Us on International Fishing
US action on International Fishing Disputes While the United Nations has passed several resolutions and treaties regarding fisheries, the United States has typically refused to ratify such measurers. UNCLOS III, the most comprehensive attempt at a unified body of maritime law, has yet to be given the consent of the Senate. The sticking provisions of this treaty primarily deal with provisions for deep-sea mineral rights. Many US companies have already begun exploration in deep-sea minerals and the UN convention calls for deep-sea minerals to be the "common heritage of mankind". This, along with provisions for the required transfer of marine technology, have prompted Senator Helms (Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee) to oppose this treaty and effectively kill it. While the US may reject certain provisions of UNCLOS III, they did rush to utilize the provisions of the 200 mile EEZ before the treaty was officially adopted. In 1976 Congress adopted a bill known as the Magnuson Act. This piece of legislation made full use of the concept of exclusive economic zones extending 200 miles to sea. The intent of the law was to bring fisheries within that area back into the exclusive domain of US fishermen. This piece of
When considering the Senate, one must also consider the often strange and constantly evolving procedural rules. There is another factor to be considered when dealing with the executive branch. The executive branch, here primarily the White House and State Department, have to consider a different group of concerns than the Senate. As was mentioned earlier, even though the negatively effected parties may be in a Presidents constituency, their voice is much less threatening to re-election when it's muted by an additional 275 million. Analysis of US Behavior If the United States is often the driving force behind the proposal of many treaties such as UNCLOS III, why does the US fail to ratify them? In short, there is not a single area to lay blame. In this sense, any treaty that has an adverse effect on a small group of citizens is magnified at the state level. Although it should be noted, that many Senators whose seats are up for election in sensitive regions, often enjoy hiding behind the hard-liners in the two respective parties who kill treaties by procedural rules. Because of the rules and other issues of Senatorial courtesy; a treaty can, and often is, killed by a single member or small group in the Senate that would not be able to stop it in an open floor vote. The national press will also typically be less concerned by the local interest stories that those effected constituents comprise. Senator, Jesse Helms has declared that so long as he is in charge of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee UNCLOS III will not see the light of day. The SenateSenators, come from regions that are much more ideologically divergent than the country as a whole. This leads to a problem, while the national media may not particularly care if 100 lobster fishermen in Maine are upset, local news outlets often do. If a group can exert sufficient influence in enough battleground states during the next election, the President may feel a need to bend to at least some of their demands. A group of 100 voting constituents means a lot in State-wide senate races, where in the national ring their influence is often diluted among the other millions of people who will more than likely not share such a localized concern. Most state electorates are very reluctant to toss out a Senator in charge of a major committee or leadership position regardless of what a national group like Green-peace or the National Fisheries Alliance say.
Common topics in this essay:
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Senate Senators,
Relations Committee,
NGO's President,
Commander Chief,
Magnuson Act,
Fisheries Alliance,
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procedural rules,
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Acceptance Essays
