2. Definition of Fishery Research 



The authority of the coastal State over fishery 

 research activities in its exclusive fisheries zone is 

 not as great as it is over research activities in its 

 internal and territorial waters, because the author- 

 ity exercised in the zone must relate to the 

 purpose for which the zone was created: the 

 protection of claimed exclusive fishing rights. 

 Therefore, it becomes both important and difficult 

 to define the "fishery research" that may be 

 prohibited. 



The Scientific Committee on Ocean Research 

 (SCOR) of the International Council of Scientific 

 Unions (ICSU) defined fishery oceanography gen- 

 erally as the study of the living resources of the sea 

 using those aspects of oceanography (including 

 biology, physics, chemistry, geology, and meteor- 

 ology) that affect their abundance, availability, 

 and exploitation. Under this definition, virtually 

 all scientific investigations in the exclusive fisheries 

 zone could be taken to involve fisheries. However, 

 for purposes of the 1966 statute under which the 

 United States proclaimed an exclusive fisheries 

 zone of 12 miles (including the three mile terri- 

 torial sea), an official of the State Department has 

 informally defined "fishery research" in a more 

 restrictive fashion: 



Fishery research is the study of the biology, 

 environment, abundance, availability, and exploi- 

 tation of fish or other aquatic organisms for the 

 purpose of facilitating the utilization of those 

 organisms for sport or commercial purposes. ' ^ 



This definition makes the purpose of the 

 research determinative. Research for purposes 

 other than "facilitating the utilization of those 

 organisms for sport or commercial purposes" may 

 be conducted in the exclusive fisheries zone 

 without the prior consent of the coastal State, 

 even if the research involves marine organisms and 

 proves to be valuable for fisheries. Although this 

 definition is intended to extend the area of 

 freedom for scientific inquiry. Dr. M. B. Schaefer 

 has expressed doubts about its usefulness: 



/ submit that this defintion is not operationally 

 very useful, because of the difficulty of determin- 

 ing the motives of the scientific complement of 

 any particular research vessel. I doubt, therefore, 

 whether I can rely upon it to determine whether 

 or not I should request permission from any given 

 foreign country before conducting any research in 

 biological oceanography, or related subjects, in its 

 exclusive fisheries zone. ' * 



The panel shares this doubt. Because of the 

 uncertainty, scientists will be well advised to avoid 

 the possibiUty of unpleasant, international inci- 

 dents by seeking permission of the coastal State to 

 conduct almost any study of living resources in the 

 exclusive fisheries zone. 



The panel also shares the general concern 

 expressed by Dr. Schaefer about the restriction of 

 research in the exclusive fisheries zone. 



Perhaps the greatest disadvantage to science of the 

 continuing extension of the sovereignty of the 

 coastal State over larger pieces of the high seas is 

 that it will become increasingly difficult, and in 

 some cases impossible, to conduct research requir- 

 ing critical data from areas under the jurisdiction 

 of some coastal States. This problem could be- 

 come particularly serious, for example, in the case 

 of some of the highly migratory marine animals 

 that inhabit different sea areas at different stages 

 of their life cycles. 



Indeed, a doctrine of exclusion with respect of 

 fisheries research, since it obviously includes stu- 

 dies of the life history and ecology of the 

 exploitable organisms, can seriously militate 

 against the conservation of the living resources of 

 the high seas, in instances where the organism 

 which occurs on the high seas also occurs in an 

 exclusive fishing zone, and the researchers are 

 unable to do their work in such zone. ' ' 



3. Recommendation 



The panel does not think that the difficulties 

 pointed out by Dr. Schaefer can be entirely 



Memorandum from William L. Sullivan to Stanley 

 Futterman, Assistant Legal Advisor, Department of State, 

 Aug. 2, 1967. 



Schaefer, The Changing Law of the Sea-Effects on 

 Freedom of Scientific Investigation, Paper Presented at 

 the LawLof the Sea Institute. University of Rhode Island, 

 June 1967, at 15. Dr. Schaefer is Science Advisor to the 

 Secretary of the Interior. 



'"'W. at 17. 



VIU-73 



