One of the most pressing problems regarding the sea today concerns not its resources, but its conservation. There are limits to the amount of waste that can be absorbed by the oceans. Already, fish catches in the Baltic and the Caspian seas have decreased by 90% during the past forty years. An International Convention on the Dumping of Wastes at Sea was signed by ninety states in 1972 to restrict dumping toxic wastes beyond the continental shelves. It is not yet ratified, and even when it is, who will police it? With the increasing of exploration and mining at sea, in all probability, the amount of waste will do. Urgent research into the ecological balances of sea life and how they are affected by pollution is needed. As scientific knowledge stands now, we do not know how much damage the oceans can endure. The oceans contain enormous resources of energy, food, and raw materials. Judiciously exploited, these resources can make a significant difference to man's survival and the quality of his life in an overpopulated world. Some operational framework for safeguarding the interests of all nations must clearly be formulated to prevent those nations, who possess the technology and can afford the research and exploitation, from obtaining the wealth for themselves. To try to institute a system of government for the oceans is fraught with obvious difficulties. Failure to come to an agreement would undermine confidence in the viability of international action to bring about peaceful political and economic relations in other spheres. On the other hand, if agreement at a future conference could be realized only by abandoning the principle of internationalism embodied in the concept of the oceans as the common heritage of mankind, this would be the greater failure. Internationalism in this context need not aim at supernational administration and safekeeping of the oceans what is needed, rather, is the formulation and acceptance of guidelines to ensure that the oceans benefit the greatest number of nations. This would require nations with immediate economic and political stakes in the oceans and the power to enforce their self-interest to hold off that very power and to weigh se]f-interest against the long-term interest of the concert of nations. One of the most pressing problems regarding the sea is its conservation because of ______.