When, on April 30. the United States rejected the Law of the Sea Convention, it dealt a blow to its own best interest: the orderly development of rules to govern navigation and exploitation of the oceans.

During the last days of an eight-week session of the third United Nations conference on the Law of the Sea, the Third World majority had made a last-ditch effort to obtain U.S. approval of the treaty. The U.S. delegate, James Malone acknowledged that their concessions offered “modest improvements” but also that they failed to satisfy U.S. demands on the mining of highly valued manganese nodules. Whatever hope remained for a consensus on the draft treaty was shattered when the U.S. pressed for a forrnai roll call vote on the final day. Disappointment, frustration, and even shock was registered by many of the assembled delegates.