ABSTRACT
The plain fact is that, when seen in historical perspective, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) had its origins in the South Pacific in 1947, finding support and acquiring economic emphasis in the Central Pacific from 1950 onwards. Nobody was especially concerned with the high seas, and so the question remained on the sidelines in the intricate negotiations. A single vote usually carries very little weight, but when opinion is nearly evenly divided it can be worth everything, like that vote in San Francisco that gave veto power to the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. That concerted effort within the United Nations opened the way for the first manifestations of a common policy in the Montevideo and Lima declarations of 1970. The Third Conference on the Law of the Sea has examined two exciting topics, the EEZ and the international sea bed area.
