Text of a letter from the Secretary of State to the President, September 23, 1994.
The President：
I have the honor to submit to you theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with Annexes, done at Montego Bay, December 10,1982 (the Convention), and the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, with Annex, adopted at New York, July 28, 1994 (the Agreement), and signed by the United States on July 29, 1994, subject to ratification. I recommend that the Convention and the Agreement be transmitted to the Senate for its advice and consent to accession and ratification, respectively.
The Convention sets forth a comprehensive framework governing uses of the oceans. It was adopted by the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (the Conference), which met between 1973 and 1982 to negotiate a comprehensive treaty relating to the law of the sea.
The Agreement, adopted by United Nations General Assembly Resolution AIRES/481263 on July 28, 1994, contains legally binding changes to that part of the Convention dealing with the mining of the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (Part XI and related Annexes) and is to be applied and interpreted together with the Convention as a single instrument. The Agreement promotes universal adherence to the Convention by removing obstacles to acceptance of the Convention by industrialized nations, including the United States.
I also recommend that Resolution II of Annex I, governing preparatory investment in pioneer activities relating to polymetallic nodules, and Annex II, a statement of understanding concerning a specific method to be used in establishing the outer edge of the continental margin, of the Final Act of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea be transmitted to the Senate for its information.
The Convention
The Convention provides a comprehensive framework with respect to uses of the oceans. It creates a structure for the governance and protection of all marine areas, including the airspace above and the seabed and subsoil below. After decades of dispute and negotiation, the Convention reflects consensus on the extent of jurisdiction that States may exercise off their coasts and allocates rights and duties among States.
The Convention provides for a territorial sea of a maximum breadth of 12 nautical miles and coastal State sovereign rights over fisheries and other natural resources in an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that may extend to 200 nautical miles from the coast. In so doing, the Convention brings most fisheries under the jurisdiction of coastal States. (Some 90 percent of living marine resources are harvested within 200 nautical miles of the coast.)
The Convention imposes on coastal States a duty to conserve these resources, as well as obligations upon all States to cooperate in the conservation of fisheries populations on the high seas and such populations that are found both on the high seas and within the EEZ (highly migratory stocks, such as tuna, as well as "straddling stocks"). In addition, it provides for special protective measures for anadromous species, such as salmon, and for marine mammals, such as whales.
The Convention also accords the coastal State sovereign rights over the exploration and development of nonliving resources, including oil and gas, found in the seabed and subsoil of the continental shelf, which is defined to extend to 200 nautical miles from the coast or, where the continental margin extends beyond that limit, to the outer edge of the geological continental margin. It lays down specific criteria and procedures for determining the outer limit of the margin.
The Convention carefully balances the interests of States in controlling activities off their own coasts with those of all States in protecting the freedom to use ocean spaces without undue interference. It specifically preserves and elaborates the rights of military and commercial navigation and overflight in areas under coastal State jurisdiction and on the high seas beyond. It guarantees passage for all ships and aircraft through, under and over straits used for international navigation and archipelagos. It also guarantees the high seas freedoms of navigation, overflight and the laying and maintenance of submarine cables and pipelines in the EEZ and on the continental shelf.
For the non-living resources of the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (i.e., beyond the EEZ or continental margin, whichever is further seaward), the Convention establishes an international regime to govern exploration and exploitation of such resources. It defines the general conditions for access to deep seabed minerals by commercial entities and provides for the establishment of an international organization, the International Seabed Authority, to grant title to mine sites and establish necessary ground rules. The system was substantially modified by the 1994 Agreement, discussed below.
The Convention sets forth a comprehensive legal framework and basic obligations for protecting the marine environment from all sources of pollution, including pollution from vessels, from dumping, from seabed activities and from land-based activities. It creates a positive and unprecedented regime for marine environmental protection that will compel parties to come together to address issues of common and pressing concern. As such, the Convention is the strongest comprehensive environmental treaty now in existence or likely to emerge for quite some time.
The essential role of marine scientific research in understanding and managing the oceans is also secured.
The Convention affirms the right of all States to conduct marine scientific research and sets forth obligations to
