The Nome Nugget

Law of Sea
Conference Ends
In Deadlock
GENEVA, (P) The World Conference on the Law of the Sea ended today in a deadlock over a new definition of territorial waters to replace the classic three mile limit. The same problem wrecked a similar League of Nations meeting 28 years ago.
Five new treaties on other maritime matters were approved at the 86-nation meeting, which has been going on here for the past nine weeks under United Nations auspices. The agreements are binding on each nation after ratification by its government at home.
In failing to achieve its major objective, a new formula for territorial waters, the conference foundered on the problem of exclusive fishing rights.
Several nations have made various extensions to widen their fishing grounds. Chile, Peru and Ecuador have declared their territorial waters extend 200 miles into the Pacific, where U. S. trawlers fish. Iceland and Norway have ruled foreign trawlers out of an area created by drawing a line connecting the most prominent headlands on the coast.
This affects British fishermen who have plied the areas for years. Russia has extended its claim into the rich, shallow Siberian waters which Japanese fishermen exploit.
The problem was referred back to the U. N. General Assembly, which prompted Iceland's Hans G. Andersen to declare this would not keep his country from doing what it could to bolster its claim to a 12-mile exclusive fishing zone. Chile, Ecuador and Peru also said their 200-mile claim stands.
The major Western maritime powers, who had unsuccessfully backed a six-mile compromise, informed the conference they would continue to recognize only the three-mile limit. It was set up by a Dutch jurist in 1703.