means to secure recognition of such claims on a 

 basis that is fair to all nations; to protect recog- 

 nized claims, while at the same time requiring the 

 relinquishment of claims that are not properly 

 explored or developed within fixed reasonable 

 periods of time; and to settle peacefully any 

 disputes that may arise. 



e. It must otherwise contribute to national 

 security and welfare by not interfering unduly 

 with uses of the seas for purposes other than the 

 exploration and exploitation of mineral resources. 



f. It must seek to avoid, and not provoke, 

 international conflict and should contribute posi- 

 tively to international order and welfare. To this 

 end, it must enable all States to share the benefits 

 of such exploitation. 



g. It must be consistent with foreign-policy 

 objectives of the United States. 



h. It must minimize the creation of vested 

 interests that wall inhibit changes in the framework 

 deemed desirable in the light of unfolding experi- 

 ence with actual exploration and exploitation of 

 the mineral resources underlying the high seas. 



The panel finds that the existing international 

 legal-political framework does not achieve the 

 above objectives. 



II. EXISTING FRAMEWORK 



Different frameworks now govern different 

 parts of the oceans. We shall distinguish, for our 

 purposes, internal waters and the territorial sea; 

 the contiguous zone; the continental shelf; the 

 high seas; and the bed and subsoil of the deep seas, 

 i.e., the high seas beyond the continental shelf. 



These distinctions are also significant for the 

 exploitation of the living resources of the sea and 

 the conduct of scientific inquiry in the oceans. 



A. Internal Waters and the Territorial Sea 



The international Convention on the Territorial 

 Sea and the Contiguous Zone recognizes that the 

 sovereignty of each State extends beyond its land 

 territory and its internal waters, "to a belt of sea 

 adjacent to its coast, described as the territorial 

 sea" and "to the air space over the territorial sea as 

 well as to its bed and subsoil."^ While the 



Convention does not specify the breadth of the 

 territorial sea and claims vary from 3 to more than 

 200 nautical miles, ' it has been the position of 

 the United States that no claim to a breadth 

 greater than three miles has received sufficient 

 acceptance internationally to be a rule of inter- 

 national law.* The overwhehning majority of 

 nations agrees that the breadth of the territorial 

 sea is no greater than 12 miles. 



The waters "on the landward side of the base- 

 line of the territorial sea," as well as the rivers, 

 lakes and canals within its land area, constitute the 

 coastal State's "internal waters."'' 



The "normal baseline for measuring the breadth 

 of the territorial sea is the low water line along the 

 coast."* However, if the coast of a State is very 

 irregular or fringed with islands and shoals, or if 

 the territory of the State takes the form of an 

 archipelago, the method of "straight baselines" 

 may be used to draw the landward limit of the 



Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contig- 

 uous Zone, adopted by the United Nations Conference on 

 the Law of the Sea, April 29, 1958, Part I, Sec. I, Ait. 

 1(1) and (2). The Convention became effective in 1964. 

 15 U.S.T. 1606, T.I.A.S. No. 5639, U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 

 13/L. 52(1958). 



The United States and 25 other members of the 

 United Nations claim territorial seas of three nautical 

 miles (Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, 

 Cuba, Dahomey, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, 

 France, Gabon, Gambia, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Japan, 

 Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands, New 

 Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Trinidad and Tobago, United 

 Kingdom); 16 countries claim territorial seas of six miles 

 (Brazil, Ceylon, Colombia, Dominican RepubUc, Greece, 

 Haiti, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Senegal, Somali Republic, 

 South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay); 34 

 countries claim 12 miles (Algeria, Bulgaria, Burma, 

 Cyprus, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, 

 India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kuwait, Liberia, 

 Libya, Malagasy Republic, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, 

 Roumania, Saudi Arabia, Sierre Leone, Sudan, Syria, 

 Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Ukrainian S.S.R., U.S.S.R., 

 United Arab Republic, Venezuela, Yemen); seven coun- 

 tries claim between 3 and 12 miles (Albania (10), 

 Cambodia (5), Finland (4), Mexico (9), Norway (4), 

 Sweden (4), Yugoslavia (10) ); and 8 countries claim 

 territorial seas Ijetween 12 and 200 or more miles 

 (Argentina (200), Cameroun (18), Chile (50 kilometers), 

 Ecuador (200), El Salvador (200), Guinea (130), Panama 

 (200), Peru (200)). These data are set forth in Marine 

 Science Affaiis-A Year of Plans and Progress, Second 

 Report of the President to the Congress on Marine 

 Resources and Engineering Development, Table E-4, at 

 197-200 (1968) (hereinafter cited as Marine Science 

 Affairs (1968)). 



* Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the 

 United States, §15, comment b and Reporter's Note 1 at 

 45-46 (1962). "[Ajlthou^ it is true that the act of 

 delimitation [of the territorial sea] is necessarily a 

 unilateral act because only the coastal State is competent 

 to take it, the validity of the delimitation with regard to 

 other States depends upon international law." Anglo- 

 Norwegian Fisheries Case, [1951] I.C.J. Rep. 116. 



^Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contig- 

 uous Zone, Part I, Sec. II, Art. 5 (1). 



^Id., Part I, Sec. II, Art. 3. 



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