INTRODUCTION 



The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea pro- 

 vides an appropriate occasion for the revision of the December 1970 

 publication, Treaties and Other International Agreements on Ocean- 

 ographic Resources, Fisheries, and Wildlife to which the United States 

 is Party. Recent U.S. treaty-making activity and concern has coincided 

 with increasing international community awareness of the importance 

 of issues involving ocean uses and resources. 



In this compilation multilateral treaties and international agree- 

 ments have been arranged according to subject categories, whereas 

 bilateral treaties and agreements have been arranged, first, alpha- 

 betically according to country and, then, according to subject. 



In addition to updating the materials contained in the compilation 

 (through December 31, 1974, unless otherwise noted) , this third edition 

 reflects a restructuring of the contents to facilitate its use. New major 

 sections have been established covering "Ocean Mammals" (whales, 

 seals, and polar bears) and "Protection of the Marine Environment" 

 (including conventions to control pollution in the oceans). All of the 

 relevant information relating to the citation, parties, and entry into 

 force of an agreement have been placed on the page where the text of 

 the treaty starts. For the first time a citation to the U.S. legislation 

 implementing the agreement or treaty has been given. As part of the 

 overall expansion and restructuring of the compilation, not-in-force 

 agreements have been put in the main body of the publication and 

 clearly marked as such both in the Table of Contents and at the place 

 of insertion. 



Among the key sources for the texts of documents are two which 

 were not used in the previous compilation : 



(1) Executive Documents {cited hy Congress^ session^ and letter) 



This is the form by which the Senate, having received from the 

 President a treaty for its advice and consent, identifies and prints the 

 text of that treaty and any pertinent remarks and documents provided 

 by the Secretary of State. 



{2) International Legal Materials 



International Legal Materials, Current Documents, is a bi-monthly 

 publication of the American Society of International Law (Washing- 

 ton, D.C.) , which holds the copyright on the publication and has given 

 its permission for six items to be reprinted herein. 



(1) 



