GOVERNING THE USE OF OCEAN SPACE 
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1967 
UNITED STATES SENATE, 
CoMMITTEE ON ForetGN RELATIONS, 
Washington, D.C. 
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in room 4221, New 
Senate Office Building, Senator John Sparkman presiding. 
Present : Senators Sparkman, Gore, Pell, Clark, and Aiken. 
Senator SparkmAN. Let the committee come to order, please. 
This morning the Committee on Foreign Relations is considering 
three resolutions pertaining to the use of the resources of the ocean 
floor—Senate Joint Resolution 111, by Senator Cotton, and Senate 
Resolutions 172 and 186, both by Senator Pell. 
(The resolutions referred to follow :) 
[S.J. Res. 111, 90th Cong., first sess. ] 
JOINT RESOLUTION Expressing opposition to vesting title to the ocean floor in the United 
Nations at this time 
Whereas strong efforts are being exerted by certain groups and individuals 
to immediately place the United Nations in control of the resources of the bed 
of the deep ocean beyond the Continental Shelf; and 
Whereas our national goals for the development of the ocean floors resources 
have not been clearly defined, nor has an approach to the development of these 
resources been formulated ; and 
Whereas at present we have only limited understanding of the extent of the 
undersea resources, the means of obtaining access to them, the conditions for 
processing and marketing them, and the impact which activities connected with 
their extraction and mining will have on other uses of the sea; and 
Whereas the Congress of the United States in 1966 enacted Public Law 89-454 
for the expressed purpose of establishing two official bodies—the National Coun- 
cil on Marine Resources and Engineering Development, and the Commission on 
Marine Science, Engineering and Resources—to identify national objectives con- 
cerning undersea resources and recommend Federal programs to accomplish these 
aims: Therefore be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That it is the sense of the Congress that any 
action at this time to vest control of deep ocean resources in an international 
body would be premature and ill-advised, and be it further 
Resolved, That the Congress of the United States memorialize the President to 
instruct American representatives of the United Nations to oppose any action at 
this time to vest control of the resources of the deep sea beyond the Continental 
Shelves of the United States. 
[S. Res. 172, 90th Cong., first sess. ] 
RESOLUTION 
Whereas through developing technology man becomes increasingly capable of 
exploring, and exploiting the resources of, the deep sea ; and 
(1) 
