331 



ness was Mr. Arthur H. Dean, special consultant to the Department of 

 State, who was chief of the U.S. delegation at the negotiations in 

 Geneva which resulted in these conventions. 



During the questioning of Mr. Dean, Senator Mansfield raised the 

 question of the use of the high seas for the testing of nuclear or other 

 dangerous weapons. JNIr. Dean testified that when this general 

 problem was raised during the Geneva Conference it was the consensus 

 of the conference that the matter should be referred to the General 

 Assembly of the United Nations to be taken up at the Conference on 

 Disarmament in Geneva. 



During questioning by Senator Long, Mr. Dean made clear that 

 the conventions do not aff"ect the relative rights as between the several 

 states of the United States and the Federal Government. The con- 

 ventions only affect the rights of the United States as a sovereign state 

 with respect to the rights of other sovereign states. 



Mr. W. M. Chapman, representing the American Tunaboat Associa- 

 tion, the California Fish Canners Association, and the Westgate 

 California Corp. of San Diego, supported the ratification of these 

 conventions. Mr. William R. Neblett, executive director of the 

 National Shrimp Congress, Inc., testified that the groups he repre- 

 sented supported the conventions. Mr. Fred Myers, executive 

 director of the Humane Society of the United States, gave the support 

 of his organization for ratification of the conventions and urged the 

 employment of humane methods of killing animals of the sea, especially 

 whales, seals, and polar bears. Letters and telegrams received from 

 numerous organizations representing the U.S. fishing industry were 

 unanimous in urging approval of the conventions. No opposition 

 was registered. On April 5, 1960, the committee voted without 

 objection to report the conventions favorably to the Senate. 



Conclusion 



The Committee on Foreign Relations was impressed with the 

 following list of benefits accruing to the United States pursuant to 

 the law of the sea conventions, which was furnished by the Depart- 

 ment of State: 



'As a country which believes in the rule of law, any agree- 

 ment on the rules of international law to wliicli the Uiited 

 States can subscribe is of benefit to it. It is also of benefit to 

 the United States as a principal maritime and naval power to 

 have international agreement on the law of the sea. Aside 

 from tliese benefits of a general nature, the following are some 

 of the more specific benefits to tlie United States. 



"In the Convention on the Territorial Sea and tlie Contigu- 

 ous Zone, the articles on straiglit baselines, innocent passage 

 and the contiguous zone are a marked advance in the content 

 and formulation of international law. By restricting tlie use 

 of the straiglit baseline method to certain exceptional geo- 

 graphic situations, its indiscriminate use to reduce to internal 

 waters large areas heretofore regarded as high seas or terri- 

 torial sea is prevented. This is in the interest of tlie United 



