The Public Policy/The United States Takes a Dive

...The coastal state would then derive an annual income no matter who is fishing its resources, and it would have an incentive to refrain from the arbitrary exclusion of foreign fishermen, as well as an incentive to manage the resource properly by seeing to it that it is not overfished...

...The various uses of the ocean are so different, and so complex, that it is futile to try to encompass them within any single international treaty...

...Since the Soviet Union and many European countries depend heavily on traffic through such passages as the Bosporus, Gibraltar, and the English Channel, these states are unlikely to allow any country to set a precedent which could affect them adversely in the future...

...If every fisherman were to do this, overfish-ing would result and the reproduction rate would diminish-to the detriment of all concerned...

...Some concern does arise from the perception that scientific research can lead to direct resource applications, be they fisheries, oil, or deep sea minerals, and that the country best equipped to carry out research will be the most likely to obtain commercial advantage from this capability...

...A free ocean regime is not only beneficial for growth, it is a necessity for survival...

...They consist mainly of manganese nodules containing small quantities of copper, nickel, and cobalt...

...And in fact, the world fish catch peaked during the last decade...

...Department of the Interior has for some time now leased oil drilling rights beyond the 200-meter depth limit, which legally defines the continental shelf...

...The White House- concerned with winding down the Vietnam conflict-supported this approach, over objections from the government departments more directly concerned with the long-run use of ocean resources...

...Anyone in the world can partake of possible future profits from ocean mining as long as he is willing to share some of the risks as well, and this seems to me a fair proposition...

...In fact, some of the major risks of ocean mining have already been settled, so that today's investor would not be paying the full cost...

...The extraction of sand and gravel forms the largest amount of ocean mining, and it is an activity bereft of international controversy...

...Since 1973, the conference has met for nine lengthy sessions...

...especially in internationally recognized ocean passages...

...Despite the differences between navigation, fishing, and other maritime activities, in the late 1960s there appeared support for the concept of a single umbrella agreement under United Nations auspices which would cover all uses of the ocean...

...Congress has joined what is most likely an irreversible trend in fisheries management...

...Ocean mining will compete effectively with land mining, to the benefit of the consumer worldwide who uses products made of copper or steel which require manganese or nickel...

...In the latter case the right to manage the resource could be auctioned off to the highest bidder among nations for a period long enough to provide the incentive necessary to manage the resource properly...

...There may be no need to handle the matter at all...

...Maritime agreements go back centuries and probably longer...

...So far as I can tell, the presently agreed-to legal regime-the 1958 Geneva Convention-gives adequate authority to any nation to do anything within its technical capability on the seabed beyond its continental shelf...

...A Draft Convention has now been prepared, although it remains an "informal text...

...In 1979, according to the Bureau of Mines, the United States imported 98 percent of its manganese, 94 percent of its cobalt, and 73 percent of its nickel...

...The result was the UN Law of the Sea Conference, involving some 150 countries, many of which have no outlet to the ocean...

...Indeed, it would seem that the logic of the fisheries regime -that separate issues within it ought to be treated separately, and in many cases ought to be left well enough alone-would apply to many other ocean issues...

...In the case of scientific research there exists a similar worldwide interest...

...The amounts available are huge...

...Private companies, mostly American ones, have made the great financial investments necessary to exploit ocean mineral resources...

...There are also, those who believe that international agreements per se are worthwhile simply because the making of international agreements promotes the general purpose of international peace...

...position derives from American technical preeminence...

...There is also the possibility that the demand for manganese, copper, nickel, or cobalt may decrease in the future because of some change in technology...

...Problems would still arise from those fisheries which cross the boundary between adjacent coastal states, from anadromous fish, such as salmon, which can be caught in the far ocean or near estuaries, to pelagic fish beyond the 200-mile limit which cannot be claimed by any nation...

...It is not likely that oil and gas will be found in any commercial quantities beyond the continental shelves, that is, on the deep ocean between the continents...

...in fact, these resources are virtually inexhaustible...

...There is a final perspective, beyond efficiency, equity, and even need, from which we in the United States must look at the matter of ocean mining: national security...

...In principle, the world fishery resource is renewable, and thus not fully exploited in many places, but because in practice fish are a "common property" resource, it is to every fisherman's advantage to catch as much as possible...

...No one in fact can be sure at this stage about the actual cost of mining, nor about the future price of the minerals...

...they are requests for aid and a redistribution of resources...

