483 



earlier tasks which were undertaken by the ad hoc committee, now 

 better understood with respect to their international implications, will 

 be carried forward by other departments and agencies directly or by 

 the appropriate committees of the Marine Council. The permanent 

 committee will now focus its attention on a few major problems and 

 opportunities involving the most pressing international aspects of 

 oceanography. It will also carry forward the work in coordinating 

 our involvement in international oceanographic programs which was 

 formerly the task of the Panel on International Programs of the Inter- 

 agency Committee on Oceanography (PIPICO). 



Perhaps a major aspect of the initial work done by the ad hoc 

 committee could be illustrated by summarizing briefly the course of 

 action taken in dealing with the Pardo proposals in the General 

 Assembly of the United Nations. The debate in the General Assembly 

 has exposed — at the present early state of their development — many 

 of the major policy issues which confront us for the immediate future. 

 You may recall that, under U.S. leadership, the Economic and 

 Social Council of the United Nations had asked the U.N. Secretary 

 General in mid-1966 to make a survey of the current state of knowledge 

 of the resources of the sea beyond the Continental Shelf, excluding fish, 

 and of the techniques for exploiting them. Building on this founda- 

 tion, the U.N. General Assembly a year ago asked the Secretary Gen- 

 eral to broaden this study, so as to survey also the activities of member 

 states and intergovernmental organizations in this field and to formu- 

 late proposals for insuring the most effective arrangements for an 

 expanded program of international cooperation. The Secretary Gen- 

 eral was directed to report to the U.N. General Assembly next fall. 



These were the first major steps taken within the United Nations 

 toward addressing the questions whether we may not need new ground 

 rules, or new international arrangements, concerning the deep oceans 

 and their resources, and whether we may not need a concerted inter- 

 national effort to stimulate furtlier scientific exploration and educa- 

 tion in this field. Essentially, this is what the discussion in the United 

 Nations is all about. 



The focal point for discussion in the General Assembly this fall has 

 been the proposal made by Ambassador Arvid Pardo, the representa- 

 tive of Malta. Ambassador Pardo proposed that the Assembly look 

 toward a new international treaty which would reserve the ocean floor 

 beyond the limit of national jurisdiction exclusively for peaceful pur- 

 poses and establish an international agency to assume jurisdiction over 

 the deep ocean floor and its resources. It was his suggestion that the 

 financial benefits from the exploitation of these resources were to be 

 allocated primarily to the less-developed countries. 



In debating this proposal the Assembly has started a dialog on 

 complex and difficult questions affecting law, arms control, interna- 

 tional cooperation, management and regulation, and economic develop- 

 ment. Yet, no one has a clear understanding of the full implications 

 of the Pardo proposal. 



We have little knowledge of the factors involved in exploiting the 

 resources presumed to exist on the deep ocean floor, but not actually 

 located. It is not clear how competent private or public organizations 

 can be induced to undertake the risks of deep-seat exploration and 



