Leaal Rules Affectinn llilitarv Uses of the Seabed

• Author: By Captain Robert W. Gehrme
• Pages: 04

To many, the deep seabed raises %,isions of Jules Verne

and Jacpz~es Costeazc. Homier, ;TI reemt gears military nnd eeoiiomie erploitatton of the deep oeenns has beco7ne

Ssclenr. Senbed Trentij

1. INTRODUCTIOS

   Beneath the sometimes placid, sometimes tempestuous surface of the Seren Seas lies a strange and iionderful uorld mare ancient than the land but almost wholly new to man. Long has man hunted blindly fm fish in its depths and tramported his goods acro8s its surface. but only in the last few years has a new technolog? awakened a groivine interest in the resources of the deeper waters, seabed and subsoil. So longer is the deep aeabed thought to be an endless plain of mud as barren economicall!- I as

   *This ~rncle ulss adapted from a theaia presented to The Judge Advacsre Genersl'i School. LLS Army. Charlattesiille, Yirginia, while the author w s a member of the Kmeteenih .4dvsneed Course The opinions and CO~CIU~~C~Spreaen:ed herern are those of the author and do not neeessarili. reoresenr the vle\is of Tie .Judee Adiocste General's Sehaal or anv athel

   SEABED

   it was believed to be biologically. The newly discovered wanders of life thriving on and above the deep seabed are matched by the discoveries of abundant mineral wealth on and below it.

   Beneath the oceans extends a topography as varied as any on emerged earth.' From the mean lox- water line, the continental shelf gradually descends to a depth n~uallybetween 400 and 600 feet. There the decline abruptly increases, marking the upper edge of the continental slope. The continental shelf and cantinental slope together comprise the continental terrace. The slope, frequently scarred by great canyons, drops until its seaward boundary is traced either by a trench, beginning as deep as 8,000 feet and plunging still further, or by the edge of the continental rise between 1200 and 5,000 feet deep. The continental rise continues a much more gradual decline until the abyssal or deep ocean floor. At a usual depth of between 3,300 and 5,500 feet, rolling plains extend for thousands of square miles, scarred by deep gorges and studded with mountains called sea mounts. Some mountains even break through the surf to become islands. High plateaus are sometimes found, called hanks if they rise within 200 meters of the surface. The ocean floors themselves are bisected by mid-ocean ridges comprising the longest continuous mountain chains in the world. Rift valleys split the middle of these ridges along most of their lengths.

   In this submerged world human concerns can be grouped in four main areas: (1) economic, primarily fishing, petroleum drilling, and mining of other minerals; (2) scientific research, both basic and applied; (3) environmental protection: and (4) military activity and its regulation.

   Fishing, the most historic use of the sea, normally does not involve contact with the seabed at any great depth. Trawling

   come, quite apart fmm the comme~elal prospects which seem man-exmtent." Recent Development8 in the Technology of Ezplaiting the rMinerol Reeouroes ai the Contmental Sheii 24 U.N. Doc. AIConf. 13125 (1958) quoted in Robertson, A Legal Regime the Reaaurcrs of the Seabed a d

   Subsoil 01

   the Deep Sea' A BTezuhg Problem for International Lawmiem, 21 KAVA!.

   WAR COLLOOE

   Fm"w 61,52 (1968).*Pictures taken at depths UI 4,004 feet appeared I" Chureh. Deep~tar Erplores the Ocean Floo7, NATIOXAL

   GEOORAPBIC

   110 (Jan 1871).'Thia description of the seabed is gathered from FYE MAXWELL EMERY,

   &

   RESOURCPS, is& OF T& SEAS 17

   18-19 (Idea); Glonaary of Geomorphic and Geologic Terms from the N P i Report, printed ~n Heorzng8 on S. Res. 3s Beiorc the Suboom. on Oaan Space ol Lhi Sen~te

   Comm. 00 Foreign Rdotions, 91st Cang., 1st Sens., 202-08

   U;6;'2 ,R~;;;:,;;E~ :mmUm; ~ ; p ~ ; ; w d ~ ~ , a ~ ; $ i ~ ; e

   K o r c ~ u ~

   OCEAX SCIEKCE

   AND ~ I A R ~ E

   Grf;-revzt ,;I

   Ocean Floor Bryand the Lzmits of Notional Junsdiotmn 21, 23 U.N.

   GAOR.

   54 MILITARY LA\\- REVIEWis done most fiequentl!- over banks: othei fishing either does not involve battam contact oi is limited to sedentari. fiahenea an shallow portions of the continents: shelf. However, some new techniques cuirently under stud) depart radically from traditional methods. In Australia fish mar be herded by sonar to a control collection goint and then transferred via pipeline to the processing plant.' Other seabed installations to aid m the harvest of free swimming fish may also be used: The aquaculture made possible by confining fish within a given area sometimes yields astounding increases in iiroductiiity, rastir exceeding animal production on land."

