690 
continental shelf “off Florida and northward to points seaward of 
Cape Code and Georges Bank.” The release states that “No rights 
to any mineral leases will be obtained from these core drilling 
programs”. The release indicates that about 21 core holes will be 
drilled beneath the floor of the Atlantic Ocean in water ranging in 
depths from 650 feet to 5,000 feet. The depth of penetration in each 
core test is limited to a maximum of 1,000 feet. 
In a letter opinion of February 1, 1967, from the Deputy Solicitor 
of the Department of Interior to the Corps of Engineers, it is made 
clear that the Department is of the view that Cortez Bank is an area 
under United States jurisdiction under the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act and the Convention on the Continental Shelf. Cortez Bank 
is located about 100 miles from the California mainland and is 
separated from the mainland by ocean floor trenches as much as 4,000 
to 5,000 feet deep, although the Bank itself is covered oy shallow 
water.* 
At the March 11, 1968, meeting of the United Nations Ad Hoc 
Committee to Study the Sea-Bed and Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits 
of National Jurisdiction, the spokesman for Canada said (A/Ac. 
1357/1, D959): 
“In the view of the Canadian authorities, the present legal position 
regarding the sovereign rights of the coastal States over the 
resources of submarine areas extending at least to the abyssal 
depths is not in dispute.” (Emphasis added.) 
And, according to the U.N. press release of the March 21, 1968, 
meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee (U.N. Press Release GA/3585), 
the Canadian spokesman’s views are reported thus (p. 2): 
“The [Ad Hoc] Committee should define the limits of the area 
covered by the resolution [Gen. Ass. Res. 2340 (XXII)]. In his 
view, the areas over which coastal States had sovereign rights 
included, without doubt, the continental shelf and its slope.” 
(Emphasis added. ) 
In view of the foregoing, the United States would be fully justified 
in asserting that the Convention on the Continental Shelf encompasses 
the continental margin. 
* Barry, “Administration of Laws for the Exploitation of Offshore Minerals 
a oe United States and Abroad”, ABA National Institute on Marine Resources, 
/67, p. 12. 
[End of Appendix by Mr. Stone.] 
