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A recent publication of the Academy of Sciences characterized 
the trend in Soviet oceanographic work as follows: Increased numbers 
of expeditionary cruises, decreased integrated (1.e., broad-spectrum) 
investigations and a concurrent increase in specialized cruises, inten- 
sified hydrodyamic and geophysical work, and increased participation 
in international research projects. The Soviets look for a rapid and 
efficient conversion of this basic research into economic development 
while gaining world respect for their scientific achievements. 
SOVIET POSITION ON FREEDOM OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AT SEA 
The freedom to conduct scientific research on the high seas is 
a corollary of the ancient doctrine of freedom of the high seas which 
has been under serious attack ever since the inclusion of article 5, 
paragraph 8 in the 1958 Continental Shelf Convention. This article 
reads: 
‘““The consent of the coastal state shall be obtained in respect of 
any research concerning the continental shelf and undertaken there. 
Nevertheless, the coastal state shall not normally withold its consent 
if the request is submitted by a qualified institution with a view to 
purely scientific research into the physical or biological characteristics 
of the continental shelf, subject to the proviso that the coastal state 
shall have the right, if it so desires, to participate or to be represented 
in the research, and that in any event the results will be published.” 
The Soviet Union, as an oceanographic research leader and defender 
of the concept of freedom of the high seas, defends the right to 
freely conduct research on the high seas, but has frequently limited 
access to its coastal waters to U.S. oceanographic vessels. In an article 
on restrictions on oceanic research, Judith Kildow of the Scripps 
Institution of Oceanography writes: 
Between 1967 and 1971 the Soviet Union on four occasions gave 
military security reasons for refusing American scientists’ request to 
do research in their waters or on their shelf. On the fifth and sixth 
occasion, the United States attempted to arrange an exchange program 
to perform physical and chemical work in Soviet waters but met 
with no response. These cases could perhaps also be attributed to 
military reasons, if further information were uncovered, since the Rus- 
sians have consistently turned down American requests to perform 
research in their waters. 
However, the Soviets took a different view at the preparatory 
meetings on the law of the sea, where they have ardently defended 
oceanic research, saying that in view of the importance of marine 
scientific research, attempts to deny or limit the freedom of scientific 
research in the world ocean were completely unjustified. Any such 
limitation would be a step backward and highly detrimental to the 
interests of the world community. 
Within the context of the proposed economic resource zone in 
the oceans, developing nations in particular have insisted that all 
scientific research needs to be controlled by the coastal state in this 
zone, which may extend out to 200-nautical miles from the coast. 
The Soviet Union and the United States, the only two nations with 
major worldwide oceanographic capabilities, are very much opposed 
to this position because it would adversely affect more than two- 
