fundamental issues of the ownership of the sea, the right of passage through it and
the ownership of the sea bed. The latter issue has become increasingly important
with the growing interest in offshore oil resources. Four conventions were eventually
finalized, dealing with the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, the High Seas,
the Continental Shelf and Conservation of Fisheries.
A second conference, UNCLOS II, was called in 1960 to follow up on some items
not agreed in UNCLOS I. In the 1960s the growing awareness of the mineral wealth
on the sea bed placed new significance on the law of the sea and in 1970 the United
Nations convened a third conference to produce a comprehensive Convention on the
Law of the Sea. Work started in 1973 (UNCLOS III), attended by 150 states. With so
many participants, discussion was extended. It was not until 1982 that the UN Convention
on the Law of the Sea 1982 was finally adopted, to enter into force twelve months
after it had been ratified by sixty states. It finally came into force on 16 November
1994, at last providing a ‘comprehensive framework for the regulation of all ocean
space…the limits of national jurisdiction over ocean space, access to the seas,
navigation, protection and preservation of the marine environment’.8
As far as the flag of registration is concerned the 1982 Convention endorses the
right of any state to register ships, provided there is a ‘genuine link’ between the
ship and the state.