interests of world trade and communication, and is necessary to prevent 

 cumbersome restrictions or procedures being placed in the way of open 

 research. It is also necessary with respect to national defense. In this re- 

 gard, the Committee has in mind not only the classical requirement for 

 defense systems but also the historical fact that restrictions imposed on 

 classical straits passage have almost always converted them to foci of mili- 

 tary confrontation and sources of conflict. 



The Issues of Fisheries 



The U.S. position with respect to the fisheries question has been slow 

 in formulation because of the lack of an agreed industrywide position. 

 Now, however, the industry as a whole has agreed to support the posi- 

 tion prepared by the U.S. Working Group. The coalition of interest has 

 been largely induced by the realization that the current worldwide fish- 

 ing capability can grossly reduce the catch of currently marketable fish 

 and alter the relative species balance in a major way if uncontrolled and 

 unregulated. The position proposed is to assign each coastal fishery to the 

 adjacent state for management and licensing; to assign responsibility for 

 anadromous fish to the country in whose waters the fish spawn; and to 

 rely on multilateral arrangements for the pelagic fisheries. The basic ap- 

 proach is to place priority on conservation of the resource. This approach, 

 in the case of the coastal fishery, has the important corollary that the 

 fixed territorial concept is removed from the important fisheries domain, 

 and should help reheve the pressures which appear to be driving terri- 

 torial limits outward. 



The Issue of Open Research 



Our position with regard to the use of the ocean basins is largely in 

 agreement with the positions of most other states. The principle of com- 

 munity ownership and international management has been accepted, but 

 the question of the relation between a producing corporation and the 

 international management is yet to be settled — and there is great resist- 

 ance to such management conducting its own research while restricting 

 research of member nations. 



Except possibly for manganese nodule and phosphate mining, the deep- 

 sea resources will remain inaccessible for many years. Therefore these 

 questions are less immediate than the fishing and territorial waters ques- 

 tions, and even in the case of the nodules and phosphate beds the pres- 

 sure for development may be resolved by the hidden question of the effect 

 on individual states' economies by the introduction of new sources of 

 specific minerals. Nevertheless, discussions relating to the use of the sea- 

 bed have raised the specter of restrictions on freedom of research on the 

 open sea. It is and should remain firm U.S. policy that this freedom of 

 research on the open sea, continue. 



