lime shell dredge off Iceland is now working in 145 feet of water. 



Lest you conclude we have reached the outer limits of technological capability. 

 I should point out that oil companies have done exploratory drilling in 4,500 feet 

 of water. There have been serious proposals to recover phosphorite nodules from 

 areas 40 miles off the California coast in water as deep as 1,500 feet, and to dredge 

 manganese nodules from the Blake Plateau, 300 miles off the United States 

 South Atlantic coast, in water as deep as 4,000 feet. The prospects for recovering 

 manganese nodules at depths as great as 20,000 feet have received serious 

 attention. 



It is apparent that the state of the art is moving on collision course with the 

 legal regime of offshore boundaries provided in the Convention on the Continental 

 Shelf, i.e., that each coastal state owns its shelf to a depth of 200 meters, and 

 beyond where the superjacent waters admit of exploitation. More and more fre- 

 quently questions are raised as to the effect of that formulation on deep ocean 

 mineral exploitation. 



At the same time there is a growing concern that in the very near future a few 

 oceanographic powers will have the capability to occupy and thereby appropriate 

 all the deep ocean mineral areas that it will be worthwhile to develop for manv 

 generations. 



President Johnson expressed this concern on July 13, 1966, at the commission- 

 ing of the "Oceanographer." He stated 



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