344 



tionally recognized right of innocent passage, through international 

 straits or the sovereign immunity aiforded certain vessels under inter- 

 national law. 



Third, under international law a nation has a right to exercise 

 certain types of jurisdiction over portions of the seas. The United 

 States at present claims a 3-mile territorial sea in which, subject 

 only to the right of innocent passage, and the sovereign immunity of 

 certain vessels, the United States exercises complete jurisdictional 

 control. From 3 to 12 miles international law recognizes a contiguous 

 zone. Within such high-seas area the United States may exercise 

 limited additional powers including control over fisheries, cnstom, 

 fiscal, immigration, and sanitation matters. Beyond these general and 

 specialized jurisdictional zones, the United States may unilaterally 

 exercise only exclusive sovereign rights over exploration and ex]:)loita- 

 tion of the natural resources of the Continental Shelf (Convention on 

 the Continental Shelf, TIAS 5578). Extreme care must be taken to 

 avoid the inference that the United States is attempting to extend 

 unilateral control to offshore areas beyond that which is permitted by 

 international law. 



Further, the President has recently issued an ocean policy state- 

 ment which calls for current law-of-th-sea questions, most of which 

 involve questions of the limits of permissible coastal State jurisdic- 

 tional control, to be resolved in the context of a mulilateral conven- 

 tion. This initiative has been actively pursued by the United States 

 in the United Nations, and has resulted in a General Assembly Resolu- 

 tion callins: for a new Law-of-the-Sea Conference to convene in 1973. 

 For the United States at this time to enact legislation appearing to 

 unilaterally extend its offshore jurisdiction could be looked u}:)on by 

 many nations as a sign of bad faith with respect to our commitment 

 to resolve law-of-the-sea problems in a multilateral context. 



To avoid the possibility of any legislation being expansively inter- 

 preted, which would violate both international law and stated U.S. 

 policv, it should be made clear that the U.S. coastal zone extends sea- 

 ward only to the outer limit of the U.S. territorial sea. 



This report has been coordinated within the Department of Defense 

 in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. 



The Office of Management and Budget advises that, from tlie stand- 

 point of the administration's program, there is no objection to the 

 presentation of this report on H.R. 2492 for the consideration of the 

 committee. 



Sincerely yours. 



Lando W. Zech, Jr., 



Captain^ U.S. Navy., Deputy Chief 



(For the Secretary of the Navy) . 



Department of the Na^^, 

 Offtce of LECTISLATT^T. Affairs, 

 ^Y asTiington. D.C., June U, 1971. 

 Hon. Edward A. Garmatz, 



Chairman. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries., House of 

 Representatives^ Washington., D.C. 

 Dear Mr. Chairman : Your request for comment on H.R. 2493, a 

 bill "To assist the States in establishing coastal and estuarine zone 



