The Problem of Governance of U.S. Ocean Resources and the New Exclusive Economic Zone

The paper examines a set of major problems which appear to exist in the current ocean governance regime of the U.S., arguing that many of these problems are associated with the fragmented, single-purpose nature of the present system. The suggestion is made that within the concept of the new 200-mile U.S. exclusive economic zone, proclaimed in March of 1983 by President Reagan, with its notion of sovereign rights over essentially all resources within a common zone, may lie the beginnings of a more comprehensive, second-generation approach to ocean resources management-one better suited to the increased ocean exploitation likely to occur in the coming decades.