Urgency for Law of the Sea

Press, 25 May 1977, Page 20

Urgency for Law of the Sea

The sixth session of the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea, which has begun in New York, has a greater sense of urgency than earlier conferences. Several nations have unilaterally introduced 200-mile (370 km) economic zones since the fifth session; others—New Zealand among them —are preparing legislation to introduce the zone. Collapse of the talks, or even a failure to agree at this session, is likely to promote disregard for agreed international attitudes. Delegates at the conference understand this—which may not in itself guarantee success but at least should help.

The conferring of 200-mile zones has been broadly agreed by earlier meetings Coastal States will be entitled to exploit minerals within these areas and manage the resources, including the fish. The zones will not, however, be territorial seas and traditional freedom of the seas will be allowed in most of the zone. Failure to agree at the present talks might enable some States to blur the distinction between territorial seas and an exclusive economic zone. Such a possibility gives another reason for hoping that accord will be reached.

It is not the settlement of the zones—the issue of greatest importance to New Zealand—which is holding up agreement on a new law. The last few sessions have been bogged down over the question of exploitation of the deep seabed. The main questions are who shall exploit the minerals of the deep seabed, and for whose benefit will they

be exploited? The areas concerned are outside any State’s 200-mile zone; many areas prospected are in the mid-Pacific Ocean. There are considerable riches to be had from the seabed. A United Nations study has estimated that by 1985 the annual level of production of minerals from the seabed may be as follows: manganese, 920,000 tons (6 per cent of world demand); copper 200,000 tons (1.3 per cent of world demand); nickel 220,000 tons (18 per cent of world demand); cobalt 50,000 tons (50 per cent of world demand). A United States study suggests that in the Pacific Ocean alone there are 358,000 tons of manganese, 14,700 tons of nickel, and 7800 tons of copper. Few nations have the expertise to undertake mining of the deep seabed and few have the capital to engage in what will be one of the most»capitalintensive industries of all time. Among the developing nations some fear has been expressed that, without orderly marketing, minerals from the bottom of the sea could upset the markets for their own production. An international enterprise, the International Seabed Authority, has been proposed to take part in the exploitation. The United States also wants to ensure permanent access for private mining companies. The actual role of the International Seabed Authority has yet to be determined. So far it looks as if the countries or companies and the International Seabed Authority will take part in the mining. A host of issues remains to be settled.