619 
with respect to the seabed minerals now embrace the submerged 
_land mass of the adjacent continent down to its junction with 
the deep ocean floor, irrespective of depth. 
Importance of the 1958 Convention to the 
United States : 
If the minerals underlying the seabed adjacent to 
our coasts remain under American control, as they now are 
under the Continental Shelf Convention as we construe it, 
they continue to be resources available for national defense, 
essential components of the American economy, and important 
elements of the federal and state tax base. 
We do not believe that it is in the interests of 
the United States that negotiations for the creation of an 
international regime to govern mineral development of the 
‘ocean floor should proceed on the assumption that this new 
regime will have authority to take over the administration 
of, or the governmental revenues derived from, the develop- 
ment of the minerals of any part of the submerged segments of 
the American continent. 
In our opinion, the United States should stand on 
its rights under the Convention as heretofore ratified. 
If legal uncertainties are believed to constitute 
an impediment to utilization of undersea mineral resources, 
such uncertainties can be eliminated by uniform declarations 
of the coastal nations which are parties to the Convention 
on the Continental Shelf, identifying their claims of juris- 
diction with the submerged portion of the continental land 
mass, and reciprocally restricting their claims accordingly. 
No new conference to amend the Continental Shelf Convention 
is necessary to accomplish this. 
The Seabed Seaward of National Jurisdiction 
With respect to the minerals of the deep seabed 
beyond the exclusive jurisdiction of the.coastal nations, 
three observations are in order: First, the problem is 
‘less’ pressing in point of time because most mineral develop- 
ment will continue to take place first in the shallower waters 
which are within coastal jurisdiction; second, less is known 
26-563 O - 70 - pt.2 - 8 
