488 



My question is, does this statement reverse that policy so as to 

 open it to any nation in the world to come into the area beyond the 

 Continental shelf and to exploit it regardless of the activity of any 

 adjacent coastal state ? 



Mr. Pollack. I think, Mr. Congressman, Ambassador Goldberg's 

 statement envisages a point beyond the Continental Shelf as defined 

 in the existing conventions, which would be known as the deep ocean 

 floor. I do not know what that point is ; I do not think anybody knows 

 at this point what that point is. But this is one of the issues I described 

 in my remarks as being difficult and complex and that will require 

 study and consideration and dialog among the interested nations. 



Mr. Pelly. I would hope some way may be found to restrict pref- 

 erence to those nations which establish rights by going out into the 

 area to sink oil wells, for example, and to try exploiting the resources. 

 I would certainly hope we are not opening the door now for anybody 

 to walk in beyond the 12-mile limit or 3-mile limit and suddenly say, 

 "Ambassador Goldberg has already declared that is open for anyone to 

 come in." 



Mr. Pollack. I do not think this is what Ambassador Goldberg 

 intended to say and I do not think anyone understood him to say that. 



Mr. Peix,y. I am glad to hear that. I thought it should be somewhere 

 in the record so we can point to it. 



Mr. Lennon. Will the gentleman yield ? 



Mr. Pelly. Yes. 



Mr. Lennon. In the discussion of this matter earlier with members 

 of the National Council, it was agreed that the committee would be 

 furnished the full text of the statement made by Ambassador Gold- 

 berg on this subject. If the committee has not received it, I would re- 

 quest the Department of State to furnish it for the record. 



Mr. Pelly. I believe that we have received it, Mr. Chairman. I 

 am sure I have it on my desk. 



Mr. Lennon. Without objection then, it will be entered in the 

 record at this point. And without objection, if the Department of 

 State would give us a legal analysis and brief of the interpretation 

 of the statement as related to the question by the gentleman from 

 Washington immediately following the insertion in the record, it will 

 be included. 



(The information follows :) 



"Deep Ocean Floor" Statement by U.N. Ambassadob Goldbebg 



The question has been raised whether one particular sentence in Ambassador 

 Goldberg's statement of November 8, 1967, in Committee 1 of the UN General 

 Assembly, amounted to an invitation to other states to exploit the mineral re- 

 sources of the sea bed off the coast of the United States. The sentence is "whatever 

 legal regime for the use of the deep ocean floor may eventually be agreed upon, 

 it should assure that the deep ocean floor will be open to exploration and use 

 by all states, without discrimination." 



Ambassador Goldberg was amplifying President Johnson's statement of July 

 15, 1966, on the occasion of the commissioning of The Oceanographer. In that 

 statement, President Johnson had said : "Under no circumstances, we believe, 

 must we ever allow the prospects of rich harvest and mineral wealth to create a 

 new form of colonial competition among the maritime nations. We must be care- 

 ful to avoid a race to grab and to hold the lands under the high seas. We must en- 

 sure that the deep seas and the ocean bottoms are, and remain, the legacy of all 

 human beings." 



