170 



Going back to the time of the Ocean Dumping Convention in Lon- 

 don, we had representatives of the State Depai-tment on our delegation 

 to the Lon(h)n meeting, particularly one expert on the law of the sea. 



The development of our current IMCO Convention has been under- 

 taken in close consultation with the law of the sea experts in the 

 Department of State, and likewise insofar as the law of the sea nego- 

 tiations proper are concerned, our Council is a member of the executive 

 committee on the interagency task force on the law of the sea. 



We participate r-egularly in inter-agency discussions involving the 

 development of law of the sea positions, and likewise we will have a 

 member of our Council representing us in Geneva this summer during 

 a great part of the preparatory meeting for the Law of the Sea 

 Conference. 



Senator Hollings. That is the interagency task force, I believe, on 

 the laAv of the sea. Are you a member of that ? 



Mr. Train. The Council is. I have not attended it myself. 



Senator Rollings. Excuse me, go r-ight ahead. 



Mr. Train. I am glad you got that on the recor^d, because the matter 

 of coor-dination isterr'ibly important. 



Senator Hollings. I believe your work in this regard will address 

 the very difficult task of finalizing a Law of the Sea Treaty. It is going 

 to be very difficult, getting nations together on this important score, 

 doing something that will help us ultimately on the treaty as a whole. 



Mr. TiL\iN. I think that is undoubtedly right. 



Concerning the October conference, the United States has, as you 

 know, pait-icipated fully in IMCO pr-eparator-y meetings to develop a 

 draft convention. The most recent meetings in February and March 

 prepared the fifth and final draft of a convention, which will be placed 

 before the October conference. 



In terms of its ability to satisfy basic U.S. objectives for the confer- 

 ence, one of which, of cour-se, is adequate implementation of the Ports 

 and Waterways Safety Act, the fifth draft is, fr-ankly, still a somewhat 

 mixed package. In certain aspects, it makes notable strides. In other 

 respects, it falls short. 



I would emphasize, however, that our inability to win majority sup- 

 port for all our positions in the preparatory meetings does not neces- 

 sar-ib' foi-eshr»dow defeat on those issues in October*. Only 23 nations 

 attended the February-March meeting. We expect at least three times 

 that number to participate in the October conference. Thus, we will 

 have some opportunity to regain lost gr-ound. 



As the designated chairman of the IT.S. delegation to the confer-ence, 

 I can assure you that we will woi*k diligently to attempt to build sup- 

 port for important U.S. positions now expi-essed in footnotes. That is, 

 footnotes to the Dr-aft Convention. 



Moreover, we are hopeful that the summer meeting of the Ignited 

 Nations Seabeds Committee at Geneva starting next month will help 

 to convince some of the nations that have been reluctant to sup))ort 

 strict environmental contr-ols that they must be mor-e forthcoming. 

 There is, obviouslv, an interplay between the I^NICO negotiations and 

 the Law of the Sea Confer-ence, a point which you have just made, 

 Ml*. Chaiinian. 



My prepared statement indicates that John Norton Moore would 

 be here to addr-ess you on this subject this afternoon, but it is my 



