xxxii. The information relating to this part of the subject is taken

mostly either from the _Annual Reports_ of the Scottish Fishery Board or from Hansard’s _Parliamentary Debates_.

[1319] See _Norges Officielle Statistik; Norges Fiskerier_, 1906, pp. 17, 18. Sixteen steam trawlers were on the list as registered in Norway in that year, but “they did not carry on fishing from Norwegian ports,” and were not included in the list of _bona fide_ Norwegian fishing-vessels.

[1320] _Peters_ v. _Olsen_, 7, _Court of Session Reports_, 5th Series (_Justiciary Cases_); 42 _Scottish Law Reporter_, p. 735.

[1321] “In fact, the Moray Firth, within the line from Duncansby Head to Rattray Point, is not the high seas, but is a bay or area between these headlands _intra fauces terræ_,--between the jaws of the land,--which has been called in England one of the King’s Chambers. In law, such an area must be dealt with by the Courts of this country as part of the territorial limits of Scotland, unless the Legislature chooses to enact, in fairness to other countries or for any other reason, that the extent of the space involved is too great to come within the reasonable definition of a bay.”

[1322] See p. 545.

[1323] _Court of Session Reports_, 8 Fraser, p. 93.

[1324] “For the purpose of regulating the police of the fisheries in the North Sea outside territorial waters.” The use of the words “territorial waters” and “exclusive fishery limits” indifferently for the same thing is common, but improper.

[1325] “I, George Milne Cook, Vice-Consul for Norway for Aberdeenshire and the adjacent districts, by instructions of Herr Laveland, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway, hereby protest, on behalf of the Government of Norway, against any conviction of the masters of the Norwegian trawling vessels _Stroma_, _Sando_, and _Catalonia_, provided the trawling with which they were charged has taken place outside the territorial limits, and I further protest against any punishment or fines being inflicted in the Sheriff Court at Elgin on the said masters.”

(Sd.) GEORGE M. COOK.

ELGIN, _31st January 1908_.

[1326] Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 557, 558, 988; vol. 170, pp. 1202, 1206.

[1327] A letter appeared in the _Fish Trades Gazette_, on 14th October 1905, from Mr Hans Johnsen, the Fisheries Agent for Norway in Great Britain, stating that he had resigned his membership of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association owing to the President (Lord Heneage) having prevented him from reading at the annual conference of the Association at Aberdeen, with reference to a resolution regarding the Moray Firth, a letter from the Norwegian fishery authorities. His object in endeavouring to speak on the resolution, he said, “was to clear the Norwegian flag from having anything to do with the piracy practised by Grimsby steam trawl-owners in the Moray Firth, and which the Government of Norway and the Norwegian Fishery Board is highly indignant at.”

[1328] Hansard, vol. 170, pp. 472, 1206, 1246, 1383.

[1329] In these Norwegian vessels there were a “flag-master” and a “fishing-master,” the former, nominally in charge of the vessel, being a Norwegian in order to comply with the registration laws, but often, or usually, occupying a humble position, such as cook. The “fishing-master” had the real control and occupied the master’s rooms on board. He, like all or most of the crew, was English, resident at Grimsby.

[1330] In April the penalties ranged from £10 to £2, 10s., or two to ten days’ imprisonment; in July they ranged from £1 or one day to £45 or fourteen days; three cases were dismissed, one was found not proven, and in five the verdict was not guilty; four cases were appealed to the High Court by the Procurator-Fiscal and the appeal sustained. _Twenty-Sixth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scot._, Part I., App. L., II.

[1331] Hansard, vol. 170, p. 472.

[1332] See p. 707 _et seq._

[1333] Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 832, 991, 1037; vol. 170, pp. 786, 1246, 1247; vol. 192, p. 832. &c.

