benefit otherwise available to the international community. Further, overly 
restrictive rules could seriously impede the conduct of marine scientific 
research. NACOA believes that the creation of a deep seabed arrangement 
similar to that presently advocated by the United States, could avoid 
unwanted consequences of uncontrolled exploitation, would provide needed 
guarantees to developed countries, and would ensure a mechanism by 
which the developing nations of the world could also benefit. 
Zones of Extended Resource Jurisdiction 
A second trend is the creation of special zones allocating to coastal nations 
special rights with regard to the exploitation of resources beyond the 
generally accepted limits of a territorial sea. While the United States has 
taken no position on the breadth of such zones, 200 miles, or the limit of 
the continental margin (whichever is the greater) is often mentioned. 
The question of which resources might be included in the special area 
of jurisdiction is subject to considerable debate. For example, the United 
States prefers to deal with living and nonliving resources separately, while 
this is not true of proposals by many other nations. Regardless of the results 
of this debate, the establishment of an extended economic zone will have 
obvious consequences, both economic and political, for the United States. 
For example, if the United States should establish its own economic zone 
to a distance beyond its territorial sea, questions would be raised with 
regard to Federal/State relationships, particularly revenue sharing; and 
with regard to the operation of the coastal zone management plans now 
being prepared. This will certainly pertain if the territorial sea is extended 
from 3 to 12 miles, and we discuss this point in more detail later. 
The United States treats fisheries as a separate issue. NACOA believes 
that the trend in negotiations is toward a zonal concept of fisheries manage- 
ment by coastal nations, but that an accommodation of the many interests 
involved, including especially conservation, could be negotiated. Certainly 
such a regime will result in some adjustment in fishing effort, assuming 
that the economics of fishing as well as the conservation needs of the 
industry are considered seriously. The resulting regime, if effective, will 
provide the machinery to redress the imbalance which presently exists 
between many coastal and distant water fisheries. That is, when distant 
water fisheries operate in the zone of the coastal state, these fisheries will 
be called upon to bear their full share of the regulatory costs necessary to 
maintain the resources in the area in a condition of optimum productivity. 
NACOA believes that the long-range impact of a stable fisheries regime 
will be beneficial to the United States though there will surely be short- 
range disruptions to all. Further, NACOA points again to the need for 
strong and effective management and enforcement mechanisms for all 
fisheries in waters and U.S. Federal jurisdiction, which is presently lacking. 
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