631 
Conclusion 
Article 2 (1). of the Convention on the Continental Shelf states that 
the coastal State exercises over the ''continental shelf" sovereign rights 
for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources. 
Article 1 defined the term "continental shelf'' as referring: 
", . . to the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent 
to the coast but outside the area of the territorial sea, toa depth 
of 200 metres or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of the 
superjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the natural re- 
sources of the said areas. . . . '(Emphasis added. ) 
It is clear that the emphasized language (1) was added on the demand 
of the 20 American states; (2) was in response to their insistence that ex- 
clusive coastal jurisdiction should encompass the continental terrace, both 
shelf and slope, "to the greatest depths"; (3) was concurred in and advocated 
by the State Department in the 1956 Ciudad Trujillo conference of the American 
states, with the interpretation that this language accomplished that result; 
(4) was accepted by the International Law Commission in 1956 as recognizing 
exclusive jurisdiction in the coastal State in adjacent waters to whatever depth 
is exploitable; (5) was recommended by the State Department to the 1958 con- 
ference which produced the Convention on the Continental Shelf with the ex- 
planation that it encompassed both "shelf and slope"; and (6) was represented 
by the State Department to the President and Senate as being ''in keeping with 
the inter-American conclusions at Ciudad Trujillo in 1956."' 