[1334] _Ibid._

[1335] Thus, in the “Reply on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government to the Answer of the United States of America,” submitted to the International Fisheries Commission at Halifax in 1877, it was said: “It is not understood that the Answer either raises or invites the discussion of any rules or doctrines of international law, save such as bear upon the question of what are to be considered the territorial waters of a maritime State for the purposes of exclusive fishing. The contention of the Answer in relation to these doctrines which requires special attention, is that which asserts that Great Britain and other Powers have traditionally recognised a rule, by which foreigners were excluded from fishing in those bays only which are six miles, or less, in width at their mouths. It is distinctly asserted on the part of Her Majesty’s Government _that this alleged rule is entirely unknown to, and unrecognised by, Her Majesty’s Government_, and it is submitted that no instance of such recognition is to be found in the Answer or the Brief accompanying the same, and that none can be produced.” This was approved of by the Earl of Derby, Foreign Secretary (the Earl of Derby to Mr Ford, August 31, 1877; the same to the same, Oct. 6, 1877).

[1336] 11th Nov. 1908. Hansard, vol. 196, p. 236. Very important declarations as to the territorial character of bays will be found in the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, on the North Atlantic Fisheries (7th September 1910, Award No. V.), received as these sheets are passing through the press. The application of the three-mile limit to bays was rejected, the following rule being formulated: “In case of bays the three marine miles are to be measured from a straight line drawn across the body of water _at the place where it ceases to have the configuration and characteristics of a bay_. At all other places the three marine miles are to be measured following the sinuosities of the coast.” In its practical application to British North America, the Tribunal recommended a ten-mile limit generally, except for certain specified bays (including Chaleurs, Miramichi, Egmont) where special lines, enclosing much larger areas, are proposed.

[1337] Hansard, vol. 170, p. 1383. The miles referred to are English statute miles.

[1338] Hansard, vol. 191, p. 1769.

[1339] Reports of the British Delegates attending the International Conferences held at Stockholm, Christiania, and Copenhagen, with respect to Fishery and Hydrographical Investigations in the North Sea. _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1313, 1903. Corresponding “Reports” to 1906 (_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 2966/06, 3033/06, 3165/06). Conseil Permanent International pour l’Exploration de la Mer, _Rapports et Procès-Verbaux des Réunions_, Copenhague. A summary on the subject, by Dr A. T. Masterman, will be found in the Minutes of Evidence, Committee on Fishery Investigations (_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 4304, p. 479, 1908).

[1340] “2. The delegates should propose that the scientific investigations shall be accompanied by a practical _exposé_ of the steps to be taken in order to bring the exercise of sea-fishing more in accord with the natural conditions regulating the growth and increase of fish in our seas, and thus permanently increase the supply of fish in the markets of the countries adjoining the North Sea. 3. In making this proposal, which they should do at the outset, the delegates should make it clear that the principal object the British Government have in directing them to take part in the Conference, is to secure a careful inquiry into the effect of present methods of fishing in the North Sea; and the delegates should give every assistance in promoting a scheme for determining whether protection against overfishing is needed, and, if so, where, when, and how such protection should be given. 4. The delegates should propose that a thorough scheme for obtaining statistical information with regard to the quantity and quality of fish caught by the different methods of fishing shall be organised, with a view of determining whether protection against overfishing is needed, either by the prohibition of trawling in certain selected areas or the limitation of fishing during certain selected seasons.”--Instructions to the British Delegates for the Meeting at Stockholm, 15th June 1899; Reports of the British Delegates, &c., p. 13. _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1313, 1903; Committee on Fishery Investigations, Minutes of Evidence, &c., p. 278, _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 4304, 1908. The instructions of the British Government to the Delegates for the Meeting in 1901, at Christiania, were of similar tenour:--“His Majesty’s Government fully share in the interest shown in the cause of scientific research, but having regard to the importance of the evidence which was laid before the Select Committee of the House of Commons [see p. 709], and which was adopted by them as showing that the supply of fish in the North Sea is decreasing, they are of opinion that the consideration of this subject will admit of no delay, and you should press on your foreign colleagues the importance of entering at once upon the pursuit of investigations calculated to lead to an international agreement. You should in no way discourage or check any desire which you may find to exist for scientific research into problems not so immediately pressing, but his Majesty’s Government place in the forefront of their reasons for taking part in the forthcoming Committee the desire that no delay should be incurred in the adoption, by international agreement, of measures for arresting the diminution of the supply of fish in the North Sea, and for restoring, as far as possible, that source of supply to its former abundance.” _Ibid._, p. 278.

