The conference accepted four conventions: relating to the high seas, relating to territorial seas and adjacent zones, relating to the continental shelves, relating to fisheries and the protection of living resources of the high seas. The positive value these conventions was left completely unresolved due to jurisdictional disagreements relating the Law of the Sea.

At the Second UN Conferences on the Law of the Sea in Geneva in the spring 1960, two problems were considered: the width of the territorial sea and width of fishing zone jurisdiction. The Conferences were attended by 87 nations and observers from 24 specialised UN institutions and government agencies.

Some nations, including the USSR, offered to recognise the width of the territorial sea to be 12 miles; other wanted to limit it to up to 6 miles. Some Latin American states announced claims for a 200-mile territorial sea, and this announcement worked against permanently establishing a universal limit for the width of territorial seas and fishing zones.

The outcome of this divergence of positions was that no proposal was accepted.

After the end of the Second Conference, individual states independently began to expand the limits of their territorial waters. In December, 1966, Argentina became the first nation to declare its territorial waters jurisdictional limits to 200 miles. Soon after, Brazil, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Salvador, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador followed with 200-mile territorial waters claims of their own. Some African countries also established these claims:: Benin, Gambia, Congo, Liberia and Somalia were among them.

The problems relating to the width of the territorial seas and also, other problems of maritime law that were not solved during the First and Second Conferences, provided the impetus for a new UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. At the time it was called, there were increased disagreements between the various member states on problems of jurisdiction over marine spaces and the use of resources of the World Ocean.

Nations recently gaining independence stated their dissatisfaction over the existing provisions and norms of maritime law. Rapidly expanding technology, allowing detailed investigations and the development of natural resources at various depths, created the tendency by a number of these nations to make claims over extensive areas of the high seas, and the resources in and under them.

Recognising the necessity to resolve these points of international maritime law and develop new, more progressive rules and definitions regarding these and other issues, the UN General Assembly decided to call the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1973. This UN Conference was in existence from December, 1973, until December, 1982. Delegations from more than 150 countries, both coastal and land-locked, and also observers from a number of states, territories and political action movements attended these sessions. Also involved were 12 specialised institutions and organisations, 19 intergovernmental and a number of government agencies. The Conference prepared and accepted the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, which consists of 17 parts including 320 articles and 9 appendices.

UNCLOS 1982 reflects the compromises of various, sometimes previously irreconcilable, political directions of the modern world. The negotiators of the proposals recognised that the future legal regime of the World Ocean should promote strengthening of the peace and increase the well-being of the people, and the practical problems regarding the exploitation and use of the riches of the Ocean will take into account the interests of all nations.

At the final UNCLOS meeting in Montego Bay (Jamaica) on December 10, 1982, the new Convention was ratified by representatives of 119 nations.

In international maritime law are the following basic concepts: internal waters, territorial seas, adjacent zones, exclusive economic zones, continental shelves of coastal nations, the international region of the sea floor, the high seas, etc. The legal mode is inherent in each part of the seas and sea floor of the World Ocean.

The complete UNCLOS document and further detail is located in the Atlas under ISSUES/Governance.
 

Information provided by HDNO:  http://www.oceansatlas.com/unatlas/about/ContactInfoForHDNO.html