would alter existing arrangements and structures, some con- 

 gressmen may oppose these moves. 



Recommendations on International Agreements 



International Fisheries Management 



Improving and extending the existing international ar- 

 rangements appeared to the Commission to be the best way to 

 obtain U. S. objectives regarding the living resources of the high 

 seas. Issues which should be concentrated on include catch 

 quotas, relations with coastal nations particularly Latin America 

 where they are strained, determination of the breadth of terri- 

 torial waters, and conservation regulation and conventions. 



The Continental Shelf 



The Commission recommended that the U. S. take the 

 initiative to secure international agreement on a redefinition of 

 the "continental shelf." It noted that the present legal defini- 

 tion is ambiguous and does not correspond to its geological 

 definition. The resulting uncertainties will deter private enter- 

 prise from exploring and exploiting the resources of the seas. 

 After considering numerous redefinitions, it suggested a "nar- 

 row" shelf with precise outer limits. The seaward limit would 

 be fixed at the 200-meter isobath (the average depth of the 

 world's shelves) or 50 nautical miles (the average width) 

 whichever gives the greater area. For adjacent nations, "median- 

 line" principles of the 1958 Convention on the Continental 

 Shelf would apply. In order to prevent future problems, they 

 suggest that bathymetric surveys be conducted to translate the 

 depths into geographical coordinates which would not be sub- 

 ject to change because of alterations in the coastline or new 

 information. 



The report specifically treated the position of the National 

 Petroleum Council (NPC) and concluded that it was unwar- 

 ranted by present legal language or history and was contrary 

 to the best interests of the United States.* The Commission 

 stressed that fixing the outer limits of the shelf is inseparable 

 from that of the international framework applicable beyond the 

 limits. Four areas other than the continental shelf which must 

 be treated are the internal waters and territorial sea of a nation, 

 the contiguous zone, the high seas, and the bed and subsoil of 

 the deep seas. 



*The Interim Report of the National Petroleum Council's (NPC) Committee on 

 Petroleum Resources Under the Ocean Floor was adopted by the NPC on July 9, 1968. 

 It maintains that coastal nations have "sovereign rights" over the natural resources of the 

 continental land mass seaward to where the submerged portion meets the abyssal ocean 

 floor. This includes the natural resources of the geological continental shelves, continental 

 borderlands, continental slopes, and at least the landward portions of the geological con- 

 tinental rise. Where the continent drops off sharply near the coastline, it would add to 

 the legal "continental shelf" an area of contiguous ocean floor. The report proposed that 

 the U. S. declare the intention of exercising sovereign rights and invite all other coastal 

 nations to do likewise. Further dealings would thus be with coastal nations rather than 

 the international community. 



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