...As far as one can tell, however, setting up a UN agency for ocean mining would be a costly venture all by itself and would probably soak up any profits it might generate...

...The long-term interests of the United States and of the world would be better served if the different uses of the ocean were to be dealt with separately...

...More likely, it would be controlled by those who may find it in their monopoly interests to delay or even abandon ocean mining...

...Nevertheless, it is true that Third World demands for equity are not simply pleas for equality of opportunity...

...The most difficult problems arise from the actual exploitation of resources, be they living or mineral...

...Take the case of ocean mining...

...If we become dependent for our vital metals on countries which might want to dictate to us our foreign policy, or set up cartels to collect monopoly profits, we would be imperiled and so would the rest of the world...

...Ocean mining is in a situation similar to that of world fisheries when fishermen only had small sailboats rather than motorized factory ships...

...The mineral resource simply is so plentiful and so widely available in different parts of the world that there should be no conflict for many decades to come...

...The full weight of world opinion can be brought to bear on any country which asserts extraterritorial rights of navigation...

...Another worldwide concern is the burgeoning pollution of the ocean, which like navigation, is an international issue, affecting fisheries, with local repercussions-for example, the oil pollution of beaches...

...If we do not develop ocean resources, we will leave ourselves open to the possibility of future metal cartels, every bit as threatening as OPEC...

...The existing agreements are, in almost all cases, more than adequate...

...The U.S...

...In my view, these advantages are illusory...

...It would therefore appear that, under the prevailing regime of fisheries management-that grabbag of unilateral actions, bilateral agreements, depoliticized collaboration, and potential single-issue global accords-the stewardship of world fish resources is in good hands...

...Such arrangements, which are now administered for the United States by the Coast Guard, can be readily extended or adapted as new and different pollution problems arise...

...On the contrary, if the cost of mining is greater than the value of the minerals, this obviously is a recipe for vast losses...

...Only a "hands off" regime will provide maximum play for market efficiency...

...It is unnecessary for the UN Conference to be involved in such local matters, and it is futile and pointless to attempt to formulate principles which can be made to apply to all juris-dictional disputes...

...As a principle such requests deserve hearings, not as a matter of right, but simply because the humanitarian concerns of the American people require a generosity of spirit toward the people, if not the governments, of the Third World...

...There is always competition from low-cost ores from conventional mines...

...What is appropriate to coastal fisheries is not at all appropriate to high seas fisheries, or to the control of pollution, or to navigation, deep sea mining, and research...

...There is always the possibility that new discoveries will be made onshore in areas of the world that have not been explored...

...Thus, there is the purely scientific problem of deciding what is the best amount of fish to catch each year so as to extract the greatest possible yield from a particular fishery...

...taxpayer, who has supported government-financed development of ocean technology...

...Coastal states will probably want to control ocean dumping off their own shores, and to this end, we in the United States have moved unilaterally to limit our own ocean dumping, without benefit of any international treaty...

...But because of misplaced concern that such mining somehow constitutes exploitation of Third World countries, the political strength of the U.S...

...And the second problem is how to arrive at an agreement that is equitable to all who wish to fish...

...The coastal nations have responded to this diminution in the annual catch by declaring a 200-nautical-mile limit or a similar "economic zone" in which they claim ownership rights...

...Perhaps the easiest way to handle it is by cooperative research agreements which would mandate the inclusion in the research enterprise of the research vessels, research facilities, or research scientists of the country on whose continental shelf the research is being conducted...

...At stake is control over the extraction of minerals from the deep seabed - a resource of great economic and strategic value...

...For example, the commonly accepted international practice of freedom of navigation for all shipping on the high seas, and the right of innocent passage through territorial waters, should certainly be continued...

...The strength of the U.S...

...The scientific and political problems may be resolved by an economic approach: Each coastal nation should rent to the highest bidder the fishing rights it now claims, charging perhaps an entry fee as well as some kind of severance tax based on how much is actually taken...

...For example, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) through its Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) can and does arrange cooperative research ventures...

...The management of ocean fisheries is an immensely complicated international issue, both from a scientific and legal point of view, for the twin reasons that fish are mobile and that they reproduce...

...position in these negotiations has eroded steadily since their inception in 1973...

...Presumably, this international Authority would receive its financing and technology from the developed nations, particularly from the United States...

...Moreover, the U.S...

...With all of this in mind we can examine the weaknesses of the major proposals for the control of ocean mining which have been made at the Law of the Sea Conference...

