The Breadth of the Territorial Sea -- A Common United States and Soviet Union Position.

This study surveys the recent developments in the breadth of the territorial sea and analyzes positions of the United States and Soviet Union. Past international conferences, although describing the different regimes of the sea, have failed to settle the highly important question of the breadth of the territorial sea. National jurisdiction over belts of waters, 12 miles or greater, is now claimed by 63 coastal nations. The expansive trend of claims during the last 12 years is viewed with a degree of urgency to conclude an international agreement in a new Law of the Sea Conference in 1973. The two major opponents in the last International Conferences, the United States and Soviet Union, reveal a convergence of interests in many areas and could be drawn together in leading the nations in codification of the twelve-mile territorial sea limit. Satisfactory tradeoffs in establishing an international regime for control of the resources of the oceans beyond the territorial waters could then be concluded simultaneously or in the very near future. Author