Since the legal rights of the coastal state and of foreign states within the territorial sea differ greatly from the rights of all states on the high sea, it should be made possible for a navigator, or a fisherman, or the coastal state, to determine with certainty whether or not a vessel is in territorial waters or on the high sea. It will be practically impossible to negotiate a general convention embodying fundamental international law relating to territorial waters until the geographical problem of delimiting the zone of territorial waters is solved. The complexity and importance of the geographical problem are evident in the fact that, of the 28 “ bases of discussion” which were formulated by the preparatory committee, for the consideration of the Commission on Territorial Waters at the Conference for the Codification of International Law recently held at The Hague, one-half related to the delimitation of territorial waters, while the other half related to legal rights and obligations.