Court Opinion

ID: 9625654
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:46:44.191017+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:12.727899
License: Public Domain

CONNOR, Justice
(dissenting).
Like the crabs about whom the dispute exists, many of the questions presented in this appeal can be discerned only by peering through murky waters. The arguments are close. However, my examination of the problems presented leads me respectfully to dissent. It is on the question of federal preemption that I depart from my colleagues.
The majority finds that the regulation of crabbing outside the marginal sea is not preempted by the federal government. I am willing to concede at the outset that United States v. California (First California), 332 U.S. 19, 67 S.Ct. 1658, 91 L.Ed. 1889 (1947), does not, alone, establish federal preemption of state regulation. That case only established federal ownership of the land beneath the marginal sea in the sense that the federal government has the “paramount” right and power in the area. 332 U.S. at 33, 39, 40, 67 S.Ct. 1658. While establishing federal dominium, a subordinate right of state imperium was apparently not precluded.1 The court in First California distinguished one prior case, The Abby Dodge, 223 U.S. 166, 32 S.Ct. 310, 56 L.Ed. 390, (1912), on the grounds that First California was not prohibiting state regulation. The next year saw the court’s decision in Toomer v. Wit-sell, 334 U.S. 385, 68 S.Ct. 1156, 92 L.Ed. 1460 (1948), which supports the legitimacy of a state’s jurisdiction over its own citizens for regulatory purposes on the high seas, i. e., imperium, rather than dominium, over shrimp.
The rationale for the First California decision is important. The court reasoned that control of the sea and its resources is so bound up with international affairs and national defense that it “is a question for consideration among nations as such, and not their separate governmental units.” 332 U.S. at 35, 67 S.Ct. at 1666, 91 L.Ed. 1889. This rationale, read expansively, might suggest a reason for preemption of all state regulation, at least of citizens other than its own, in the high seas outside its own borders.
Congress, as noted by the majority, reversed the First California case with respect to the marginal sea via the Submerged Lands Act (SLA), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1301-1315 (1953). Later in the same year, it claimed at least federal ownership of the continental shelf beyond the marginal sea through the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1331-1343 (1953). This second act began life as an amendment to the SLA, but became separated in the course of passage.
The net effect of these two acts was to establish state ownership of the traditional marginal sea, while at the same time asserting ownership of and jurisdiction over the continental shelf as against foreign governments, and vesting that ownership and jurisdiction in the federal government That federal control was to encompass both ownership and regulatory authority was indicated by Senator Cordon (the manager of OCSLA) at 99 Cong.Rec. 6963 (1953), where he appears to show.approval for certain language contained in a Justice Department report:
“On the other hand, as pointed out in the report made by the Department of *560Justice on S. 1901, the area is one in which national problems intermingle. The outer Continental Shelf is not and never has been within the boundary of any State or Territory, and it is, therefore, uniquely an area of exclusive Federal jurisdiction and control.
The report of the Department states in part:
‘This — that is, the outer Continental Shelf — is a Federal area, outside State boundaries, and to give the states a sort of extra territorial jurisdiction over it is unnecessary and undesirable. The situation is not comparable to that of federally owned areas within a State, as to which State law has some measure of applicability. Particularly in view of the intermingling of national and international rights in the area, it is important that the Federal Government, which has the responsibility for handling foreign relations, have the exclusive control of lawmaking and law enforcement there.’ ”
An amendment by certain senators which would have extended state jurisdiction to the Continental Shelf, including the “conservation laws” of the states, was defeated. 99 Cong.Rec. 7228, 7230, 7232 (1953). Most importantly, the language of the statute itself (43 U.S.C. § 1332 (1953)) provides for federal “jurisdiction, control, and power of disposition.” This would appear to encompass considerably more than mere “ownership”.
Notwithstanding all this, the majority believes that crabs were not intended to be covered by the OCSLA. 43 U.S.C. § 1332(b) (1953) expressly provides that the OCSLA does not affect “the character as high seas of the waters above the outer Continental Shelf and the right to . fishing therein . . . .” It is true that the principal concern of Congress was with mineral deposits, not living resources. See H.R.Rep. No. 413, 83rd Cong., 1st Sess. (1953). But it should be recognized that the language of the OC-SLA was at the same time an attempt to establish the policy of the United States to appropriate the resources of the continental shelf with respect to . foreign governments. Therefore the interpretation of OCSLA in the context of international law is relevant, if not conclusive, as to its meaning. It does not seem likely that the same language, indeed the same sections, could have a different meaning in international law from its meaning for preemption purposes. Cf. United, States v. California (Second California), 381 U.S. 139, 165, 85 S.Ct. 1401, 14 L.Ed.2d 296 (1965); United States v. Ray, 423 F.2d 16, 21 (5th Cir. 1970).
