Discuss (a) Truman Proclamation

The concept: the continental shelf = the seabed and subsoil beyond the territorial sea — the coastal state's sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting the natural resources (the mineral resources, the sedentary species — the resources of the shelf's seabed and subsoil). The doctrine's history: the Truman Proclamation 1945 (the US claim — the practice's trigger; the world's shelf claims following); the Geneva Convention 1958 (the exploitability test's definition); the UNCLOS definition: the natural prolongation to the continental margin's outer edge, with the fixed points — minimum 200 nautical miles (where the margin falls short), maximum the margin's edge subject to the 350-mile limit (or the 100-mile isobath's alternative); the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (the outer-limit submissions' review). The nature (the doctrine's core): the rights inherent — the shelf's rights belong to the coastal state ipso facto (no occupation, no proclamation, no publication: the ICJ's North Sea Continental Shelf — the rights exist "ab initio"); the rights EXCLUSIVE (no other state may exploit without consent); the rights LIMITED to the resources (no sovereignty over the waters above).