618 
activities, or make a claim to the continental shelf, 
without the express consent of the coastal State. 
"3. The rights of the coastal State over the con- 
tinental shelf do not depend on occupation, effective 
or notional, or on any express proclamation. 
"4. The natural resources referred to in these 
articles consist of the mineral and other non-living 
resources of the seabed and subsoil together with 
living organisms belonging to sedentary species, that 
is to say, organisms which, at the harvestable stage, 
either are immobile on or under thé~seabed or are unable 
to move except in constant physical contact with the 
seabed or the subsoil. 
"Article 3 
"The rights cf the coastal State over the continental 
shelf do not affect the legal status of the superjacent 
waters as high seas, or that of the air space above those 
waters." 
Interpretations of the Convention ° . 
The Convention's definition of the seaward extent 
of the coastal state's jurisdiction has been subjected to a 
number of interpretations. 
Some argue that the factor of exploitability would 
carry the coastal nation's exclusive mineral jurisdiction to 
mid-ocean. We disagree. Others argue that it should be 
restricted to waters as shallow as 200 meters or 12 miles 
from shore. We disagree with this, too. 
The better view, in our opinion, is that the 
"“exploitability" factor of the Convention is limited by the 
element of “adjacency." The exclusive sovereign rights of 
the coastal nations to the exploration and exploitation of 
the natural resources of the seabed and subsoil emcompass 
"the submarine areas adjacent to the coast but outside the 
area of the territorial sea." According to this view, there- 
fore, the exclusive sovereign rights of the coastal nations 