The rights of nations to the resources of the continental shelf were more clearly defined in international law by the Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf, 15 U.S.T. 471, T.I.A.S. 5578 (1958). Article 2.4 of that convention provides that the natural resources appertaining to nations shall include,
“living organisms belonging to sedentary species, that is to say, organisms which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or the subsoil.”
That crabs are included in that classification is past dispute in this country. See Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Relating to Fishing for King Crab, [1965] 16 U.S.T. 24, T.I.A.S. No. 5752, art. 1; Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Relating to Fishing for King and Tanner Crab, [1973] 24 U. S.T. 603, T.I.A.S. No. 7571, art. 1 (extension: December 31, 1974).
In order to vest the greatest rights in the United States as against foreign governments, the terms of the OCSLA must be interpreted broadly in light of later developments. One court has even held that “[t]o the extent that any of the terms of the [OCSLA] are inconsistent with the later adopted Geneva Convention on the *561Continental Shelf, they should be considered superseded.” United States v. Ray, 423 F.2d 16, 21 (5th Cir.1970).2 I see nothing in the OCSLA, however, inconsistent with the interpretation that crabs are a resource of the continental shelf, and hence appertain to the United States as against foreign and state governments, rather than of the water column above. United States v. Ray, supra, found this to be the case with coral, also a “sedentary species”. Of course, Guess v. Read, 290 F.2d 622, 625 (5th Cir.1961), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 957, 82 S.Ct. 394, 7 L.Ed.2d 388 (1962), cited by the majority, is totally inapplicable here. All would agree that the OCSLA and the treaties pertaining to the continental shelf do not affect rights to the air above the sea, or the water column above the shelf.
Reliance upon various portions of legislative history dealing with the relationship of the OCSLA to “fishing rights” begs the question. Whether crabs are included in fishing rights or are a resource of the ocean floor, for purposes of the act is precisely the question at issue here. Senator Cordon’s language indicates only that the Senator believed fishing rights for “all marine life above the land itself beneath the seas” (emphasis added) were not included in the OCSLA. See Sen.Rep.No. 411, 83rd Cong., 1st Sess. (1953). But crabs, in both international law, as related above, and municipal United States law, Bartlett Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1085 (1964), are creatures of the sea floor, and not fish belonging to the water column “above the land itself.”
I conclude that crabs, as a resource of the continental shelf, may be regulated only by the federal government when they are taken outside the three mile marginal sea under the provisions of SLA, 43 U.S.C. § 1301(a) and (b) (1953).
The validity of this conclusion can be tested by an inverse approach. Let us assume, arguendo, that OCSLA cannot be construed to include crabs as a resource of the subsoil and seabed of the outer continental shelf. It still does not follow that there is no preemption. The SLA, 43 U. S.C. § 1302 (1953) provides:
“Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to affect in any wise the rights of the United States to the natural resources of that portion of the subsoil and seabed of the Continental Shelf lying seaward and outside of the area of lands beneath navigable waters, as defined in section 1301 of this title, all of which natural resources appertain to the United States, and the jurisdiction and control of which by the United States is confirmed.” (Emphasis added)
I would find that the language above from the SLA preempts state regulation beyond the three-mile marginal sea. The section cannot be read as only limiting the effect of the SLA. While that is the import of the first part of the section, the language emphasized above goes further in specifically “confirming”3 exclusive federal “jurisdiction and control” as against the states. Under this section, it makes no difference whether crabs are conceived of as creatures of the continental shelf or of the water column above it; the section reserves to the United States jurisdiction and control over “all . . . natural resources” outside the marginal sea, and 43 U.S.C. § *5621301(e) (1953) specifically includes “fish, shrimp, oysters, clams, crabs, lobsters, sponges, kelp, and other marine animal and plant life” (emphasis added) within the definition of “natural resources”.
