SEA, LAW OF THE

law codified in a treaty signed Dec. 10, 1982, by 117 nations (and two republics of the U.S.S.R., Belorussia and Ukraine) in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It represented an attempt to codify international law regarding territorial waters, sea lanes, and ocean resources. It was not signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Israel, Italy, and several other industrialized or developing nations, many of which objected to the provisions for seabed mining, which they claimed would inhibit free enterprise. Among the major signers were the U.S.S.R. and France. According to the treaty, each nation's sovereign territorial waters were to extend 12 nautical miles (22 km) beyond its coast, but foreign commercial vessels would be granted the right of innocent passage through the 12-mile zone. Beyond 12 miles, all vessels and aircraft, whether commercial or military, might move freely. Every coastal nation was to have exclusive rights to the fish and other marine life in waters extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) from shore; when nations are separated by less than 400 nautical miles (741 km) of water, another dividing line must be agreed upon. Every coastal nation having a continental shelf was to have exclusive rights to the oil, gas, and other resources in the shelf up to 200 miles from shore. With regard to seabed mining, the minerals on the ocean floors beneath the high seas were deemed the common heritage of mankind, and their exploitation was to be governed by a global authority. Although private and national mining concerns were allowed, a global mining enterprise was to be afforded a site equal in size or value to any site mined by a private or national company. There was also to be a production ceiling aimed at preventing seabed mining from causing economic harm to land-based producers of the same minerals. Private mining companies must sell their technology and technical expertise to the global enterprise. Disputes regarding the treaty and its provisions were to be adjudicated either by a new Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, by arbitration, or by the International Court of Justice.