eral resources. (The United States, of course, will 

 retain its "sovereign right" to exploit the natural 

 resources of its continental shelves and exclude all 

 others from exploiting them). 



(c) It should state that it is prepared to grant 

 applications by foreign scientists for permission to 

 conduct broad categories of research without 

 requiring them to make repeated requests for 

 consent to engage in individual projects falling 

 within an approved category. 



(d) It should interpret the Convention as re- 

 quiring the prior consent of the coastal State only 

 for research concerning the continental shelf 

 which involves physical contact with it. Even if 

 such physical contact occurs, as when an installa- 

 tion for scientific research is placed on the 

 continental shelf, it should stress that the prior 

 consent of the coastal State is not required if the 

 research concerns the superjacent waters and not 

 the continental shelf. 



This pohcy of "easy access," of course, will 

 remain subject to the provision of the Convention 

 that the United States shall have the right, if it so 

 decides, to participate or to be represented in the 

 research and that in any event the results of the 

 investigation shall be pubhshed. 



The panel recommends that these specific steps 

 toward an "easy access" pohcy shall be taken 

 by the United States unilaterally. The United 

 States will benefit from the increased knowledge 

 resulting from such a pohcy and other coastal 

 States may thereby be encouraged to reciprocate. 



2 No state may exercise exclusive sovereign rights 

 of the high seas for the conduct of research by 

 means of fixed oceanographic stations. 



3. No state may restrict the reasonable conduct of 

 such research by other governments or by individ- 

 uals over whom it has no personal jurisdiction. 



4. States are under a duty to ensure that such 

 research undertaken by them or their nationals is 

 conducted with reasonable regard to the interests 

 of other States in their exercise of the freedom of 

 the high seas. 



5. A State is permitted by international law to 

 place additional restrictions on the conduct of 

 research on the high seas for its own nationals and 

 vessels, but not for persons over whom the State 

 has no jurisdiction. ^ ' 



Although the Report is principally concerned 

 with the use of buoy or data stations, its conclu- 

 sions also apply to the use of any other method or 

 device for the conduct of scientific investiga- 

 tions.^" These conclusions also underscore the 

 need for international cooperation in the conduct 

 of research in the high seas. Without such coopera- 

 tion in the establishment and maintenance of a 

 world-wide system of ocean data stations, it will 

 be difficult, if not impossible, to detect those who 

 might interfere with a station or the data there- 



IV. A NEW INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, 

 AND INTERIM BILATERAL AND RE- 

 GIONAL AGREEMENTS, ON MARINE 

 SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY 



D. Research in the High Seas, i.e.. Beyond the 

 Territorial Sea 



While the freedom to conduct scientific investi- 

 gations in the high seas is recognized by general 

 principles of international law, this freedom is 

 limited in the exclusive fisheries zones and by the 

 requirements of the Convention on the Conti- 

 nental Shelf. 



A joint UNESCO-IMCO Report drew the fol- 

 lowing imphcations from these principles: 



The panel recommends that the United States 

 take the initiative to propose a new international 

 convention on marine scientific inquiry which 

 should embody the essential provisions set forth 

 below. Pending the negotiation of such a conven- 

 tion, the United States should seek to enter into 

 bilateral and regional agreements embodying the 

 same provisions. 



a. Scientific research in the territorial waters or 

 on and concerning the continental shelf of a 

 coastal State may be conducted without its prior 

 consent, provided that (I) the coastal State is 



29r 



PreUminary Report of UNESCO and IMCO on the 

 Legal Status of Unmanned & Manned Fixed Oceano- 

 graphic Stations, UN Doc. NS/IOC/INF/34, at 11 (1962). 



30 



Buike, supra note 5, at 78. 

 '/d at 81. 



VIII-76 