The reason for federal preemption must be drawn from the rationale of the First California case, supra. The whole area of regulation of ocean-floor resources is inextricably entwined with international law and affairs. As we have seen, any rights to regulate at all in the area of the continental shelf derive from recent developments in the unsettled field of the international law of the sea. Congressional proposals to establish a 200-mile federal fishing zone4 have generated much publicity and dissension; it would appear that Alaska’s own federal Senators hold widely divergent views on the propriety of such legislation at this time. The whole topical area, with special reference to ownership and regulatory authority over resources of the continental shelf and deep-sea bed, is currently being negotiated in the International Conference on the Law of the Sea. One of the principal concerns of the United States is attempts by possibly a majority of the world’s nations to extend national control farther and farther into the sea. One reason for this concern is the thrust by other nations, as evidenced both at the Conference and by individual action, to extend unilaterally their territorial seas to 200 miles. The right asserted is the “special interest of coastal States in maintaining the productivity of the living resources of the sea areas adjacent to their coasts . ” 5 This is essentially the same basis used by the majority to justify the extension of Alaskan jurisdiction into the Bering Sea. As such, it could cause definite embarrassment to our international negotiators. It is merely one more example —a very current and real example, and not in the slightest “speculative” and “indirect” —of the pervasive involvement of foreign affairs in this area.
In terms of international complications, Alaska’s assertion of imperium cannot be distinguished from the assertion of domin-ium by certain Latin American states. It is not clear that all Latin American nations recognize a functionally practical distinction between the two;6 it is even more unclear that those of the world’s nations whose legal consciousness is less firmly rooted in Roman Law than is Latin America’s, will necessarily and clearly understand the difference intended by Western*563ers between the terms imperium and domin-ium. But perhaps more importantly, it is not at all clear that the United States State Department itself accepts the distinction in all cases. The United States has certainly opposed Canadian legislation purporting to establish that government’s imperium to regulate pollution in the Canadian arctic, as it relates to the high seas.7 The Canadians rely upon similar arguments of necessity as do my colleagues in the case at bar.8
Even if one assumes that the taking of crabs is “fishing”, and does not under OC-SLA fall under federal jurisdiction on the continental shelf, it must be noted that the Geneva Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas (20 April 1958) 9 provides that when a state properly10 adopts for its own nationals,
“measures . . . for the purpose of the conservation of the living resources affected”
by fishing (Article 3), and,
“subsequent to the adoption of the measures referred to in articles 3 and 4, nationals of other States engage in fishing the same stock or stocks of fish or other living marine resources in any area or areas of the high seas, the other States shall apply the measures, which shall not be discriminatory in form or in fact, to their own nationals not later than seven months after the date on which the measures shall have been notified to the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.” (Article 5).
Thus, if states may regulate “fishing” on the high seas generally, their regulations, once notified to the proper authorities, create international obligations. Signatory foreign nations whose nationals subsequently fish the area must pass similar laws for their nationals. While this would not immediately affect Bering Sea crab, in particular,11 it would be applicable in general were the principle established that states may regulate fishing outside the marginal sea. Thus the rationale of the First California case, that regulation on the high seas is inextricably entwined with foreign affairs, leads me to the opinion *564that high seas fisheries regulation is reserved to the federal government.12
The majority opinion notes that Alaska regulation in this area was promulgated at the request of a federal agency. I note, however, that the United States has filed an amicus brief which supports appellees against the State of Alaska. This brief was prepared by the Department of Justice, “in consultation with other concerned federal agencies,” and especially in consultation with the Legal Adviser for the Department of State.13 Thus I cannot infer, as the majority appears to do, that the Alaska regulations have the implicit approval of the federal government, especially as they affect foreign policy.
In conclusion, I would find that:
(1) State legislation is preempted by OCSLA, 43 U.S.C. § 1332(a), as crabs are legally a resource of the ocean floor rather than of the water column above that floor.
(2) State legislation is preempted by SLA, 43 U.S.C. § 1302, regardless of the characterization of the crab resource.
(3) Notwithstanding any of the above, foreign and military affairs are so inextricably entwined with the regulation of high seas resources that, absent explicit Congressional delegation to the states, the area is excluded from state regulation.
Since I would find federal preemption of the field, the subject of state jurisdiction is, in my opinion, irrelevant. Therefore, I express no opinion on that subject. I would affirm the judgment of the superior court.

