RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT
After nearly a century of virtually complete freedom, marine scientists have encountered growing controls. In the 1950s a few states claimed jurisdiction to 200 miles. The 1958 U.N. Convention on the Continental Shelf extended some control over marine research. Throughout the 1960s many states expanded their traditional three nautical mile territorial seas with l2 mile claims. Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of 200 mile claims, most of which would control science. Bilateral agreements and programs of multilateral organizations have replaced in large part the traditional informal marine science cooperation, and interest has been sparked in more regional arrangements. The UNCLOS negotiations have tended toward broad control by coastal states over marine science within 200 mile economic zones. It is clear marine scientists face many more restrictions in the future than in the past. Their methods of work will be much more complicated with startling technological advances. This does not mean an end to international cooperation in marine science. As perceptions of the world change, it may well have the opportunity to flourish.
INTRODUCTION
Marine technology and concepts of marine resource jurisdiction have changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. This revolution has both positive and negative aspects, as is the wont of most revolutions. Fishermen have seen both a considerable increase in their catches, as well as the establishment of 200 mile fisheries or economic zones to control those catches brought about by the technological advances of large foreign fleets. Fishing technology has become so effective that the capability to harvest surpasses what the resources can produce consistent with enlightened conservation, except with respect of unconventional species such as krill. And some people think the krill should be protected to feed the whales. Offshore oil production has gone to ever greater depths, benefitting employees, oil companies, and consumers whose demands for petroleum is ever increasing despite dwindling land supplies. Oil production, however, has been substantially unaffected by changing perceptions of offshore jurisdiction produced in significant part by the developing marine technology, unlike other resources. This is because the concept of coastal state jurisdiction over oil-producing offshore areas was already well established in accommodation with the development of new technologies. We stand at the advent of deep seabed mineral production. Yet this technological change, which could benefit many, has land-based mineral producers deeply worried. And it has produced some startling controversies. One, the international regime for deep seabed mining, is the most difficult problem remaining before the Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea. Another surrounds unilateral actions to mine the seabed in the absence of an LOS agreement.
The marine technological revolution has placed the marine scientist on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, development of sophisticated instruments, including satellites, has significantly increased his ability to unravel the mysteries of the ocean which affect us all in so many ways. Just to cite one example, recent discoveries indicate a very significant impact on man's weather from distant ocean processes.