ABSTRACT
On 10 March 1983, United States President Ronald Reagan issued a policy and action statement – Proclamation 5030 – which established a national oceanic Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The EEZ extends 370 km seaward from the baseline used to measure the 5.6 km territorial sea. Within the EEZ, the United States claims sovereignty over all resources of the water column, the seabed, and the subsoil. The US is highly dependent on foreign sources of minerals. Several incidents related to fishing in the Bering Sea have caused US government officials to think that the Soviets might be calculating the position of the boundary differently. New boundaries or extensions of old boundaries requiring negotiation include: four with Canada, possibly three with Kiribati, three with Mexico, and one each with Anguilla, the Bahamas, Cuba, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, the Netherlands Antilles, Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Japan.
