34 
greater significance to all the maritime nations of the world, the con- 
sideration of a legal regime for the ocean bottom raises questions of 
increasing complexity. The U.S. Government and numerous inter- 
national organizations have begun comprehensive studies in an effort 
to determine how the oceans can best be explored and exploited for 
the benefit of the world community. Because so much remains un- 
known, this process will be a long and arduous one. 
At the present time there is little knowledge of the qualitative and 
quantitative distribution of deep ocean mineral resources. 
Although the United States is accumulating significant oceano- 
graphic data at an unprecedented rate, it must be recognized that the 
nature and character of the deep oceans and their potential for sus- 
taining and enriching human life are still very largely unknown. 
LIMITS OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF 
The ability to exploit the deep oceans for their mineral resources 
focuses attention on unsettled areas of international law. Our en- 
hanced technological capability to explore the oceans already makes 
us question what should be the appropriate breadth of the continental 
shelf. At the present time technology exists which permits exploita- 
tion at 200 meters and exploratory drilling up to 2,000 meters. As I 
am sure you are aware, the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continent- 
al Shelf defines the outer limit of the area adjacent to the coast in 
which a coastal state may exercise rights over the resources of the sea- 
bed and subsoil as being to a depth of 200 meters or beyond that point 
to where the depth of the water admits of exploitation of the re- 
sources. 
As Mr. Sisco and Mr. Meeker have pointed out, this is an indefinite 
and imprecise limitation at the present time. As Senator Pell has 
pointed out, his Resolution 186 would call for a continental shelf out 
to the 600-meter depth. In my view, we are not in a position yet to 
know whether this is far too narrow, far too wide, or possibly just 
right. 
Congressional policy in this field is manifested in the Marine Re- 
sources and Engineering Development Act of 1966. Pursuant to this 
policy, announced by Congress, the executive departments concerned 
are engaged in careful study to decide whether to recommend suitable 
amendments to the Convention on the Continental Shelf which would, 
with a greater degree of specificity, delimit the regime of the contin- 
ental shelf. 
Tt should be noted in this regard that the convention provides for 
submitting suggested amendments in 1969, five years after its effective 
date. The « executive branch study is still in progress on that and nu- 
merous other problems which are raised in the various resolutions be- 
fore the committee. 
CONCERN AND INTEREST OF DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Of course, the primary concern and interest of the Defense Depart- 
ment in these developments arise out of their interrelation with the use 
by the United States of the ocean environment for purposes of main- 
taining or enhancing our national security. 