   Petroleum IS the oieiwhelmingly dominant economic interest in the seabed, Its production representing nearly 90 percent of subsea mineral production and 16 percent of the world getroleum production ' Yet this LE but a sm811 poition of the future

   'Hearings 07 S. Res. 3s Beinre the Suboa,nni. o,, Ocean Spoor CI :ti Senate Comm. on Foreign Ralatioas, 91st Cang. Isr Serr.. 56-69 ,1569, ereinafter cited 8% S. HEUllNGa 331["C,;aven. Technologa md the Law 01 the Sea, Co~rm~ucc

   ON LAW.

   ORo*xIzaTlon *XI' SECLRlIY ,N THE K3E or THE om*> 1 24 117-18 Mar

   1967 [hereinafter cited as Cn~vrwl.

   L ' m at the Seas. 8wia note 3. at 61 A serious pueatian may arise ean-cerning the regulation of fishenor conducted aith techniques inraiving use of the seabed The 1966 Convention on Fishing snd Conservation of L Resources ai the High Sea8 (88 I p l 1956. 17 C S.T. 138, T I .4 S 5639 U.N T S 20: leffeetne 20 Mar. 1966) provides in Art 13 "l The ~eguloi fisheries conducted by mean? of equipment embedded .n the Raor Dsea m areal of the high seas sdJacenr to the terntorla1 ma of a State may

   ~ I Y J af the areas of high ~ess'' Para 2 defines "filheries conducted by

   means of equipment embedded In the Roor oi the sea" BE "those fisheries umng gear uith %upparting members embedded ~n the sea Roor, constructed on B SLte and left thew to operate permanently OT. If moored, restored each season on the ~ame site.'

   Several q~eiiians occur caneerning the .anguage. May any state regula- such fishenel I" areas of the high seal not adjacent LO Its terntorial sea" Xlay the coastal date ieguiate the fishery when the fishery has not been l a w maintained by nationals, but esme into existence with new seabed techniques' May the coastal state regulate the fishery when ~t 1s one of long standing, but the rechmques are new: Does rhe definition of "finherres con-ducted by meani of equipment embedded ~n the Roar of rhe ies" melude aquaculture made possible bi bubble fences layme on rhe seabed but wlfh

   United Stoles Outer ContinrnLol Shelf Baiore :he Spioial Subcamm. on Ou:ri

   SEABED

   The discovery of many mole deposits in the continental slope and the continental ii3e is anticipated.# Estimates of the petroleum recoyerable on the continental shelf exceed the total recoveled in land operations throughout history." The division of such economic and strategic wealth \%-ill obviously Fake serious problems, not always capable of being settled as peacefully as those in the Sorth Sea." 011 deposits in the East China Sea are fueling a groemg contrweiay between Japan. Nationalist China and Communiit China.lz

   A wide Variety of minerals are found on the continental shelf and continental Besides petroleum, there are deposits of limestone, sand and giavels, iron ore, coal, sulphur, barite, baumte, phosphorite. and placer deposits of diamonds, gold, platinum, titanium minerals, tin, chromite, and zircon Bnne pools discovered at t4e bottom of the Red Sea and suspected in other locations contain highly concentrated quantities af silver, cop-per, zinc, and lead Elsewhere on the seabed berond the continental slope, vast beds of manganese nodules offer the greatest economic potential, not so much for their manganese content but for the higher-priced copper, nickel, and cobalt associated with the manganese.

   Scientific research involving the seabed and the deep sea is winning ever greater expenditures, spurled anis in part by the growing economic interest in this area. The United Satlons re-cently agreed to S P O ~ S O ~ an Internatmai Ocean Decade, long advocated by the United States. The freedom from local jurisdictions an the high seas has assisted research beyond the continental shelf, but iesearch on the continental shelf itself requires the permission of the coastal state.' Delay ~n granting permission and the need for compliance with varying national regulations

   aihhngton Por', 14 Oet 1970, 81 A12 col 1 and 311 Dec 1870 at A13,

   ... .

   ' The failoiving discussion LS bared on ises o/ the Seas mpre note 3. 81 32-5: , US Ad Hoe Comm, supra note 3, at 23-30; IZTERI& C O I ~

   II 2,

   at 310-12, Mera, A Legal Regime ior Drip Sen ."iming, 7 SA> Dim0 L. REI 188. 485-86 11970): ?Iera, THE \IIVER.%L RESOLRCEB or TEE SEI 55-83, 106-241 11965)

   "Convennan on the Continenial Shelf 1Y Api 1958. art 5, para 6, 15 US T 471, 'I 1.A S 5576 488 E h.T S 311 ieffeetive 10 Jun. 1964) [here-inafter cited SI Con Shelf Coni].

   54 MILITARY LAW REVIERfrequently inhibits research severely." Consequently, there has been pressure for any new seabed legal regime to lessen present restrictions an continental shelf research and insure such restrictions are not extended ta deeper waters.

   Environmental protection concerns both present and future activity in the oceans and on the seabed. Pollution is a growing international concemLB The United States decision to dump war-heads containing poison pas into 16,000 feet of water off Cape Kennedy caused international protest,'. though some scientists believe that dumping such materials in the deep ocean may be safer than getting rid of them on land or in the atmosphere." Oil spills from ship collisions and ship discharges, and leaks from oil u-eli8 frequently appear on today's front pages with accompanying background articles explaining the damage wrought to the entire ecology from the seabed to the seabirds." A recent United Kations Food and...