48 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



The Department questions the relationship between the proposed 

 Commission and the rest of the American oceanographic community, 

 particularly that within the U.S. Government. The functions of the 

 Commission, as given in section 5, overlap to a greater or lesser extent 

 with several existing agencies. While the Department is not in a 

 position to question whether it might be worthwhile having these 

 functions, as they apply to the Continental Shelf, performed by a 

 single body, the Department does believe that coordination of the 

 oceanic activities of the various agencies is important. The Depart- 

 ment notes that several other bUls are now pending before the Congress 

 on this subject, such as H.R. 6457, H.R. 5654, and S. 944 to establish 

 a National Oceanographic CouncU to coordinate U.S. activities in 

 oceanography. It might be useful in H.R. 5884 and H.R. 6009 to 

 establish the relationship between the proposed Commission and the 

 proposed CouncU if it should be created. Better yet, it might be 

 useful to combine the two proposals, and especially to combine the 

 proposed Commission and the proposed Council. 



It is suggested that the first paragraph of section 2 of the bill be 

 redrafted to read somewhat as follows: 



"Sec. 2. The Congress finds and declares that — 



"The Convention on the Continental Shelf adopted at the United 

 Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea at Geneva in 1958 provides 

 that the coastal State exercises over the Continental Shelf sovereign 

 rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural 

 resources. This Convention which has been ratified by the United 

 States entered into force on June 10, 1964. Pursuant to the rights 

 of the United States under the Convention the responsibility is as- 

 sumed for providing an accelerated program of exploration and 

 development of the physical, chemical, geographical and biological 

 resources of the Continental Shelf." 



Section 3 of the bill defines the term "Continental Shelf" in a way 

 different from the way the term is defined in the Convention on the 

 Continental Shelf referred to above. Since the rights of the United 

 States derive from the convention, it is our view that any implement- 

 ing or supporting legislation should conform substantially to the con- 

 vention. As defined in the convention the term "Continental Shelf" 

 includes only areas "outside the area of the territorial sea" where the 

 specified depth or exploitability criteria exist. The term as defined in 

 the bill does not exclude the area of the territorial sea but, on the 

 contrary, would include the territorial sea at least where the depth 

 and exploitability factors are present. The territorial sea including 

 its seabed and subsoil, as well as the superjacent airspace, is a part of 

 the sovereign territory of the coastal State and rests on different 

 principles of law than those applicable to the Continental Shelf. In 

 the case of the sheK the sovereign rights of the coastal State are con- 

 fined to the subsoil and seabed, the superjacent waters remaining 

 high seas in which the customary freedom of the seas exists. The super- 

 jacent airspace also remains free. Finally, not only is the definition 

 of "Continental Shelf" in the bUl inconsistent with the definition in 

 the Convention on the Continental Shelf but also with existing U.S. 

 legislation, i.e., the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (Public Law 

 212, 83d Cong.; 67 Stat. 462). 



If, as the Department believes, the provisions of the bill should be 

 extended to the territorial sea, it is suggested that this be done by 



