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An organizational session of the Law of the Sea Conference was 
held in New York City in December 1973 to establish voting pro- 
cedures and elect Conference officials. Substantive work began as the 
Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference convened in 
‘Caracas, Venezuela, for a 10-week session beginning June 20, 1974. 
The second substantive session of the Conference is being held in 
Geneva from 17 March to 10 May 1975. Over one hundred fifty nations 
are participating in the Third Conference, many of which did not exist 
when the First and Second Conferences were held in 1958 and 1960. 
The Third Law of the Sea Conference will be the most ambitious inter- 
national undertaking ever attempted for dealing with the problems 
of the marine environment. 
