U.S. Shipping Chamber supports Law of Sea treaty
A statement by President Bush calling on the Senate to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea has won praise from the U.S. Chamber of Shipping.
On Tuesday, Bush said ratification of the treaty would 'serve the national security interests of the United States, including the maritime mobility of our armed forces worldwide.
'It will secure U.S. sovereign rights over extensive marine areas, including the valuable natural resources they contain. Accession will promote U.S. interests in the environmental health of the oceans. And it will give the United States a seat at the table when the rights that are vital to our interests are debated and interpreted,' he said.
The treaty took effect in 1994 after ratification by 60 countries, and has set up a legal system to govern uses of the oceans, including navigation, research, pollution and seabed mining.
But some conservatives say the treaty would weaken national security and could be used as a means to impose a global warming treaty, which some oppose.
But the chairman of the chamber, Michael T. Bohlman, who also serves as director of marine services for Horizon Lines, said the treaty is 'in the best interests of the United States.'
'America's commercial ships in international trade ply the waters of the world, including high seas and territorial waters of all coastal nations, and our interests are well served by the provisions of the Law of the Sea Convention,' said the chamber's president, Joseph J. Cox.