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LAW OF THE SEA 
Ideologically and rhetorically, the Soviet spokesmen in the U.N. 
law of the sea debate incline toward “the progressive development”’ 
of international law.'8! The geographical location of the Soviet Union 
and the fact that it now has a vested interest in the oceans in the 
form of a strong navy, merchant marine, and oceanographic and fish- 
ing fleet requires it to defend the traditional system of ocean order. 
The Soviet Union has continued to insist on territorial limits not 
exceeding 12 nautical miles and free passage through straits used 
for international navigation. Throughout the preparatory stages of the 
Third Law of the Sea Conference, it opposed the claims of developing 
coastal states for a 200-mile economic resource zone. At the Caracas 
session in 1974, the U.S.S.R. reluctantly agreed to accept the extension 
of coastal state jurisdiction to 200 nautical miles (or the 500-meter 
depth curve, whichever was greater), provided a clause would be 
added allowing third nations to harvest fisheries resources not utilized 
by the coastal states. Since 90 percent of the Soviet marine harvest 
is caught off the coasts of foreign countries, Soviet concerns can 
easily be understood. 
The Soviet Union, along with the United States and a number 
of other maritime nations, opposes the creation of an international 
organization with exclusive rights over the exploration and develop- 
ment of deep-seabed resources. Earlier support for intergovernmental 
cooperation through the Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission in 
Paris gave way gradually to a system allowing both the individual 
states and a newly created international ocean authority to mine 
deep-seabed minerals. The Soviet position remains constant on this 
issue. It insist that the nations share in ocean floor mining and that 
the Authority not be allowed to control transit rights, fishing rights, 
or other freedoms of the high seas, other seabed exploitation.'®? 
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 
The United States as a maritime power appears to have reached 
its zenith in the period immediately following the Second World War. 
The Nation came out of the war with the largest armada of naval 
and merchant marine vessels ever assembled by any one nation. No 
nation could challenge U.S. sea control or the Navy’s ability to project 
power overseas. Most U.S. oversea trade was shipped in U.S. flag 
ships. About 75 percent of the total consumption of fish in the country 
was harvested by U.S. fishermen. The United States was the first 
country to produce oil and natural gas from a continental shelf 
well-endowed with resources. The importance of ocean science and 
technology for the war effort had sparked a great interest in oceanog- 
raphy, and the United States, with ample government funds available, 
took an early lead in ocean science and technology. 
Today, less than a quarter of a century later, the United States 
is producing little more fish than in 1950, while fish imports now 
constitute about 63 percent of domestic fish consumption. More than 
one-half of the vast coastal fisheries resources of the United States 
are harvested by foreign fishing vessels. 
181 Mark W. Janis, ‘‘The Abashed Conservative,” p. 142. 
2 Ibid, p. 147. 