. Dominium, a concept which derives from Roman law, denotes ownership and property rights, while imperium concerns regulatory power or control over a geographical area without reference to ownership. United, States v. California (First Californa), 332 U.S. 19, 43-44, 67 S.Ct. 1658, 91 L.Ed. 1889 (1947) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) ; see also P. Jessup, The Law of Territorial Waters and Maritime Jurisdiction 62, 118, 400-407 (1927; Kraus Reprint 1970) ; Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1133 (1968).

. The United States Supreme Court used a similar rationale in concluding that the definitions provided in The Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of 1958 should be used to define “inland waters” under the Submerged Lands Act. United States v. California (Second California), 381 U.S. 139, 165, 85 S.Ct. 1401, 14 L.Ed. 2d 296 (1965). In that case, State Department letters from the era of the SLA passage actually contradict the definition later adopted in the 1958 Territorial Sea Convention, and yet the Supreme Court chose the more modern international usage. I know of no reason why this method of interpretation should not also be applied to OCSLA.

. By using the word “confirm”, it would appear that Congress thought control over resources outside the marginal sea was already vested in the federal government by the First California case. In my opinion that belief was erroneous (see above).

. “ [B] ills that would declare a 200-mile fishing zone have been introduced in both Houses of Congress but the administration is firmly opposed to giving U.S. fishermen exclusive rights out to 200 miles fearing that such action would disrupt the 1974 Law of the Sea Conference where global arrangements on fishing will hopefully be reached.” North Carolina University (prepared for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), State and Federal Jurisdiction Conflicts in the Regulation of United States Coastal Waters 8 (1974). It is important to note that this study cannot fairly be characterized as a “federal document” in the sense that it evinces the official policy of the United States. I believe that the reliance upon the officiality of this report in the majority opinion is misplaced.

. Decree-Law Extending Territorial Sea to 200 Miles, Diario Official (Brazil, 30 March 1970), reprinted in I S. Lay, R. Churchill, M. Nordquist, New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Documents 15 (1973) (translation by U.S. State Department). Chile, Ecuador, and Peru have adopted a similar rationale: the right of a state to “ensure the conservation and protection of its natural resources and to regulate the use thereof . .” Agreements between Chile, Ecuador and Peru, signed at the First Conference on the Exploitation and Conservation of the Maritime Resources of the South Pacific, Santiago, 18 August 1952, Revista Peruana de Derecho Internacional, tomo XIV, No. 45, 1954, at 104 et seq., reprinted in Lay, Churchill and Nordquist, supra at 231 (translation by the Secretariat of the United Nations). See generally M. McDougal and W. Burke, The Public Order of the Oceans 453-54 & n. 18 (1962).

.The Brazilian Decree-Law, supra note 5, states that Brazilian “interestfs] can be effectively protected only by the exercise of the sovereignty inherent in the concept of territorial sea.” Thus, it apparently does not recognize the efficacy of such notions as limited imperium in the regulation of off-shore resources. The recognition of the right of a state to regulate leads inexorably, in Brazil’s view, to the establishment of dominium over the area.

. Department of State Statement on Government of Canada’s Bills on Limits of the Territorial Sea, Fisheries and Pollution, U.S. Department of State Press Release No. 121 of 15 April 1970, reprinted in I S. Lay, R. Churchill, M. Nordquist, New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Documents 211 (1973).

. Summary of Canadian Note of April 16 Tabled by the Secretary of State for External Affairs in the House, 17 April 1970 (from text provided by Canadian Embassy at Washington, D.C.), I S. Lay, R. Churchill, M. Nordquist, New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Documents 213, 216-17 (1973).

. Reprinted in I S. Lay, R. Churchill, M. Nordquist, New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Documents 353, 354 (1973).

. Under Article 3, when nationals of other nations are not engaged in fishing in the area. If foreign nationals are so engaged, Articles 4 and 9 contemplate international negotiations between the concerned nations concerning regulations. Such regulations negotiated also become applicable to later nations by the mechanism of Article 5, as outlined in the text.

. Japan and the Soviet Union are the two foreign states most interested in Bering Sea crab, and neither is currently a signatory of the 1958 Convention. The danger posed by the Convention in general, however is real; there are 22 signatories, including Great Britain and the United States. It is not enough to reply that the federal government may refrain from notifying the Director-General of the FAO under Article 5. The fact that it might do so, coupled with the existence of the regulations, can be a constant source of irritation in negotiations, especially with nations not fully conversant with the intergovernmental rivalries inherent in American federalism. Further, it is not clear from the wording of Article 5 that only the United States may notify the Director-General. Hence an assurance by the State Department, even if believed, might carry little weight with foreign powers should any uncertainty exist as to whether a third power might be able to notify and set the Article 5 machinery in motion.

. The majority relies on Alaska v. Arctic Maid, 366 U.S. 199, 81 S.Ct. 929, 6 L.Ed. 2d 227 (1961), to show local importance under the commerce clause, and seems to appeal to this argument under its balancing test when considering foreign affairs. This reliance is misplaced. The United States Supreme Court in that case never upheld any attempt by Alaska to tax activity outside the three-mile limit. In fact, the opinion expressly states that if the fish there in question “were taken or purchased outside Alaska’s territorial waters, all of respondents’ business in the Bristol Bay area would be beyond Alaska’s reach.” 366 U.S. at 203, 81 S.Ct. at 931. The court remanded the case for a determination of how many fish were obtained outside of Alaska’s territorial waters (366 U.S. at 205, 81 S.Ct. 929), and the ease was settled on appeal before the Alaska Supreme Court.

. United States Memorandum in Support of Motion for Leave to File Brief Amictis Curiae at 2.