...A good example is the amicable accord with which the North Sea has been divided among the nations which border it...

...Alternatively, and perhaps in addition, the raw data and the final evaluative reports should be made available to that country...

...It is always in the best interest of the world as a whole if the lowest cost resource is exploited first and the higher cost resources later...

...Thus, although the Geneva Convention was drawn up at a time when there was' little expectation that the technical capability to mine beyond the 200-meter depth limit would be developed, there nevertheless is no reason to enact any new agreement...

...In any case, there is every reason to handle such negotiations through the long-established nongovernmental channels...

...negotiators sign the present draft agreement, control of ocean mining will pass to an international body composed of the same countries which now control the UN General Assembly...

...We should rely on by S. Fred Singer existing agreements where we can and reach new agreements where necessary, rather than aim for one comprehensive agreement which requires compromises in one area in order to serve the needs of another...

...But this principle of the public good does not generally hold for natural resources...

...engineering and capital, with taxpayer support, have made it possible to mine minerals lying 15,000 feet beneath the surface of the sea...

...The magnitude of the resource is such that it far exceeds any foreseeable capability of exploiting it...

...It has been my experience that these problems seem insurmountable only in the international law sessions and seldom pose much difficulty for practicing scientists...

...One reason why private investors are not rushing out to put their money into ocean mining is that the vast mineral resources of the ocean do not automatically produce vast profits...

...The argument as developed thus far suggests that the question of collecting minerals lying on the deep seabed can be handled quite apart from any other international ocean discussions...

...For example, fish taken by one group is not available to others, and so international fishing rights have been continually disputed...

...Ironically, these proposals fall short on the very grounds upon which they are advanced-efficiency and equity...

...Secretary Haig recognized this need in his order of early March that the United States delay the conclusion of the negotiations...

...Moreover, those one or two countries which currently hold a quasi-monopoly in the production of these metals may be forced to lower their prices- again to the benefit of consumers...

...At the same time, participation in ocean mining is now open to any individual or to any nation that wishes to buy shares of stock in those .companies which are preparing ocean-mining projects...

...The extraction of oil and gas provides the highest return in ocean mining, yet it too is an activity bereft of international controversy simply because it is a gradual extension of onshore oil and gas drilling to the continental shelves of the coastal nations...

...As one might have expected of proposals elicited at an international conference, they all involve the establishment of a new international Authority to carry out or to control the mining- the former in competition with private interests...

...Where amendments are needed, they can be taken up by separate conferences, thus de-coupling the various ocean applications from each other...

...Alternatively, in some instances conservation may be more effectively aided by the establishment of "protected areas," wherein no nation would have a right to fish...

...Thus, for many years a number of international arrangements have been employed to protect the ocean against oil pollution, against the indiscriminate dumping of waste materials, and especially against radioactivity and toxic materials...

...At the very least, the new administration needs time to study the implications of various possible responses...

...But only since Grotius, about 350 years ago, did the idea take hold that freedom of navigation would benefit all nations, including landlocked ones, without harming any...

...And, if different concerns under the rubric of "fisheries" are best handled without a single "fisheries agreement, '' then it dan scarcely be denied that concerns as diverse as fisheries, and, say, mining would not be well served by a single law of the sea agreement...

...Great investments have also been made by the U.S...

...The case of ocean mining is exemplary of the superior efficiency and greater equity which results from the absence of an international regime for ocean resources...

...Unfortunately, what should have been clear at the outset of the UN Law of the Sea Conference-that the ocean as a geographic location does not yield to a single management regime-was not...

...it may now even be declining because of the overfishing facilitated by increasingly sophisticated fishing vessels, on-board refrigeration, and factory ships...

...In practice, however, there are a limited number of efficient methods of fulfilling them, and an umbrella agreement on the redistribution of ocean resources is not one of them...

...It would seem that this concern does not represent an insurmountable problem...

...Of course, there can be disputes over international boundaries on the con- . tinental shelf itself, but such controversy has in the past been settled bilaterally or multilaterally among the nations concerned...

...If U.S...

...Equity would be impaired if American companies and taxpayers were to be denied a return on their investment...

...The greatest disaccord in ocean mining is ranged around the matter of seabed minerals lying on the ocean bottom beyond the narrow continental shelves...

...True, such a treaty would give comfort to those who believe that fundamental conflicts can be postponed by negotiation, and therefore the process itself acquires a certain usefulness...