332 



States wliich believes in tlie greatest possible freedom of the 

 seas. The article defining passage as innocent so long as it 

 is not prejudicial to the peace, good order, or security of the 

 coastal state furnishes a clear, simple and precise definition 

 of innocent passage, something which has not heretofore 

 existed in niternational law. It thus aflords to maritime 

 navigation the greatest freedom of movement consistent 

 with the necessity of the coastal state to protect itself. 

 Ai'ticle 24 on the contiguous zone is of benefit to the United 

 States since it confirms the practice followed by the United 

 States of exercising customs jurisdiction over a zone outside 

 of its territorial sea and also sanctions the exercise of similar 

 jurisdiction for fiscal, immigration and sanitary purposes in 

 a contiguous zone, the outer limit of which is twelve miles 

 from the coast. 



"While tlic Convention on the High Seas is generally declar- 

 atory of existing principles of international law, by codifying 

 these principles hi agreed terms, tlie convention should help 

 to provide stabilit}' and avoid disputes in this field of inter- 

 national law. 



"The Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living 

 Resources of the High Seas could prove to be particularly 

 beneficial to the United States which is one of the great 

 fishing nations of the world. As such, it has farfiung and 

 highly diversified high seas fisheries interests. Since the 

 resources of the sea are not inexhaustible, with the advent 

 of modern-day fishing vessels, equipment and techniques, 

 stocks of fish are more than ever vulnerable to overexploita- 

 tion by the fishermen of many states. If this is to be 

 avoided, it behooves the nations in concern to agree upon 

 appropriate conservation regimes along rational lines. 



"The Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the 

 Living Resources of the High Seas is the first international 

 legislation dealing comprehensively with conservation prob- 

 lems. As a code regulating the conservation of maritime 

 resources, it provides a sound basis for international coopera- 

 tion in determining the need for and in the adoption of such 

 conservation measures as are necessary to maximize the 

 productivity of high seas fishery resources. At the same 

 time, the convention represents a long step toward the 

 development of orderly procedures for resolving problems 

 that provide the basis for disputes among nations over fishing 

 -riglits and interests on the high seas. The United States 

 lias had its share of these. 



"The Convention on the Continental Shelf is pa,rticularly 

 significant and beneficial to the United States which is one 

 of the principal countries making use of the natural resources 

 of the shelf because the convention reflects for the first time 

 international agreement on the rules governing the explora- 

 tion and exploitation of this vast submarine area of the world. 

 Tlie convention shoul.d prove specially beneficial to the 

 United States since it endorses numerous principles which 



