Jockeying for Position

The Falklands War was a reminder that naval conflict could mean massive restrictions on the use of the oceans. Meanwhile, few Western countries ratified the Convention in the decade after it was finalized. With the Convention stalled, the United States conducted “freedom of navigation” operations to ensure that countries did not claim more of the oceans than Washington thought legal. US operations led to a clash with Libya and a confrontation with the Soviet Union. Other countries focused on sharpening claims to islands, which could give governments rights to nearby waters. At the same time, pressure grew on countries to grapple with overfishing. The costs of unrestricted high-seas fishing became evident in the Bering Sea, where a multinational fleet exhausted fish stocks. The thawing of the Cold War led to diplomatic breakthroughs on both high-seas fishing and seabed mining, paving the way for large-scale ratifications of the Convention.