308 



Mr. Clotworthy. No, I don't think it is vague. I think the action 

 has been very forthright. 



Mr. Pelly. And you support it ? 



Mr. Clotworthy. I support it. With respect to the United Nations 

 and the activities there, we certainly commend the study that is taking 

 place now, the dialog among nations as to what must be accomplished 

 in future times. We do not want to see, as some have suggested, the 

 seabeds becoming a hotbed of international political activity in the 

 future to the point where there are military consequences. 



We want to se the peaceful development of oceanic resources in the 

 deep seabed, but we feel that this should be done through normal 

 treaty mechanisms rather than the outright usurping of sovereignty 

 through a body such as the United Nations or through such a mecha- 

 nism as the Malta proposal. We believe that we have in the past as a 

 Nation been able to negotiate international treaties with other Nations 

 where we have common interests and common problems and that this 

 is a satisfactory mechanism for handling the exploration and exploita- 

 tion of the deep sea resources in the future. 



Mr. Pelly. In other words, by international convention and agree- 

 ment among nations as to the problems that confront us in connection 

 with the seabed and the oceans in the future? 



Mr. Clotworthy, Yes, as opposed to the assumption of sovereignty 

 by the United Nations. 



Mr. Pelly. For example, unilateral action in claiming a fishing- 

 zone, or territorial sea for 200 miles, we will say, contrary to any inter- 

 national convention in this area, you would oppose. 



Mr. Clotworthy. The 200-mile presumption, w'hich I would prefer 

 to call it, is a unilateral action. I am talking about multilateral actions 

 as the proper course of events. 



Mr. Pelly. I think you have been very explicit, and I certainly 

 commend you for your clarification and your support of this proposed 

 legislation. I think we can probably clear up some of the international 

 vagueness and lack of agreement if we have such an independent 

 agency much better than we can if the responsibility is divided among 

 all the dijfferent departments of Government. 



I think implementation of this program will certainly be very 

 helpful. I want to thank you for your very fine statement, 



Mr. Hathaway. Congressman Keith? 



Mr. Keith. No questions. 



Mr. Hathaway. Congressman Schadeberg? 



Mr. Schadeberg. To follow the comment, I agree with the past 

 statement, but could you suggest as to what the difficulty would be if 

 it were accomplished through such a proposal as the Malta proposal 

 in the United Nations ? What would be involved that would affect our 

 research and so forth? 



Mr. Clotworthy. Well, as I interpret the intent of the Malta pro- 

 posal, it was to delegate sole responsibility, executive responsibility 

 for the development of deep sea oceanic resources beyond the Conti- 

 nental Shelf to an international body. I don't subscribe to this because 

 I don't think that an international body, where one nation such as 

 ours can be counted only to the extent of one vote in a body made up of 

 many nations, and considering our abilities to explose and exploit 

 the oceanic resources, if proper. 