[1341] _Memorandum drawn up by the Expert Members of the Ichthyological Research Committee_, Report of the Committee appointed to Inquire and Report as to the Best Means by which the State or Local Authorities can Assist Scientific Research as applied to Problems affecting the Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland (_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1312, p. xxii, x, 1902). _Evidence of Mr Walter E. Archer, Assistant-Secretary, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries_, Minutes of Evidence given before the Committee appointed to inquire into the Scientific and Statistical Investigations now being carried on in relation to the Fishing Industry of the United Kingdom, pp. 277, 288, 346, 359 (_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 4304, 1908).

[1342] Reports of the British Delegates, &c., _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1313, p. 72, 1903. The countries represented were Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

[1343] Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 992, 996; vol. 170, p. 786; and 11th Nov. 1908.

[1344] Mr Frank Barrett, of Grimsby, thus referred to the condition of the North Sea at the conference of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association in 1905: “Unless they did something as a counterpoise to the continual trawling which was going on, they would find themselves powerless as regarded that splendid fishing-ground, the North Sea. He did not believe the North Sea, if left to itself, could last for ever. He was one of those who thought it could not last very long; and he thought they should apply the lessons of science in order to rehabilitate the North Sea.” _Fish Trades Gazette_, Oct. 14, 1905.

[1345] Mr G. L. Alward, one of the leading and most experienced trawl-owners of Grimsby, who was invited to take part in a discussion on sea fisheries in the Zoological Section of the British Association in 1906, thus referred to the subject. He said: “There was no doubt that the North Sea was deteriorated as a fishing-ground, and in order to maintain an adequate supply they had had to explore fresh fields. They had shifted the trawling-grounds to the coasts of Faröe, Iceland, and Norway, while others had had to go out into the Atlantic, to the Bay of Biscay, and to the coast of Morocco. But if they had exhausted the 147,000 square miles of the North Sea,--every mile of which had been fished,--and they fished out the area between Norway and Faröe and Iceland, not more than forty or fifty thousand square miles, with the same rapidity, they had to look forward to nothing short of a dearth of fish and a rise in value to famine prices.” _Aberdeen Free Press_, 9th August 1906.

[1346] According to an interesting table on a chart appended to the _Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries_ for 1906 (see fig. 28), the areas, in square miles, between the three-mile limit and the 200-metre line, are as follows: North Sea, 152,473; North of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland), 18,096; West of Scotland, 32,099; West of Ireland, 9066; Irish Sea, 15,743; Southwards of Ireland, 50,416; Bristol Channel, 8613; English Channel, 25,238. The area at Iceland is 36,608, and at the Faröes, 4949 square miles.

[1347] Hansard, vol. 169, p. 996; vol. 196, p. 217. I have been courteously informed by Mr Bjarni Sæmundsson, of Reykjavik, a well-known authority on the fisheries of Iceland, that no laws proposing to extend the territorial waters were passed, or proposed, by the _Althing_.

[1348] Hansard, vol. 170, p. 786.

[1349] On Mem. 1 the words “le dit Roi Dengleterre et” follow “Procurors.”

[1350] Mem. 1 and 8, “de touz autres de son Roialme.”

[1351] Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “il ny ad.” Mem. 8, “du temps qil ny ad.”

[1352] Mem. 8, “aueroient este.”

[1353] Mem. 1, “oue touz les Isles et les apportenaunces.”

[1354] Mem. 1, the words are “estatuitz et defenses comunes et priuees” and the rest is omitted to “sur toute manere des gentz taunt,” &c. Mem. 8, “communes et priuees a garder pays et droiture entre tote manere des gentz tant,” &c. Mem. 15, “estatuitz et defences pur gouerner en toute manere,” &c.

[1355] Mems. 1, 8, 14, 15, “come de lour propre.”

[1356] Mem. 1, “oue.”

