The LOS Convention solidifies coastal State control over Marine Scientific Research (MSR) in waters subject to their jurisdiction, waters which now encompass considerably more of the globe now than in 1958.2 Nevertheless, U.S. policy is to encourage freedom of marine scientific research. That policy was fostered by the U.S. decision, first stated in the President's Oceans Policy Statement of March 10, 1983,3 and reaffirmed in October 1994 in the documents transmitting the LOS Convention to the Senate,4 to not claim jurisdiction over MSR in its EEZ,
1 Captain, JAGC, USN (ret.), Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. This, paper is a revised version of a speech delivered at a conference on observing the oceans at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on January 10, 1995.
2 Accompanying Germany's instrument of accession to the LOS Convention was a declaration concerning marine scientific research, which reads as follows:
Although the traditional freedom of research suffered a considerable erosion by the Convention, this freedom will remain in force for States, international organizations and private entities in some maritime areas, e.g., the sea-bed beyond the continental shelf and the high seas. However, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, which are of particular interest to marine scientific research, will be subject to a consent regime, a basic element of which is the obligation of the coastal State under article 246, paragraph 3, to grant its consent in normal circumstances. In this regard, promotion and creation of favourable conditions for scientific research, as postulated in the Convention, are general principles governing the application and interpretation of all relevant provisions of the Convention.
The marine scientific research regime on the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles denies the coastal State the discretion to withhold consent under article 246, paragraph 5(a), outside areas it has publicly designated in accordance with the prerequisites stipulated in paragraph 6. Relating to the obligation, to disclose information about exploitation or exploratory operations in the process of designation is taken into account in article 246, paragraph 6, which explicitly excluded details from the information to be provided.
Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General: Status as at 31 December 1994, UN Doc. ST/LEG/SER.E/13, at 859 (UN Sales No. E.95.V.5, 1995).
3 When claiming its EEZ in 1983. the United States chose not to assert the right of jurisdiction over marine scientific research within the zone. President Reagan explain the rationale for not doing so, as follows:
While international law provides for a right of jurisdiction over marine scientific research within such a zone, the proclamation does not assert this right. I have elected not to do so because of the United States interest in encouraging marine scientific research and avoiding any unnecessary burdens. The United States will nevertheless recognize the right of other coastal states to exercise jurisdiction over marine scientific research within 200 nautical miles of their coasts, if that jurisdiction is exercised in a manner consistent with international law.
President's Ocean Policy Statement. Mar. 10, 1983, 1 PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS: RONALD REAGAN 1983, at 378-79.
4 Commentary, Sen. Treaty Doc. 103-39, at 80; 6 State Dept. Dispatch Supplement No. 1, Feb. 1995, at 44.
