nautical miles from the baselines for measuring the 

 breadth of the territorial sea, whichever alternative 

 gives the coastal State the greater submarine area 

 for the purposes for which the intermediate zone 

 is created. (This 2,500 meter/100 mile pairing is 

 about as close together as pairings on world-wide 

 averages of the depth and width of the world's 

 geological continental shelves and slopes can rea- 

 sonably be).""* Here too, the panel recommends 

 that the boundaries of the intermediate zone be 

 fixed once and for all in terms of geographical 

 coordinates (and by use of a system analogous to 

 that of straight baselines) and be recorded with the 

 International Registry Authority. 



If the same intermediate zone is claimed by two 

 or more States whose coasts are opposite each 

 other, or by two adjacent States, the boundaries 

 should be determined by applying the "median- 

 line" principles set forth in Article 6 of the 

 Convention on the Continental Shelf. 



Only the coastal State or its licensees, which 

 may or may not be its nationals, shall be author- 

 ized to explore or exploit the mineral resources of 

 the intermediate zone. In all other respects, 

 exploration and exploitation in the intermediate 

 zone shall be governed by the framework recom- 

 mended below for the areas of the deep sea 

 beyond the intermediate zone. As the latter 

 framework is explained, the full significance of the 

 intermediate zone will be made clear. 



The recommendation that only the licensees of 

 the coastal State shall have access to the mineral 

 resources of the intermediate zone, under the 

 conditions specified below, is a compromise be- 

 tween the position, exemplified by the NPC 

 Interim Report, that the continental shelf should 

 be redefined to include the intermediate zone and 

 the position that the intermediate zone should be 

 treated in every respect like the areas of the deep 

 sea beyond it. The compromise recognizes that the 



The average width of the geological continental slope 

 is about 15 nautical miles, but it varies from 10 to 50 

 miles. The average base of the slope is at a depth which 

 varies from 1,400 to 3,200 meters. Woridwide, about 

 7'/2 per cent of the total ocean area is of a depth less than 

 200 meters and another 8V2 percent is from 200 meters to 

 2,000 meters, of which about half is deeper than 1,000 

 meters. For the United States, the ocean areas at a depth 

 less than 200 meters exceed the areas at depths from 200 

 to 2,000 meters. See Encyclopedia of Oceanography 

 (Fairbridge ed. 1966); Menard & Smith, Hypsometry of 

 Ocean Basin Provinces, 71 J. of Geophysical Research 

 4305, 4315 (1966); and the text accompanying note 82 

 supra. 



uncertainties of the present definition of the 

 continental shelf may have raised the expectations 

 of coastal States to the point where they may 

 refuse to accept the recommended redefinition 

 without the recommended intermediate zone. It 

 also recognizes that for some time to come, 

 exploitation of particular mineral resources of the 

 intermediate zone may, in the language of the 

 Truman Proclamation of 1945, be "contingent 

 upon cooperation and protection from the shore" 

 and that "self-protection" may compel "the 

 coastal nation to keep close watch over activities 

 off its shores which are of the nature necessary for 

 the utilization of these resources." 



At the same time, the compromise recognizes 

 that the mineral resources of the intermediate 

 zone cannot be said, in fairness and equity, to 

 "belong" to the coastal States so that all other 

 States— and the international community— should 

 be entirely excluded from the benefits of their 

 exploitation. 



D. The Framework Governing the Bed of the 

 Deep Seas and Its Subsoil (i.e., the Area 

 Beyond the Continental Shelf as Redefined) 



1 . Introductory Remarks 



The International Panel has carefully evaluated 

 the following principal alternatives proposed to 

 govern exploration and exploitation of the mineral 

 resources of the bed of the deep seas and its 

 subsoil:— (a) divide the mineral resources of the 

 bed of the high seas and its subsoil among the 

 coastal States and thereby make the whole new 

 framework unnecessary; (b) recognize any State's 

 claim to permanent, exclusive access to the mineral 

 resources of particular areas of the bed of the deep 

 seas or its subsoil which that State is the first to 

 discover and exploit; (c) add to either of the 

 foregoing alternatives certain "international" fea- 

 tures to make it more acceptable to the nations of 

 the world; (d) give the United Nations, in the 

 name of the international community, "title" to 

 the living resources of the sea beyond the 1 2-miIe 

 limit and to the mineral resources of the deep seas, 

 in the sense that a designated United Nations 

 agency would hold ownership rights and grant or 

 lease them, or use them itself, and distribute the 

 revenues derived from the exercise of its owner- 



VIII-35 



