UN General Assembly
1969

27. At present, the 1958 Geneva Convention on Fishing of and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas does not grant any State such special rights outside national fisheries jurisdiction. But eleven years ago the situation of the world’s fisheries was different. To many of the participants in the Geneva Conference there did not then seem to be any need for special rights for the coastal State in this respect. But, as I have explained, the situation is now radically altered. 28. Therefore, my Government deems it imperative that the international community should formulate under the auspices of the United Nations, such rules as will make certain that those nations whose economies are heavily dependent upon fishing will be enabled to utilize the fisheries of their coastal zone as their situations may require. In our view, such a commitment would be only a reiteration of the fact that all nations, large and small, have a tight to a decent economic existence, which is indeed one of the corner-stones of the economic policy of the United