[1357] Mems. 1, 8, and 15, “oue.”

[1358] Mem. 1, instead of gouernement, “a la generalte”; Mem. 8, “a la garde.”

[1359] Mems. 1, 8, and 15, “le dit Roi.”

[1360] Mem. 1 omits “Dengleterre.”

[1361] Mems. 1 and 8, “Rois Dengleterre deputez eient este.”

[1362] Mem. 8, “de la dite seignurie et garde.”

[1363] Mems. 1, 8, 14, and 15, “forspris.”

[1364] Mems. 1, 8, and 15 insert “et.”

[1365] Mem. 15, “a.”

[1366] Mem. 1, “ou mesfaitz”; Mem. 8, “ou de mesfaitz.”

[1367] The sentence from “Et come” to “Coustumes” is omitted on Mems. 1, 8, and 15.

[1368] Mems. 1 and 8 omit “en vne cedule anexe ayceste,” and Mems. 1, 14, and 15 omit the whole of the next paragraph, recommencing “Monsieur Reymer Grimbaus.” Mem. 8_d_, paragraph commencing “Primerement.”

[1369] Mem. 8, “et a maintener.”

[1370] Mem. 8, “excepte pur le dit Roy.”

[1371] Mem. 8, “le dit Roy.”

[1372] Mem. 14 omits “et.”

[1373] Mems. 1 and 8 omit “Dengleterre.”

[1374] Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “du dit Roi.”

[1375] Mems. 8 and 15 insert “les.”

[1376] Mems. 1, 8, and 15 insert “et marchandises.”

[1377] Mem. 1 omits “et.”

[1378] Mem. 1 omits “de Fraunce.”

[1379] Mems. 1, 14, and 15 read (here and elsewhere) “ceo.”

[1380] Mem. 8 omits “et la prise,” &c., recommencing, “sur la forfaiture,” &c.

[1381] Mem. 14, “ou.”

[1382] Mem. 8 inserts “et.”

[1383] Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “sa.”

[1384] Mems. 1 and 8, “de par le dit Roi.”

[1385] Mem. 1, “de la”; Mems. 8, 14, and 15, “de le.”

[1386] Mems. 1, 8, 14, and 15 insert “a vous Seigneurs.”

[1387] Mems. 8 and 14, “qil.”

[1388] Mem. 8 inserts “il.”

[1389] Mems. 1, 14_d_, and 15 complete the passage as follows: “Come il purra suffire et en sa deffaute son dit seignur le Roi de Fraunce par qi il estoit deputeez al dit office et qe apres dewe satisfactioun faite as ditz damagez le dit Monsieur Reiner soit si duement punitz pur le blemissement de la dite alliance qe la punicioun de lui soit as autres example [Mem. 8, ‘ensample’] pur temps auenir.” Mem. 15 ends here. Mem. 8 transposes the next paragraph and the last.

[1390] Mem. 1, “aunciens”; Mem. 14, “auncienes.”

[1391] Mems. 1, 8, and 14, “ne.”

[1392] Mems. 1, 8, and 14 omit “nefs.”

[1393] Mem. 8, “leurs.”

[1394] Mem. 8, “doiuent.”

[1395] Mem. 8. “deuantdiz.”

[1396] Mems. 1 and 8, “les.”

[1397] Mems. 1 and 8, “ses.”

[1398] Mem. 8, “soy.”

[1399] [_Sic_]: not previously mentioned; probably Johan Paderogh.

[1400] _See_ below.

[1401] Side-note says: “The said goods have been delivered to Will. Bush.”

[1402] _24th Aug. 1303, Saturday._

[1403] _St Lawrence_, _Aug. 10_.

[1404] _29th Sept. 1303, Sunday_.

[1405] Differences found in copy, _State Papers, Dom._, Chas. II., Vol. 339, p. 589, are shown in brackets.

[Transcriber's Note:

Manuscript abbreviations on pages 765-767 have been changed to modern letters due to the unavailability of suitable characters.

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]

End of Project Gutenberg's The Sovereignty of the Sea, by Thomas Wemyss Fulton