The new realm is the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a roughly 200-mile band along the coastlines over which the United States has exclusive development rights and responsibilities for environmental protection. For the United States, the agreement added responsibilities for administering the use of the ocean surface, associated seafloor, and subseafloor in an area equivalent to 75 percent of the nation's land area. This treaty spells out national rights and responsibilities for exploiting and protecting the ocean environment. In recognition of the growing importance of the oceans to human society, the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty has come into force. The stunning discovery of hydrothermal vents at the mid-ocean plate boundaries and the associated food chains based not on photosynthesis, but on chemosynthesis, is another example of the rich contributions that ocean exploration offers. Scientific studies of the Earth's crustal plate boundaries (fundamental features of the planet's structure, most of which are underwater) will be needed to help predict earthquakes, among other reasons. (Stocks of fish, in particular, are increasingly heavily exploited throughout the world and need better monitoring and ecological study.) Nonliving resources such as minerals and various forms of energy, both renewable and nonrenewable, could be supplements to terrestrial supplies. Ocean plant and animal resources require better management to help feed the world's swelling population. Pollution from human activities needs to be assessed accurately so that appropriate action may be taken. Studies of the chemistry and energy flows of the ocean and atmosphere are critical for predicting how the Earth's climate will change. The national importance of maritime activities-both for managing resources and augmenting scientific understanding-will continue to increase in the decades to come. But support for that research has declined steadily in the United States, while the nation's need for knowledge about the oceans has grown. educational establishment is a world leader in ocean science and engineering. research in the ocean sciences currently leads the world in most disciplines, from physical oceanography to marine biotechnology, and the U.S. industry and government in ocean science and technology are unparalleled. Navy is the largest standing navy in the world. Nearly one-fourth of the world's trade flows through U.S. The United States, by most standards, is the foremost maritime trading nation of the world.
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