Chapter 1 



Summary, Issues, and Options 



EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE: THE NATION'S NEW FRONTIER 



Ever since the research vessel H.M.S. Challenger 

 hoisted manganese nodules from the deep ocean 

 during its epic voyage in 1873, there has been per- 

 sistent curiosity about seabed minerals. It was not 

 until after World War II, however, that the black, 

 potato-sized nodules like those recovered by the 

 Challenger became more than a scientific oddity. 

 The post-war economic boom fueled an increase 

 in metals prices, and as a result commercial interest 

 focused on the cobalt-, manganese-, nickel-, and 

 copper-rich nodules that litter the seafloor of the 

 Pacific Ocean and elsewhere. World War II also 

 left a legacy of unprecedented technological capa- 

 bility for ocean exploration. Oceanographers took 

 advantage of ocean sensors and shipboard equip- 

 ment developed for the military to expand scien- 

 tific ocean research and commercial exploration. 



Over the last 30 years, much has been learned 

 about the secrets of the oceans. Several spectacu- 

 lar discoveries have been made. For instance, only 

 two decades ago, most scientists rejected the ideas 

 of continental drift and plate tectonics. Now, largely 

 due to research carried out on the oceanfloor, scien- 

 tists know that the surface of the Earth is constructed 

 of "plates" which are in exceedingly slow but con- 

 stant motion relative to each other. Plates pull apart 

 along "spreading centers" where new crustal ma- 

 terial is added to the plates; plates collide along 

 "subduction zones" where old crust is thrust down- 

 ward. While these plates move at rates of only a 

 few inches per year, crustal material moves as if 

 on a conveyor belt from spreading center to sub- 

 duction zone. More recently, scientists have dis- 

 covered that the seafloor spreading centers are zones 

 where mineral deposits of potential use to human- 

 ity are being created. These sites of active mineral 

 formation are often habitats for unique biological 

 communities. 



Scientists are excited by the new discoveries that 

 have enabled them to better understand the Earth's 

 structure and the processes of mineral formation, 

 among other things. Other experts are more in- 



terested in the implications of this new knowledge 

 for potential financial gain. Nonetheless, despite 

 the several decades of scientific research since World 

 War II and some limited commercially oriented ex- 

 ploration, only the sketchiest picture has been 

 formed about the type, quality, and distribution 

 of seabed minerals that someday may be exploita- 

 ble. A large part of the ocean remains unexplored, 

 and this is almost as true of the coastal waters un- 

 der the jurisdiction of sovereign states as it is of the 

 deep ocean. 



During the past three decades, many coastal na- 

 tions have established Exclusive Economic Zones 

 (so-called EEZs) — areas extending 200 nautical 

 miles' seaward from coastal state baselines where- 

 in nations enjoy sovereign rights over aU resources, 

 living and non-living (see figure 1-1). The EEZ con- 

 cept has given new impetus to acquiring knowledge 

 about the oceans and the inventory of mineral 

 deposits within coastal nation jurisdiction. More 

 than 70 coastal countries have now established Ex- 

 clusive Economic Zones. When the United States 

 established its own EEZ by Presidential proclama- 

 tion in March 1983, it became the 59th nation to 

 do so. Covering more than 2.3 million square nau- 

 tical miles (nearly 2 billion acres, equivalent to more 

 than two-thirds of the land area of the entire Unit- 

 ed States), the U.S. EEZ is the largest under any 

 nation's jurisdiction.^ Its international legal stand- 

 ing is based on customary international law, which 

 has been codified in the Law of the Sea Convention^ 

 (see box 1-A). Although the United States has thus 



'A nautical mile is 6,076 feet. All uses of the term "mile" in this 

 assessment refer to a nautical mile. 



^L. Alexander, "Regional Exclusive Economic Zone Management," 

 in Exclusive Economic Zone Papers, Oceans 1984 (Washington, DC: 

 Marine Technology Society, 1984), p. 7. Others have estimated the 

 U.S. EEZ to be much larger — 3.9 billion acres — but the larger esti- 

 mate includes portions of the former Pacific Trust Territories that are 

 no longer considered U.S. possessions (See W. P. Pendley, "America's 

 Exclusive Economic Zone: The Whys and Wherefores," Exclusive 

 Economic Zone Papers, Oceans 1984 [Washington, DC: Marine Tech- 

 nology Society, 1984], p. 43.) 



^Law of the Sea Convention Article 55 et seq. 



