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MAGE OF THE UNITED STATES 
Senator Pztx. I thank you. This is, obviously, an idea that ha 
always been dear to me. I remember as an assistant secretary on the 
Committee on Enforcement Arrangements in San Francisco, we dis- 
ussed this idea. And I am still in the Coast Guard after 25 years, and 
have followed it right along. 
T also think that it is in our national interests because so often we 
have the image of a warmaking power. We know we are good guys, but 
as others see our ships and weapons of war around the world, they are 
not convinced. 
On the other hand, our Coast Guard has a remarkable histery of 
lifesaving and law enforcement. I remember in Lisbon, before World 
War II, they had the battleships of France and Germany and Britain 
all in the Tigris River there, and then, like a big, to use that very un- 
popular phrase now, “dove of peace” came in a Coast Guard cutter 
painted white, and it gave a whole different image to the United States 
compared with those other nations. 
My thought is that the Coast Guard really has provided the frame- 
work, the nucleus, for such an international sea guard, and this could 
come out of consideration of this treaty. It would be a very good step 
for our national interests. 
LIMIT OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF 
T have another question here in connection with the depth, the hmit, 
of the continental shelf. I am more or less fixed on the idea that it 
should be 600 meters, because if you use the depth of 600 meters, 
you then automatically exclude any areas that can conceivably be 
a continental shelf anywhere in the world. And since, as I pointed 
out earlier, we are already developing far beyond the old 200-meter 
limit, I was wondering if you or Mr. Meeker had any thoughts about 
accepting the idea of 600 meters and making it firm, because, as you 
know, the arrangements at Geneva a few years ago left it terribly 
fuzzy. 
Mr. Merxesr. Senator, we certainly agree that article I of the Con- 
vention on the Continental Shelf does not provide the answer that is 
going to be required on this subject. As you probably know, there is a 
provision in the treaty for its review, with a view to amendments, five 
years after it entered into force. That point arrives about a year and 
a half from now. 
T think that we are going to need to have some new agreement 
which will delimit the edge of the continental shelf, which apper- 
tains to the coastal state, and areas that le beyond it. 
There are many problems in defining a line that will be realistic 
from the point of view of the geological formations, and also ac- 
ceptable from the point of view of the many countries that are going 
to have to give their assent before we get a firm international agree- 
ment. 
But I would hope that out of the process of consideration and 
negotiation that will have to go on, we will get a perfectly clear 
