Administration Responds to Cabinet Ocean Report, Promises Action
 

Kristen M. Fletcher, J.D., LL.M.

On September 2, President Clinton signed a Presidential Proclamation formally extending the United States' contiguous zone from 12 nautical miles to 24, claiming jurisdiction of these near shore waters and doubling the area within which the Coast Guard and other federal authorities can enforce U.S. environmental, customs and immigrations laws at sea. (See map, page 4; full Proclamation text at page 5.)

The U.S. claims a 12-mile territorial sea and now claims a 24-mile contiguous zone. A nation's territorial sea is that area claimed as an extension of the mainland, with the coastal nation claiming jurisdiction over the resources and submerged lands and the right to enforcement in the area. The contiguous zone is an area beyond the territorial sea in which a nation may exercise more limited control such as that necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration, or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea.

The Proclamation, aimed at protecting the nation's coasts from pollution, drugs and illegal immigration, doubles the area in which the Coast Guard and other federal authorities may board foreign vessels, advancing certain law enforcement and public health interests of the United States, as well as preventing the removal of cultural heritage found within 24 nautical miles of the U.S. coast.

The extension applies to U.S. states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. "With this new enforcement tool, we can better protect America's working families against drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and threats to our ocean environment," the Vice President said. "We are putting would-be smugglers and polluters on notice that we will do everything in our power to protect our waters and our shores."1

On the same day, Vice President Al Gore announced the formation of a high-level task force to oversee implementation of recommendations for strengthening federal ocean policy from the Cabinet report that President Clinton called for at the National Oceans Conference in 1998.2 The report, entitled "Turning to the Sea: America's Ocean Future," outlines 148 recommendations in four areas: sustaining the economic benefits of the oceans, strengthening global security, protecting marine resources, and discovering the oceans. Key recommendations include: creating new incentives to reduce overfishing; working with the Senate to ensure that the U.S. joins the Law of the Sea Convention as soon as possible; coordinating federal programs with local "smart growth" efforts in coastal communities; and expanding federal support for underwater exploration.

The Oceans Report Task Force announced by the Vice President will include representatives of agencies with responsibility for ocean affairs, will set priorities for implementing key recommendations in the Cabinet's report and will meet quarterly to review progress.
 

The Cabinet report can be viewed on line at http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov.
 
 
 

Endnotes

1. Philip Shenon, U.S. Doubles Offshore Zone Under its Law, N.Y. Times, Sept. 3, 1999, at A13.

2. See Clinton, Gore Call for Ocean Protection, 18:3 Water Log 1 (1998).

University of Mississippi